Winter = Pain

First of all, let me just say that I know how fortunate I am to be living in Phoenix. Over 300 days of sunshine a year and by the rest of the country's standards, very mild winters. I appreciate our winters mostly because temperatures are in the 50's and 60's most of the days but it can get into the 40's overnight. However since we have "the dry heat", it feels a bit colder than what the thermometer actually says. Probably 5 to 10 degrees. This is how we survive the summers, although no matter how you look at it...anything over 110 is a killer. Our temps have just gone from the 70's to the 60's and my body is sure feeling it. You kind of physically adapt to the heat here and lose your tolerance for the cold. I grew up in the cold and snow but after 12 years here, I may as well be a native!

I'm one of those people who doesn't necessarily follow the norm as far as my MS goes. Yes, the heat bothers me a little but not too much. I get a little more fatigued during the summers due to it but that's about all it does to me. Hot showers aren't a big deal either. But the cold is what really gets me. My whole body hurts. Not a lot, but just enough to make it a major part of my day. It's almost like every muscle in my body is tightening and leaving me with that muscle soreness feeling. The spacticity isn't so much that it affects my life in that I have difficulty using my muscles, it's more of them tightening just enough to cause aches all over my body. I'm sure I'm one of a handful of people that actually have to dress in layers here in Phoenix but that's the only way I can tolerate the cold!

From all the research I've done on MS since my diagnosis in 2003, most people tend to notice an abatement in their sypmtoms and do better in the cooler weather. Leave it to me to buck the trend. It figures!