Extreme heat anxiety

[Upside Down Eagle]

I tend to get into arguments about what the definition of "extreme heat" is.
People from Florida tend to argue that my "extreme heat" is cold.

Anyhow I am not able to tolerate high temperatures.
It´s been four days of insane scorching heat now, the kind where everything is warm, even the furniture.

My reaction has been to do nothing but even that´s too much. I can´t physically handle it.
The malaise translates into an overwhelming anxiety and rage about not being able to fix it.

Anybody who has some advice on how to deal with this situation.

 

[Ronin]

Hey -

I'd try to drop the rage if you can, rage and heat = bad mix.

So what stays the same, hot, cold, mild, any weather? What you can do to balance yourself, any place.

And the practicals. Drink enough, don't skip meals, cool off enough, stay in shade / shelter, if I recall you don't smoke so good for you, things like that.

And don't tell yourself you can't handle heat. You a resourceful fella. Probably can.

 

[Deleted member 47099]

Hey... I'm stuck in a heatwave too and it sends my brain off into all sorts of crap too.

Can't handle the heat without getting dysregulated either.

Could you try sleeping during the day and being awake at night when it's cool? Sort of how they do the siesta thing in countries like Spain and Italy?

I have a fan that I'm finding really helpful... the breeze stops me going insane.

I'm also doing literally *nothing*. I've given myself permission to just watch tv and doze. That's taken some of the pressure off.

Sounds like you need to do 2 things:

- cool down as much as possible (cold drinks, run cold water over your wrists, put your feet in a bucket of cold water, wet your hair, wet a tshirt, wring it out and wear it damp, etc)

- calm down as much as possible (what do you do to re-regulate when you're dysregulated?) cos the internal stress is going to make coping with the heat so much harder/ make it feel impossible.

 

[Upside Down Eagle]

And don't tell yourself you can't handle heat.

Hmm. You´ve got a point there...
The rage is sort of a spin-off [hot-weather: hot headed]

Can't handle the heat without getting dysregulated either.

It´s my tough Northen-European ancestry - anything nearing 104F and my body starts to decompose.

The wearing a wet t-shirt helps a lot.

 

[Movingforward10]

I tend to get into arguments about what the definition of "extreme heat" is.
People from Florida tend to argue that my "extreme heat" is cold.

Does it matter what other people think? I would step away from those debates. They don't sound helpful. What you know is what it means for you and that is what matters. No one else needs to validate that for you and if they think differently, it doesn't invalidate how you feel.

Are there ways of cooling down?
It's been boiling hot here, and I'm going to have a cool bath before bed so I stop feeling sticky.
Maybe build in some nice cooling rituals for yourself?

 

[Friday]

The malaise translates into an overwhelming anxiety and rage about not being able to fix it.

Cha. I do that in the cold damp. Anything between 32F & 80F // 1C & 25C with humidity is f*cking miserable eat shit and die, I hate this goddamned motherf*cking cocksucking Aaaaaaaargh!!! :mad: Especially because it gets into my joints and I’m in serious pain (day 3 of a sprain, or day2 post op level pain) that simply vanishes below freezing or above 80. Add in the horrible pneumonia I get every year in the cold damp (this weather is literally killing me, I NEED to move somewhere dry) and I’m a seriously unhappy camper. Cold. In pain. Can’t breathe for shit. Outstanding. :banghead:

I survived happily for years and years by altering my environment to suit ;) Meaning driving up the mountains above the rain-line into snow and sun and cold crisp dry air in cold months; and by half living in a swimming pool, river, or ocean during warmer months... and year round by setting my thermostat 80+/25+ & using a fire to dry out the f*cking misty/morass/miserable/foggy/boggy awfulness. Voila! My home? A sanctuary. An oasis of bliss.

If I CANT change my environment? I pretty much have to be drinking or on major meds.

Speaking of changing your environment?

The wearing a wet t-shirt helps a lot.

Speaking as someone who spent 2/3s of their life in weather 100F+ (120 is aaaaaaaawesome. Your sweat evaporates before it hits your skin... so you’re never slick with it.)

Best personal air conditioning... ever? = Surfing rashguard under your clothes. Put it/them (if top & bottom) on dry, then step into a shower or spray yourself down with a spray bottle if you want to leave strategic places dry. I never bother. Real heat will evaporate strategic places soon enough, because they stick out. Or a bit of a rub with a towel / sit on a towel for a minute will dry off places I don’t want showing water marks on my clothes. THEN? Put your clothes on over the top. Loose & flowly clothes are best, because you get a double benefit... as the wind of their moving about cools the wet rashguard even more / yet prevents the rashguard from drying completely. Between your initial wet down and your own sweat, it takes serious heat/wind to completely dry out <<< So not only fo you have the whole body cooling rashguard, and the flowly clothes... but also??? You don’t have sweat dripping down your anything. Dripping sweat is an irritant. Instead, it absorbs evenly into the rashguard, to keep cooling you waaaay better than sticky rivulets of oily salty water. >>> Just refresh your rashguard as it dries. Easy enough with a sink, but a spray bottle works fine, too.

2nd best personal air conditioning = Wet hair with gel in it. The gel slows the drying, and the amount of heat loss via your head is HUGE. love it.

Anyhow I am not able to tolerate high temperatures.

People who don’t live in hot climates don’t drink enough, as a rule.

1. NEVER be thirsty. If you’re thirsty? You’re already dehydrated. Drink before you’re thirsty, and drink a lot.

2. You know you’re drinking enough IF - you really have to pee at least once an hour AND it’s clear. If it’s yellow, or you can wait 90 minutes to pee... you’re not drinking enough. <<< Low level dehydration isn’t medically concerning. “All” it does is make people cranky/emotional, and give them a low grade headache, and make their kidneys work harder, and make you thirsty. See how thirst is the last one? Seriously. Don’t be thirsty. Ever.

In temperate climates I still drink waaaaaay more than most people who are from this miserable place (about half a liter to 1 liter an hour)... but in hot climates I’m drinking 2-6 liters an hour. How much a person has to drink to pee clear hourly varies a whole lot by metabolism and activity level. I drank half as much as some of my friends, twice as much as others. Shrug. Pee clear & never be thirsty & you’ll be much much happier. Not happy per se, you’re still allowed to hate the weather... but you won’t be all emotional from being dehydrated. Which is huge.

 

[Upside Down Eagle]

f*cking miserable eat shit and die,

Exactly. Thank you for understanding

Thanks for the tips! Might have to buy some surfing gear ;)