Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Ridiculous side effect of having heating on low

39 replies

BlackJumpsuit · 09/12/2023 10:52

Why is it so bloody hot everywhere?

The train, my office, every single shop...I am menopausal but have I actually acclimatised myself to having the heating at max17.5 and now I actually can't tolerate anything above that? And the low temp is due to heating costs, not because I'm overheating.

I'm on the train actually sweating. The tube, forget it 😂
I've got one layer of cotton clothes on, coat is in my bag and will be all day probably 😂

Does this mean I can never go inside anywhere in winter again?!

Please tell me I'm not the only one...

OP posts:
Original poster
BlackJumpsuit · 09/12/2023 10:54

And I'm on HRT and never had hot flushes...but right now the back of my hands are sweating 🥵

OP posts:
NextPrimeMinister · 09/12/2023 10:56

I've been cold my entire life, but no more, as my internal central heating it set to high!

No hot flushes either.....just permanently warm!

Original poster
BlackJumpsuit · 09/12/2023 11:06

The annoying thing is I do get cold at home, especially when WFH.
So in menopause your whole heating/cooling system goes wonky 😫
@NextPrimeMinister hopefully you're enjoying the change of temperature if you've always been freezing 😂

OP posts:

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

Menopause Women's health
xogossipgirlxo · 09/12/2023 11:08

No, you’re not the only one. Since I had my son almost 5 months ago my body kind of changed settings. I used to be cold in 21 degrees, now I’m warm enough to have 19 degrees. It’s not hot flushes though, so not sure what’s changed. Hormones? Back to fabric settings? Who knows.

smilesup · 09/12/2023 11:24

You are not alone. Staying at my parents house last week. They have it at 20. Thought I was in a furness 😁

Original poster
BlackJumpsuit · 09/12/2023 11:25

@xogossipgirlxo interesting...are you breastfeeding? I'd say hormones could be at work there either way!!

OP posts:
PeanutAndBanana · 09/12/2023 11:26

Yes. One positive thing to say about perimenopause - it's come at the right time given energy prices. And as I pay the bills everyone else can just put on a jumper or three if they are cold.

Original poster
BlackJumpsuit · 09/12/2023 11:27

@smilesup
Oh no...I would melt 🔥

At work the heating goes off during the day and comes on with a vengeance at 3. I'm sitting there with the window open and a fan on, as I can't control the radiator! What a waste of money.

OP posts:
Original poster
BlackJumpsuit · 09/12/2023 11:27

@PeanutAndBanana
Haha - yes exactly 🤣

OP posts:
jellycat · 09/12/2023 11:33

Yes, this is me…..also menopausal. Always too hot or too cold…never quite right any more ☹️. I’m on HRT which largely controls the horrendous hot flushes but this is just feeling too hot when inside anywhere that’s hotter than about 19C (so pubs, restaurants, cafes etc). I have a little rechargeable fan which I sometimes take with me to help me cope, but it’s embarrassing. I have to dress as though it’s summer, then put on loads of extra layers for when I’m outside. I peel off layers as I’m going into a place, and then pile them all back on as I’m going back out the door. The worst thing is shopping I find-shops seem so overheated and it’s such a pain when you’re going from one to another.

MandyMotherOfBrian · 09/12/2023 11:33

You’re not alone. I am menopausal but I’ve never had hot flushes and, tbh, I’ve been like it all my life. Even when I was very skinny. The best years of my life were spent in Singapore, The Philippines and Hong Kong, all boiling hot and humid, but the thing is you’re body acclimatises pretty quickly to the natural outside temperatures and I lived the absolute bliss of everywhere inside being icy air conned.

worryingalot · 09/12/2023 11:34

@xogossipgirlxo maybe get your thyroid function checked by your GP

xogossipgirlxo · 09/12/2023 11:37

@BlackJumpsuit yes, I am breastfeeding. I’m hoping it will stay this way when I stop (assuming it’s connected), because I like lower gas bills😂

xogossipgirlxo · 09/12/2023 11:38

@worryingalot thank you, will do. Haven’t thought of it, but I heard hypothyroidism is pretty common after pregnancy?

BloodandGlitter · 09/12/2023 11:47

I feel this so much. I'm on prescription meds that mess up my ability to regulate my own temp. I'm a constant sweaty mess. Sad

Original poster
BlackJumpsuit · 09/12/2023 11:56

@jellycat
@MandyMotherOfBrian

Thank you so much, I feel seen!
No one at work is in this age bracket...they're all in the 'oh it's freezing in here' when it falls below 23 degrees stage. I just keep thinking 'just you wait' 🤣🤣

OP posts:
worryingalot · 09/12/2023 12:07

@xogossipgirlxo you can get postpartum thyroiditis which is hyperthyroidism initially and various thyroid abnormalities
I was hyperthyroid after DC2

UnimaginableWindBird · 09/12/2023 12:12

I am almost 50 and still fucking freezing, as I have been for most of my life. If the heating is low, I don't acclimatise, I just curl up into a ball under the duvet and don't do anything in the house.

Original poster
BlackJumpsuit · 09/12/2023 12:17

@BloodandGlitter that doesn't help! I also take something that probably makes the "cold" effect worse when WFH, it's a bit like having Reynaud's but my dose is very low.

I do think that it protects me a little bit in heatwaves while the meds are taking effect, sadly it wears off by late afternoon.

OP posts:
Ohchristmastree23 · 09/12/2023 12:23

I'm not where near menopausal but find the shops unbearably hot lately. Why do they have the heating on so high when it's so expensive?! Boots, m&S I have to take off layers when inside!

EnjoyTheMushrooms · 09/12/2023 12:31

This same thing happened to me. Was always freezing, then had a child and went the other way

Mummymummy89 · 09/12/2023 12:32

Yanbu. I'm pregnant atm so feeling it even worse these days but tbh it's the same when I'm not pg.

17 degrees is plenty. My kitchen is routinely 10-13 degrees in winter (I posted a photo of my room thermometer on a different thread) and we are all fine. Dd aged 3 has about 2-3 sick days from nursery a year, way fewer than her peers. I'm also ill way less often that I used to be, when we lived in a warm flat. The tiled floor is the only uncomfortable part but not if you're wearing slippers.

People have forgotten how to wear jumpers, socks and slippers. People are also getting less fit and that means a lower metabolism, which makes them feel cold but also leads to weight gain, it's a vicious cycle.

The tube is a whole different story, there's a team of scientists working on that. The rock around the tunnels is heat saturated, meaning that it warms up in summer more than it cools down in winter, and it's a non-trivial problem to reverse.

EveryKneeShallBow · 09/12/2023 12:42

Mummymummy89 · 09/12/2023 12:32

Yanbu. I'm pregnant atm so feeling it even worse these days but tbh it's the same when I'm not pg.

17 degrees is plenty. My kitchen is routinely 10-13 degrees in winter (I posted a photo of my room thermometer on a different thread) and we are all fine. Dd aged 3 has about 2-3 sick days from nursery a year, way fewer than her peers. I'm also ill way less often that I used to be, when we lived in a warm flat. The tiled floor is the only uncomfortable part but not if you're wearing slippers.

People have forgotten how to wear jumpers, socks and slippers. People are also getting less fit and that means a lower metabolism, which makes them feel cold but also leads to weight gain, it's a vicious cycle.

The tube is a whole different story, there's a team of scientists working on that. The rock around the tunnels is heat saturated, meaning that it warms up in summer more than it cools down in winter, and it's a non-trivial problem to reverse.

I grew up in a house where the kitchen was an uninsulated extension, there was no double glazing and my bedroom had ice on the inside of the windows in winter. We had radiators, but the old boiler in the kitchen couldn’t cope with upstairs. I was as healthy/ill as my friends.

Nowadays I keep my house at 21. Still as ill/healthy as the next person, but I know which I prefer, and it’s not a character weakness to want to be warm.

PurpleSparkledPixie · 09/12/2023 12:46

NextPrimeMinister · 09/12/2023 10:56

I've been cold my entire life, but no more, as my internal central heating it set to high!

No hot flushes either.....just permanently warm!

Exactly the same with me. As soon as I hit puberty I was permanently in a coat, even in summer. Now I've hit menopause everyone around me is cold. Quite surreal.

I am finding I am continually stripping off in shops as I cant bear it. My car doesn't have the heating on unless ice/mist has formed. And I melt into a snowman type puddle at any hospital appointments. However I can feel that the house air/surfaces are cold but I am not.

ManchesterLu · 09/12/2023 12:50

I don't have the heating on particularly low, but my grandparents have theirs set to 26 and I sometimes feel faint when I'm there as it's so warm!

Swipe left for the next trending thread