Heat = Panic and illness

[miss_moose]

So while everyones happy it's summer, i'm getting really upset and anxious. I always feel so ill when it's hot, even if i've had the heating on all day in winter, i'll feel like i'm going to faint and feel so sick because of the heat.
It's going to be 24C today, and i know i can't cope with that.
I have an underactive thyroid and one of the sypmtoms of that is intollerence to heat so i dont know if thats why i am so heat intollerent.
My fiance though, he's a sun worshipper and wants us to be out in it, and tels me to stop moaning about how the heat is making me feel.

I have big sun glasses and a sun hat, and i drink water while i am out. I'm agoraphobic and social phobic, and although i'm getting quite good at going for country walks, it's too hot to do that, and doing indoorsy stuff with people scares me.

I've looked on the weather and it's going to be 24c for atleast the next 5 days.

I really don't want to spoil my partners summer but i run the risk of doing that.

We went for a walk yesterday evening when it was about 18c and i felt so panicy and hot, and we had to come home early, which spoilt it for him because he wanted to walk another mile.

Does anyone else get like this too?

[gypsywomen]

funny you should say this i have underactive tyroid didnt know about the heat thing ,i wonderd why i feel like u when its hot ,,the car is the worse ...i dont like being stuck in traffic in the sun ,,, i know how you feel ,,i dont sunbath because when i do it makes my anxiety go throug the roof now i know why thank you

[MidnightCalm]

Yeah, I get exactly what you mean, the annoying thing is just the thought of the heat is bringing on panic because I'm not paticularly hot at the moment. The panic makes me feel hot anyway so with 24C on top of that I think I might just go crazy.
Everyone I know worships the sun, it's like "it's so nice out there, let's sunbathe" and I'm just like thinking: not only does the sun make me unbearable hot and flustered but I always cover up because of the risks of skin cancer or some kind of heat exhaustion.

[Vixxy]

Ive got an underactive thyroid and I cannot stand the heat either. Bad panic attacks make me feel very hot, so feeling hot from the weather just makes my brain put 2 and 2 together and come up with panic!
My husband has been prattling on since we started dating about taking me to cuba and I think its taken him many years to realise I can barely function in the UK summer let alone a hot country!
Some tips and advice for you
1 - buy a water spray bottle. I picked one up from ebay for £2 thats small enough to fit into a pocket and allows me to spray water on myself if im feeling a bit overwhelmed. You could put an ice cube in there to make it stay cool for longer.
2 - Buy migrane/headache relief cool strips and place them in the areas you feel the most heat. For me its always my back that gets the hottest, so i would put one at the base of my back. They last for hours and can really help.

[teez]

i also have an underactive thyroid,,and like yourself go into melt down every time we hit over the 22 mark,,i can just about cope with 24 if im indoors,,with my fan and can lay around ,,but i have to take my dogs out three times a day at least,,i become very dizzy,,sick and panicky as i just cant cool off ,,,i even try sticking my head under the cold tap,,:roflmao:. what makes it worse if someone mentions anything to do with it,,i go straight into panic mode,,also if my dogs start panting i associate that with the hot weather and panic,,roll on winter i say,,but then i can get warrm cos my thyroid:roflmao:you just cant win can you:D

[Vixxy]

Run your wrists under the cold tap instead of your head, it cools the blood down pretty quickly^^

[miss_moose]

Thank you all for you reassurance, it's is reassuring to know i'm not the only one who suffers like this.
Some great tips too :)

I'm so dreading and panicking about this heatwave, apparently it's 25c today, and it's going to be 27c on Sunday, then 25c all week again.
I really dont know how i'll cope.

My fiance went out on his own for the day yesterday because i wouldnt go, but when he got back he felt abit off and had a huge drink, and said it was too hot to be going out.
So atleast i'm off the hook!

Also, does anyone know where to buy those mini handheld fans that have a water spray on the back?

Thank you all again xxx

[suzannacorfu]

I have lived in Corfu for the past 30 years and ever since that first panic attack the heat really is a trigger for me too! It's about 35 degrees in the sun here today and I just got into the car and drove to the minimarket just down the road. It's tough I know but it really IS all in the triggers! The other day I was out in the morning and if I see the temperature over 26 I start to panic and feel fear. So I deliberately don't look at the temperature guage in the car! Well I was having a great laugh with a friend of mine that morning and as I was driving back I was feeling really good and happy. I looked at the temp guage and what did I see?? 32 degrees!!! I thought well that just goes to show...as I said in my introduction yesterday: it's not the panic that's my problem; I'm just not laughing enough!
I am not making light of our disorder guys, God knows I have suffered like you these past 8 years BUT in my heart of hearts I KNOW that if I find the "switch" in my brain these damn things will no longer RULE my life!
The truth is that we all fear the "they come from nowhere" feeling but actually they DON'T come from nowhere. They are always a result of some stressful thought or situation even if we don't realise that we've had the thought or that the situation was particularly stressful.
I am always shocked when one comes and think: "WOW where did THAT come from" but if I then calm down and look back a few hours there is ALWAYS a negative thought in there somewhere (for me it's guilt mostly).
Suzi

[Vixxy]

Yup theres always a trigger. I had a panic attack yesterday because I had an email that was very critical of me. First reaction was to have an anxiety attack, but I thought it through as it was happening and found it stupid that someone saying something negative gave me a panic attack. Shows how much negativity around me effects my health.

[suzannacorfu]

If you think about it (or at least if I think about it!) I could most definitely put up with having an anxiety attack EXACTLY at the moment that I was having the negative thought or the stressful situation! The thing is though that the attack comes after the "thought" has been percolating for a while in your subconscious so it APPEARS to come from nowhere. The "it comes out of the blue" is what keeps us slaves to panic! It's that anticipatory fear, that "what if I go there and it happens" that keeps us from leading our lives "normally".
My old dog died last November. She was 15 years old and I absolutely DREADED the thought of having to have her put down. I obsessed about it for 2 years before she died! I was terrified that I wouldn't cope and that I'd go doolally!!
Well I did have her put down and I was fine. Know why? Because I decided that I would make her last moments as happy as possible. I didn't want her to feel MY stress. That almost always works for me: if I need to be strong for someone else I can do almost anything with no panic.
Yes, I know that this should set me free! I have analysed it to death, I know exactly what is happening to me and WHY but would you believe it? I STILL every panic attack STILL freaks me out!

[Anxious_gal]

I had heat stroke once when I was young so the heat triggers me off.
I'm pretty ok if it's hot but the sun is behind a cloud, when the sun comes out my skin heats up really fast and i feel so hot and then even the air is hot and stuffy so i feel like in in a hot box.
i hate when i have to walk home in the heat because there is no escape you just have to keep walking no matter how ill you feel :-(
you can products for menopause in Boots, like spray cans of water, cooling wipes, there are quite good.

[Annabelle]

oh i'm glad its not just me - i have been very dizzy and im convinced im going to faint at any moment - work is unbearably hot - huge greenhouse like windows and every time i talk to a customer a wave of panic roles over me and im sure i will faint in front of them - i do not cope well in the heat - and its gets worse the older i get!
yuck 0 i get dizzy just thinking about it! xx

[miss_moose]

I'm feeling like that now Annabelle.
I've not been out since 4:30pm, but now i'm feeling really hot, faint, dizzy ect. it's making me panic, i want to go to bed but our room is like a sauna.

I'm sat with the back door open and trying to drink plently of water, which is making my stomach feel all "liquidy".

just feel so ill.

i dont know what to do...

Could you take a fan to work? I'd take a desk fan (or a handheld fan at the very least), and have bottled ater to drink and splash on your face while no one is looking. xxx

[snuggles1972]

I agree there is always a trigger. Sometimes very hard to pinpoint.

[Chem]

I used to love being out in the sun - my garden was an extra room in the summer. Now it's overgrown and I feel miserable about it because my meds and heat just do not agree.

[Annabelle]

urgh! so i called in sick on saturday as i just couldnt face it and today was my day off thank god but i have to go in tomorrow and im dreading it! at least iv pinpointed that the heat is the trigger - i bought some cool face spray from boots to keep in my desk so i hope that helps - and will try to avoid customers at all costs!!
keep cool guys!

xxx

[Brunette]

Anything above 24c is Bleah!

Spare a thought for those of us that have to travel by tube :wacko:

[miss_moose]

It's comforting to know there are other people who are hating the hot weather too.

Anything about 18c and i just feel so ill. .

Last week, my fiance took me to a train station which is connected to a giant shopping mall called Meadowhall to buy his ticket. We had to walk across an indoor glass bridge, which was like a sauna. I felt so ill, so on our way back to the car i was rushing through the bridge feeling sick and faint, having a huge panic attack...then i realised, i'd gone one the wrong one (there were 2 identical ones!), and ended up in the shopping centre!

So i just ran out into the car park and burst in to tears. And had to walk back to the car the long way round,on the road.

[Jabz]

hi,

heat is very stressful, but you know whats more stressful? thinking about how stressful heat is ;)

one of my main panic symptoms was getting really hot, i would start sweating and burning up,i almost felt like i was burning alive. after that i would dread hot sunny days, i would dread a bus thinking there would be no AC in it. i would dread school days in the heat.

if i were to start sweating, i would think im sweating too much and something has to be wrong with me..i would feel faint, lightheaded and weak in my knees...and of course panic would begin. sometimes i would even feel like i need to strip out of my clothing.

i am sure you're all anxious by now, by just reading that. that is the key. stop visualizing it, it's not happening. you're sitting in a probably air conditioned room and are pretty comfortable.

what i did was...i went out..in the heat. and i did activities. and i sweat...a lot...and i learned that being hot is just a sensation and i need to sweat and that its normal...and i did this over and over and over and over again. i went to the beach and tanned in the heat, and i allowed worried thoughts to just be that...thoughts. not visualizing them. not reacting to them, just let them swim around like fish in a sea of my thoughts. nothing more, nothing less..

good luck.

[Meltdown]

I hate it when it gets hot and sticky. It seems to dramatically increase the amount of palpitations I get, and I hate the associated feelings of dizzyness, breathlessness etc.

A drive in the car with full air-con usually helps (but the heat hits you like a wall when you get out!). If all else fails, I find a cool shower helps.

I feel like I am finally getting used to the warmer weather now, and as long as I don't exert myself too much, I'm usually OK!