How do I stop feeling so awful during heatwaves?

[Cosyautumnnights]

I feel this is something I need to try to overcome as we seem to be experiencing more and more unusually hot weather in the summer but for the last few years it’s really been making me feel rough.

I have some existing health issues (IBS/daily gut issues and endometriosis) and at 51 I’m in perimenopause and that is certainly not helping but I feel so bad.

For the last few days my tummy issues have exacerbated, I feel permanently nauseous and keep coming over in hot sweats all the time and my aura migraines have worsened. Even though I’m in peri I only experience these awful sweats in the height of the summer. Spring, Autumn and Winter I’m back to my normal chilly self with a hot water bottle clamped to my IBS belly (I am really missing my hot water bottle right now).

I only drinking water, have a hand fan which I carry around with me, wear breathable natural fabrics and have a cool shower twice a day but I’m still feeling bloody dreadful. I’d love air-con but can’t afford it (and my air-con in my car has decided to pack up too, grrr!).

DH works outside all year in safety wear and this heat doesn’t bother him at all. Why does it affect me so much? I’m beginning to dread Summers.

Any tips to help?

No real tips, but I can sympathize as I'm not good in extreme heat.
Some people can handle it better I think

No real advice, but I'll just say that you are not alone.

I do love nice, bright and sunny weather, but not quite so hot as we have been having. Temperatures in the low twenties are fine for me.

I have a sizeable oscillating fan which I bought last summer and have set it up on the kitchen table. I've been sitting in front of it a lot and it has enabled me to cope. I'm not going outside much at the moment except to hang my washing out or bring it in because I just feel like I am being baked.

I don't own any, but cooling sheets are meant to be good, although only because someone mentioned them on the radio the other day !

DH always recommends running cold water on your wrists to cool you down

Don't know what your padding levels are like, but I find being lean helps me cope with heat (I've been lean and padded).

Could you get a job at a cool storage facility? 😁 I gave a friend who works for a frozen food distribution company and he spends his day going in and out of freezers. 🤣

I’m sorry @Cosyautumnnights but I think it’s down to our bodies and brains. People who don’t get disturbed by heat genuinely respond differently.

Car aircon - if it's a gas issue rather than a pump issue then you can get it re-gassed for around £40-50.

You sound very similar to me, I can just about cope with low 20's but 24 and above is awful. Having hot flushes, gut issues and nausea is not helping at all! I agree with running cold water on your wrists throughout the day, drinking cold water (I keep a few bottles (filled from tap) in the fridge so we have a steady supply) and staying inside /out of the sun as much as you can. Haven't found much else helps sadly. Hopefully someone else might have some tips.

Salt and sugars help.

i live in south Europe and it’s been hot the last 3 months constantly. I usually drink just water or tea without sugar.
When it’s really hot days and I’m feeling ‘hot’ I add sugar to tea, eat salted crisps and Lemonade for cold sugar hit.

If it’s really hot and you’re sweating then you’ll sweat out salts quicker than usual so they need replacing. You could also try those dehydration drinks or tablets you dissolve for rebalancing liquids.

I use a cooling spray as well as a fan. Could probably keep a couple of water spritz bottles in the fridge to use.
I'm also going in to the office more for air con.

I sympathise . I am 52 and this is the first summer I just cannot cope with the heat . If it's over 20 I feel sick , stressed and panicky and cannot sleep . It doesn't help that I have a tendency to faint when I get too hot !!!

I was never this bad and like you I will be fine all winter , cold even .

I was in Turkey for holidays and it was intolerable . I just wanted to lie in a cool, dark room !!I am assuming it's yet another joy of getting older .

Have begun to actively avoid any situation where I might get too hot .

I keep my hair wet. Properly wet so it keeps my head cool and drips down my neck, back etc and find it really helps. It’s weird but works for me.

Losing weight definitely helps. I'm too cols 90% of the year so I don't suffer in heatwaves but I'm more sensitive to cold weather now I'm a healthy weight.

Also, keeping all the doors and windows closed in hot weather can make your house cooler rather than opening them.

Miserable here in the heat OP. I feel your pain. No way I'm stepping out. Currently lying down with curtains closed. Have chronic urticaria which is set off by heat, IBS, Asthma - dry, thin, moistureless hot air is a respiratory killer and an allergen super transporter. Living on my inhaler. Hate it. Also nearly 50 and having peri and hypothyroid, which you can't bloody win: you're either freezing or boiling and depending on your meds or hormone levels are either sweating twice as much as the average person or can't sweat at all. Both are horrible. I get very severe heat stroke really quickly.

One thing I can never understand is that we're supposedly an ISLAND surrounded on all sides by water yet the heat is so focused, it's not like Carribbean or American islands where you get refreshing breezes with the heat and sudden heavy short duration downpours to denature the allergens. It's just dry, hot, flat, heat. I really cannot understand it. I have spoken to people from places like Kenya, South Africa and Barbados they say they too struggle with the heat in the UK!! Go figure!

They have got more intense and I was one of the few really appreciating our uncharacteristic cool summer this year until now. Actually until now, ot was the best summer ever.

This ^^ with bells on especially if you suffer from migraines. Just drinking water in the heat when you are sweating out all your salt as well isn't going to help.

Also do you take any supplements, I've been advised by my neurologist to take magnesium and vitamin B2 (riboflavin). You have to take them in high dose but can help migraines. Look at the migraine Trust under supplements.

I'm not sure, I think sometimes it's genetic or an immune response, I can't go in the direct sun for more than 5 mins or I get a rash on my face and feel like I've been drinking and if I get caught in very cold weather I get hives.

We keep our windows closed, open the loft hatch and have curtains with extra material on the outside to keep the rooms cool, cook main bits for dinner in the morning before it gets too bad.

I'm looking into PIV systems, apparently not as good as air-conditioning but keep fresh air circulating, can be a bit colder in winter though.

Just to say, you have my every sympathy... myself and best friend are the same... dizzy, palpitations, feeling downright ill.. I'm on HRT which is fab, but if that temperature climbs too high then I'm suffering. What I have done though is bought an oscillating tower fan... bliss, utter bliss.

Thanks for the tips everyone

I don’t have any extra padding on me (although this would prove quite beneficial come the winter as I’m permanently freezing then, bloody hell, I can’t win with my body!) so it’s not that contributing to my overheating. It probably is most likely part of who I am, part perimenopause and part me over thinking it all.

Still hot and sticky here in Essex but hopefully it’ll ease off by the end of the week. I’m definitely going to invest in a little air-con unit for next year though.

Aircon is cheaper to run than heating. If you can afford heating, you can afford aircon. If you can't afford a unit, fair enough. You can get a second hand unit for about £70 if you are willing to collect.