To ask how you survive this cold as an office worker?

[ColdToesandWarmHeart]

I don’t know what’s wrong with me but I am freezing. Down to my bones. I have a heating pad under my jumper and a blanket on me and I finally feel warm for the first time this week.

I have ordered a hot water bottle but I don’t know what else I can do. I’m freezing. I’m on Mounjaro so I think it’s that, but I’m just so miserable.

Also, you'd only need to have the blanket on for half an hour or so before you get into bed. Even if you left it on low all night, you'd be struggling to use £15 of electricity in a month.

I presume OP is earning money. She is living at home so her living expenses should be cheaper than someone running their own home.
Or maybe her peach of a father takes most of her salary in keep yet still doesn't allow her to boil a kettle, use a heated blanket or heat her living space.

Uniqlo! Wool jumpers under £40 and they come is lots of lovely colours. I’ve just got some lovely brushed fabric work trousers from
there too.

Thermals, wristwarmers (ideally wool of some sort), wool cardigan/jumper

Sude effect munjaro

OK, you won’t hear a word against him nor about the ridiculous strictures you adhere to (what will he do if you DO boil a kettle? Chuck the water down the sink?)
If he’s all fine and dandy as far as you are concerned, there remains only DIY heating tricks for you to adopt.
Which everyone has been urging on you already, such as good quality thermals (eg M&S MAX heat thermal longsleeved top, which is downright miraculous) and a soft T shirt wrapped around your head so you resemble Van Eyck’s bridegroom.

Get a travel kettle for your bedroom, even an ‘electric lunchbox’ if heating food in the kitchen is too much. Both very low energy.

But recommending that you recognise abuse where it is happening is not ‘disgusting’. Clearly ‘abuse’ means one thing only to you, but you'd be surprised. People are seeking ways to assist you, but you have to admit there is a problem other than temperature for it to work.

Thermal leggings and vest - they are lightweight and comfortable - nothing too close fitting - you need air between your layers. Then on top of your day clothes, fleece, body warmer and woolly socks (must be wool!)
Go for a short brisk walk then when you come in you'll feel a lot warmer.

Maybe try stopping the jabs and see if that sorts it!

The nhs waste money all the time….so I wouldn’t be a martyr with the expectation that any money saved on your heating will go to patients…,it will just be wasted on something else….I work for the nhs….I would be raising it with management and then senior management..,go right to the top if you get no where

Surely you just wear more clothes? I'm outside for 30-40 minutes at a time on current job and works for me.

Warm yourself up with a hairdryer. Instant warmth ❤️

Hi OP,

I just read all your posts.

You said that you have lost 7 stone in 16 months. That might be a big part of why you are cold.

Body fat keeps people warm. If you have lost a lot of body fat then you will definitely feel the cold.

It's like penguins and sea lions. They have a lot of body fat so they can live in freezing conditions. If they went on mountjaro and lost a load of weight, they would almost immediately die of cold.

If you have a very sedentary job then that will make it worse as well because moving around makes people warm and sitting still makes people cold.

You might just need to start wearing a load of clothes. I mean like double trousers, and double socks and warm boots. Thermals underneath and a scarf and a hat. Even indoors. Fingerless gloves are good too.

I am slim and I need to wear a lot of thermals and double trousers to stay warm too.

Realistically, it may not be viable for you to live in the extremely cold conditions that you have at home, now that you don't have all that body fat to keep you warm. You may have to leave home and get a place of your own, where you can choose to turn the heating on.

You might just need to start wearing a load of clothes. I mean like double trousers, and double socks and warm boots. Thermals underneath and a scarf and a hat. Even indoors. Fingerless gloves are good too.

Are people really wearing double trousers, scarfs and hats and sitting at desks to work all day? I have never seen that. I have on occasion worn a pair of thick tights under trousers, but only for something like hiking up a mountain.

How old are you, OP?

Do you have an active social life?

Are you in a relationship?

Is your mum with you?

As in, do you have friends you can talk to about all this?

The previous poster, who you were agreeing with, was arguing that it was SO cold as to explain all of the OP's ailments.

Her argument is that there is nothing of concern around the OP it is simply THAT cold.

It's not THAT cold.

It's cold, sure.

It's not SO cold as to explain being cold everywhere, all the time no matter what you do.

It's not SO cold that it explains the OP being up crying in the night because she can't get warm.

The poster you agreed with is wrong. And in agreeing with her, so were you.

Felt bad for you OP but now just think you’re attention seeking. Nobody is a hopeless and helpless surely.

It’s concerning that someone who works in the NHS and is trained in Safeguarding is calling out those saying it’s abusive as disgusting.

You are protecting him for whatever reason, possibly because he’s convinced you that he is right and only his opinions count, but this behaviour isn’t acceptable. It’s sad that you can’t see that.

I have low blood pressure, I’m always cold. I’m also a gardener 🥶

Today’s ensemble: ski base layer set, thick trousers, kneehigh football type socks, tshirt (work issued), two thick fleeces, thermal lined hat, boots with a thermal insole to stop cold draw. I’ve also swapped steel toecaps for composites.

Ive packed 3 travel mugs of tea and a hotwater bottle for the journey in my old pickup where the heating is dubious. I’ll refill at work for the drive home.

Focus on hands, feet and head.

Does the physical gardening work warm you up?
I often think an outdoor job would be wholesome and fulfilling. And then.....today....no thanks.

If you have read all my posts in this thread you will have seen that I have been very sympathetic towards the OP's situation, I have condemned her father's behaviour, I have suggested she gets her iron levels checked.

Nowhere have I implied that I think her problems are due to this week's cold weather.

I'm out of this thread now. My husband who has a history of strokes and Parkinsons disease had another fall early yesterday evening while I was trying to reply to your comments and I do not have the time or energy, today, for splitting hairs.

I wish the OP well and hope she will consider moving out of the family home and getting private blood tests if her GP won't agree to a blood panel.

Ok range of things to do

1. wrist warmers if you think fingerless gloves not professional
2. layer up as others have said - try and use wool as at least one layer and try thermals at least a vest to keep your core warm. Wool socks/tights and decent shoes that you can put an insole in - get thermal ones
3. Wear a neck scarf - silk is suprisingly warm and holds the heat to you - only needs to be like a neckerchief
4. wear a wool top - cardigan or jumper doesn't have to be a thick one just a wool one
5. regularly get up from desk and move about, tea & coffee, loo, filing, even just standing out of your chair for 2 minutes will encourage blood flow
6. lap blanket if you can get away with it - again proper wool best
7. Regular aerobic exercise in your life will help - not nec while in the office but evenings/mornings etc.
8. if at a desk and able to box yourself in underneath so the air doesn't circulate and you warm up your little pocket.
9. Getting really desperate you can get seat pads that heat up via battery or rechargeable battery pack.

Could be weight loss, could be dietary changes (are you getting enough healthy fats) could just be they are not heating the place sufficiently!! (Are you sat in a draft/near a door or window?

How can seeing this as a waste of money be "right"? Being minimally comfortable is not wrong. Plus you have admitted that his views are based on extremely out of date information about the running costs of individual heaters, heated throws etc. And how bloody dare he take your belongings and throw them away because he disapproves of them?

That's a massive overpayment given the low running costs of an electric blanket. Make sure you include a room heater, and that it is only payable during the months when you actually use them.

OP, there's lots of research around about the health effects of cold homes, including a major increase in the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Start printing off information about that and giving it to your idiot father to read.

ps I have also lost alot of weight in last 3 yrs - up to 5 stone and I have def felt the cold more last few days esp in my feet, so have built up a stash of tricks to keep me warm. I forgot doing heel raises at the desk as well - so rolling up and down the feet and engaging calf muscle about 20 times - only takes 30 sec - and this gets the blood flowing as well