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Feeling COLD?!

snowathlete

Senior Member
Messages
5,374
Location
UK
Hi everyone,

For weeks now ive been feeling cold, and my wife has been feeling hot. She does not have ME/CFS.
I want the heating on, she wants the windows open.

We got a thermometer and guess what.....its me who is wrong. its 23C in here, but i feel like its 17/18C.
Is this a normal ME/CFS symptom? I cant find any posts about it.

Thanks
 

floydguy

Senior Member
Messages
650
I am abnormally cold. My body temp is frequently below 97 and even sometimes below 96. Brrr!
 
Messages
15,786
Very normal. Time to bundle up :p I'm usually happy at 22C, and my fiance doesn't complain too much. I think it's important to avoid chills, since that means muscles are using up limited energy and may be triggering a crash.
 

Purple

Bundle of purpliness
Messages
489
Another cold person here. I would be very ill at 22 or 23 degrees though - I can only function at a very limited level at 26-27 (around 80 Fahrenheit). Being cold gives me - strangely - the symptoms usually associated with being hot - ie. being dizzy, nauseous, lightheaded, heart palps etc. Also, when it's cold outside, I cannot sit near a wall with the cold coming through, that's a sure way to a crash. Same temperatures for sleeping, breathing colder air also crashes me.
 

Waverunner

Senior Member
Messages
1,079
I wanted to start a thread with the same title. If you constantly feel cold this can have several reasons but I highly suspect hormones or chronic infections.
 

snowathlete

Senior Member
Messages
5,374
Location
UK
its odd because if i put an extra jumper on for example, and get hot. But still feel cold. Very uncomfortable.

Its like my insides are the right temp. but i feel cold at my skin. So if i put too many coths on, i feel rough because i actually get hot. as you would expect.

If i was a car, then i would say that the sensors are broke, or that the CPU is broke, and doesnt read the data properly. The car itself is running normally - at least in regard to my body temperature. which was 36.6 yesterday when i checked it.
 

justy

Donate Advocate Demonstrate
Messages
5,524
Location
U.K
I seem to be either too cold or too hot. usually its cold and i have to keep my house at 23 degrees with jumpers on. My family laugh at me because i dont have a summer and winter wardrobe -i wear hats and woolies all year round. If i do get hot then i get REALLY hot and cant cool down! My body temp is usually around 95 -96. when i was younger (pre M.E) i had two severe episodes of shivering that went on for hpours and i had to go to casualty because my partner thought i was having a fit. This has threatened to happen since but usually only if i get chilly and stay up late, it was really scary though.
Take care, Justy.
 

Artstu

Senior Member
Messages
279
Location
UK
A good job you're not sitting in my house currently at 15C, it has been down at 13C recently, burrr
 

snowathlete

Senior Member
Messages
5,374
Location
UK
when i was 18 i moved out of home and rented a room in a old farmhouse. The walls were made of cotswold stone and we had a oil heater, which took ages to heat up and needed electric to keep it going / ignite it or whatever - it was cold when it was on...but we got flooded in for several days, and had no pound coins for the electric meter - so, no electric and no heat. it was propper cold, despite full clothing plus winter hat and scarf, plus a dovet and blanket. What was really rubbish was that it got dark but we had no light, so you basically had to just go to bed for ages and put up with the cold.

Glad i live in a nice warm house made of brick now!
 
Messages
15,786
its odd because if i put an extra jumper on for example, and get hot. But still feel cold. Very uncomfortable.

This could be the result of low blood volume resulting in poor peripheral circulation. Because there's not enough blood to go everywhere, the body pulls most of into the core area, to keep organs functional. So the torso can be very warm while the legs and arms are very cold.
 

taniaaust1

Senior Member
Messages
13,054
Location
Sth Australia
Its like my insides are the right temp. but i feel cold at my skin.

All part of the ME, I was like that when the ME was worst.

One day we had a heatwave here and the temperature outside was 40+C (104F +) .. I went to a friends in the heat and when she wasnt home.. I layed on her lawn in the sun still trying to get warm. I was actually wearing a jumper in that heat of 104F and STILL was feeling cold (thou I didnt feel feverish.. I had no idea till I saw the news that night and my friend said, that it was actually a hot day.. when she'd told me the temp. I thought she was having me on).

As you said.. our temp sensors are broke. A doctor told me after this incident that I was at high risk of issues such as heat stroke due to inability to feel the temp properly. So take care, this can be a dangerous issue.
 

Artstu

Senior Member
Messages
279
Location
UK
40C would kill me I think.

I'm sat here in my house at 13C, I'm wrapped up so am warm and comfortable, I will wait until it gets a bit colder before putting the heating on, I just can't afford to heat my house like I used to with the price of gas these days.
 

Cindi

Senior Member
Messages
229
Hi

I have been feeling cold since the start of the illness. I wear socks even during summer.I also sleep with socks. I can not tolerate temperature changes either. After living like this for many years I started developing problem at my feet and legs about two years ago. It feels like circulation problem.Pins and needles,burning like feeling. I wonder if living with impaired peripheral circulation for may years might have caused this. Any thoughts?.Anyone has a similar problem?thanks
 
Messages
90
Location
Sydney, Australia
Another coldie here.

My temperature is usually around 36.2C (96.8F) and I start to get into summer clothes at 30C (86F). Thank goodness we're coming into summer here.

All the best,

Sandra
 

Rooney

Senior Member
Messages
185
Location
SE USA
Hi

I have been feeling cold since the start of the illness. I wear socks even during summer.I also sleep with socks. I can not tolerate temperature changes either. After living like this for many years I started developing problem at my feet and legs about two years ago. It feels like circulation problem.Pins and needles,burning like feeling. I wonder if living with impaired peripheral circulation for may years might have caused this. Any thoughts?.Anyone has a similar problem?thanks

Cindi,
I too have cold hands/feet most of the year. Gabapentin has helped me with a tingling in my limbs that began right from the start of the illness. Pins and needles? Is your blood sugar in check?

Buying a space heater this year!

Best wishes,
Rooney
 
Messages
28
Location
New York
Snowathlete: I have vitamin B12 deficiency. When my symptoms were at their worst, I was freezing all the time. I live near Buffalo NY where we have pretty long winter's. It was very difficult for me to say the least. I did not have chill's, like if you had an infection, just cold. I am better with this somewhat, but still get cold easily. I think women tend to be chillier than men as a rule, but this was not normal. Have you ever had your B12 serum level checked? Another thing to have checked is your thyroid. This affect's body temps too.

cyndyd
 

snowathlete

Senior Member
Messages
5,374
Location
UK
Snowathlete: I have vitamin B12 deficiency. When my symptoms were at their worst, I was freezing all the time. I live near Buffalo NY where we have pretty long winter's. It was very difficult for me to say the least. I did not have chill's, like if you had an infection, just cold. I am better with this somewhat, but still get cold easily. I think women tend to be chillier than men as a rule, but this was not normal. Have you ever had your B12 serum level checked? Another thing to have checked is your thyroid. This affect's body temps too.

cyndyd


Thanks Cyndyd,
I plan to test my B12, but havent done it yet. I had it tested once years before i was ill, so at least i know what is normal for me, so i can compare.
I am on B complex which has B12 in it, so that might mean that when i get around to it it may be higher, but still, worth getting it tested.
I had alot of blood tests before i got diagnosed, checking thyroid, but not checking B12 unfortunately.

I now have a pair of slippers, so that helps, but it is frustrating.
 

ixchelkali

Senior Member
Messages
1,107
Location
Long Beach, CA
I feel cold when I have the flu-y symptoms that are part of my post-exertional malaise. Since I got sick my usual body temp is a couple of degrees below the normal 98.6F. When I have PEM it goes up to about 99.5, and it feels just like having a fever, with chills. I can be huddled under a couple of blankets on a hot day, shivering. Usually in the late afternoon the psuedo-fever breaks and I'm drenched in sweat, and then I feel hot.

I have a very narrow range of ambient temperature in which I'm comfortable. I don't tolerate either cold or hot weather well. It's like I've turned into a lizard. I also have trouble with sudden changes in temperature. When it gets below 74F (23C), I start layering on sweaters.
 
Messages
75
Cold extremities are either the result of poor blood circulation or SUBCLINICAL hypothyroidism that would not have been picked up by a TSH, t3,t4 free & total blood test. Those tests are bull shit. Hypothyroidism actually takes years to develop for it to be full blown so you can still have some of the symptoms associated with it early on. Instead get a free t3 reverse t3 ratio blood test

Standard testing does not pick up 80% of patients who have low thyroid.

Thyroid deficiency is extremely common but goes undetected by standard thyroid tests. The thyroid is located just below your Adams apple at the front of your neck. Thyroid disorders can affect your sense of well-being, metabolism and ability to ward off viruses and bacteria. Some of the most common symptoms of low thyroid are weight gain, depression, fatigue, non-refreshing sleep, anxiety and panic attacks, brittle nails, constipation, diffuse hair loss, sensitivity to cold, significantly calloused heels, chronic yeast infections and even infertility.
 

ixchelkali

Senior Member
Messages
1,107
Location
Long Beach, CA
Cold extremities are either the result of poor blood circulation or SUBCLINICAL hypothyroidism that would not have been picked up by a TSH, t3,t4 free & total blood test.

Or it can be Raynaud's, which is a common co-morbidity with autoimmune disorders and fibromyalgia, but can also happen by itself. Or it can be from iron deficiency anemia. Dr Myhill has mentioned cold hands as a symptom of magnesium deficiency, but I haven't checked the literature on this.