Yesterday I ran my third long day in a row and I felt it. After the second day I felt a little out of it and I probably shouldn’t have run yesterday. While I was running my third run I felt fine. I started out thinking I would only go for a short one, but I felt fine so I continued. After my run I needed to head downtown for a meeting and I was going to meet a buddy for coffee after that. Standing in the sun (even though it was about 20 degrees cooler than Wednesday) waiting for the bus was killing me. I was getting sort of woozy and pretty tired almost as if the spell symptoms were coming back stronger than ever. This is something people with ms face when exercising, it is called a psuedoattack and is directly related to the body overheating or just heating up.
This from www. making-strides.net “With a rise of just 1/4-1/2 degrees in core body temperature you may start to notice symptoms such as vision change, fatigue, weakness, spacticity, bladder and bowel problems or confusion. These numerological symptoms might seem like a relapse or exacerbation of ms, but they are actually ‘psuedoattacks.’ Psuedoattacks do not reflect worsening ms or cause more damage; they are temporary, tending to reverse quickly once the body becomes cooler.”
I have noticed psuedoattacks when I get nervous or am faced with challenging situations, I wonder if that raises your core body temperature?
So what to do? Cool down is the best advice. Yesterday I didn’t feel better until I sat in the shade of a huge elm tree with an iced mocha and waited for my buddy. Apparently their are ice vests and other cooling contraptions that help as well. In Portland their is a group called msSP (multiple sclerosis Society of Portland) that has a program where they give out air conditioners to people with ms. Mine is coming next week Whoo-hooo! I wish they would help with my electric bill too, but any help is great. I have never had AC in the home ever in my life, in AZ we always had swamp coolers that put moisture back into the air. I never liked it at work places, so we’ll see how it goes.
Even living in Florida, the heat did not bother me. It wasn’t until we went on a cruise my in-laws got for us, that it hit me.
We were in Puerto Rico and climbing this hill, not a bad one, but by the time we got to the top my husband swore my face was going to explode, and that was when it hit me, and I knew the heat was now going to effect me.
I now do little if anything in the sun. So theme parks are out, unless we go on one of the three winter days we have in Florida.
I am cool with this, just an adjustment I have learn to make in my life.
Hope all is well with you and your runs. Tomorrow is my last day to bike before I am off to surgery, so if you don’t see me, do not worry, I will be back soon enough.
Good luck with the surgery, I’m sure everything will be fine. I look forward to hearing from you again.