adventures in thermoregulation

[kaberett]

I have grumpily come to the conclusion that There Are In Fact Good Reasons I get a government subsidy for heating during the winter, largely because I've spent the last couple of days headachey and shivery...

... with the heating off, wearing four layers on my torso and two on my feet, indoors...

... and. Well. I have eventually, with no small amount of prodding from A, realised that what's going on here is that (in spite of drinking lots of water) I'm getting (approximately) dehydration headaches because my core temperature is too high, even while my hands and feet and other peripherals are still painfully cold, because I -- wait for it -- am disabled and have a vascular disorder that means I just. can't, actually. keep my hands and feet warm. If the ambient temperature drops much below 20°C.

All of which is to say that I resent keeping the heating on, but I am coming to the conclusion that if I'm home during the day (which I... mostly am, at the moment) I... do in fact kind of need to.

Comments

[niqaeli]

...bodies. why the fuck are they. whyyyyy.

I am glad you figured it out! even if the answer sucks.

[angelofthenorth]

Also hypo thyroid will do the cold extremities, high core thing too

[flippac]

I suspect the root cause is different (what with awkward metabolic mutations and so forth), but I get similar. Bonus points for BS when my core temperature's probably dropped a bit too because the least-bad-to-feel combination was providing a lot of cooling via extremities and it crept up on me.

...yeah. WTF? Glad you've got yours figured at least. I have similar habits re the heating.

[syntaxofthings]

My massage therapist has been trying to get me to turn on my heat higher because I am disabled and my body works so hard as it is. I wish I had a more science-y explanation like you do, but it's similar where my core temp might be okay but my hands and feet are so cold and it's so hard to keep moving.

[archangelbeth]

*makes sympathetic noises*

[recessional]

Pls turn the damn heat on dear. <3

(It doesn't matter how much you're drinking when your body can only absorb so much water from your stomach in such an amount of time and your body is then using MORE than that peak level of absorption in an attempt to keep you warm love.)

[vass]

The "spending money and/or electricity on myself while disabled" problem? My sympathies. <3

[lunabee34]

*hugs*

I'm glad you figured out what was going on.

[sporky_rat]

...oh dear, I wonder if that's the same issue I'm having (except I'll turn the heating blanket on for the cat and won't use one myself, why self why).

Why are bodies and why are we all feeling like we don't deserve the good.

[shanaqui]

*Raynaud's disease sufferer waves in companionship*

[silveradept]

Knowledge is useful, even when it is mostly aggravating to have to acknowledge limitations.