IT IS HOOOOT…and I stupidly did too much outside in that Darn Heat!!

Okay….so people with Multiple Sclerosis can have an unpleasant reaction to the heat. When the optic nerve is affected, it is called Uhthoffs Phenomenon. M.S.’ers (people with multiple sclerosis) can also experience other undesirable symptoms when negatively affected by the heat.

Below is an excerpt from a Healthline.com article about Uhthoffs Phenomenon.

find the complete article at – https://www.healthline.com/health/multiple-sclerosis/uhthoffs-phenomenon

How heat affects MS

A 2011 study reported that between 60 and 80 percent of people with MS experience heat sensitivity. Demyelinated fibers in the CNS are hypersensitive to a rise in body temperature. This makes it more difficult for the body to receive internal signals. This can result in a worsening of MS-related symptoms and cause blurred vision.

The good news is that heat sensitivity and the related worsening of MS symptoms are only temporary. This is called pseudo-exacerbation. It doesn’t mean new lesions, lasting neurological damage, or a rapid progression of MS.”

Anyway, back to why I’m speaking about the heat. I am trying to sell a car. It is one that my mom gave my son (a hand me down). I originally put a couple thousand $ into it to fix the water pump, some belts……and other big stuff. The car started giving my son problems again so he brought it home so we could work on it. Well…it is fixed and running fine now. My son however, only wants to drive his sisters car. She lives halfway across the country and couldn’t take her car. Her car is better on gas. His car is an Aztek, an SUV, so of course it doesn’t have great gas mileage. So his car is sitting in my driveway, taking up space. I want it gone.

The Aztek needs to be clean to sell it, right?? Well my husband has been acting like I’m lazy because I haven’t gone out and cleaned, vacuumed, and Armour All’d the inside. So I thought ‘Screw it’, I want this car sold. I need to recoup some of the money I spent on this thing. At 9:00am I got outside and vacuumed my Mazda. She needed it badly. Then it started to rain…..so….what better time to wash the car. So I washed her. It was cooler outside than normal, because of the clouds and rain. The heat wasn’t bad yet. Since it wasn’t too bad, I went ahead and washed the Aztek.

I then went inside and told my husband that I washed it and that I would vacuum some of it. I told him that it would be nice and a big help if he could finish it. Oh goodness…..I received a snarky remark like “oh, so you’ll only do part of it, and I have to do the rest.” I reminded him about the heat and the MS…and my possible reaction to the heat.

I don’t take comments like that well. I get mad when he acts like MS isn’t a big deal. We have this ongoing feud about my MS and me going on disability. He wants me to go on disability, I don’t want to do that yet…..so he gives me the “you don’t want to go on disability….then your MS isn’t affecting you negatively”. Of course that isn’t true. I take 5 different pills in the morning, 2 at night, and a shot every other day. Some of those morning pills keep me awake so I can go to work. UGGH.

Anyway, I vacuumed the entire Aztek and Armour All’d the interior. Took me like 2 hours. It was horrible. I went through two large YETI jugs full of water. Changed my work clothes 3 times. MSers are very prone to bladder infections. We can’t wear wet pants for too long or it is almost guaranteed that we will get a bladder infection. NO WOMAN wants one of those. They are miserable. So the clothes got changed as soon as they were soaked with sweat….EEEEEEWWWWWW. The day had turned REALLY hot. The clouds disappeared when I was halfway through vacuuming the front of the Aztek. The rest of the job was MISERABLE.

This is how the heat affected me. I got tired, light headed, clumsy, unsteady on my feet, I tripped and fell twice, and I accidentally cut a big chunk out of my pinky finger while cleaning the interior. YEAH, not fun. I still have to vacuum the floor mats so I’m not quite done yet.

So all of you ladies and gents need to stay cool. Air conditioner, swimming pool, cold drinks, and cold showers.

Author: jen

I am the first child of 5. 2 of those siblings are half sisters and 2 are half brothers. I have 2 adult children and 3 dogs. CRAZY, CRAZY dogs. I obsessively collect orchids. Not really pretty orchids.....I feel bad for the sickly orchids you see at your local grocery store or gas station. I get those and try to nurse them back to health. UGGH, I am a glutton for punishment.

Leave a Reply