Coping with the heat

[We are Devo]

I am extremely heat sensitive and it's really hard to get through the summer. I have central a/c, curtains drawn, drinking lots of water, and I still feel awful. I have fibromyalgia and blood marker for lupus, not to mention perimenopause. How are you dealing with the heat? I get so tired of complaining but I'm miserable!
I live in SoCal, btw..

[hedgehog]

1. When I'm in a flare, I literally do not sweat.

It helps a lot to wear a water soaked bandanna around my neck.

Also - I don't go outside between 10 and 4 if I can help it, and I always wear a sun hat.

[We are Devo]

2. Thanks..

for the bandana idea. Yeah, I try to stay in until evening if possible. Sunscreen and a hat, linen clothing...

[mopinko]

5. when it is really hot, i wrap a couple ice cubes in the bandana.

silk works best. easy to find silk scarves at the thrift shop.

[grasswire]

6. this may sound silly

but if I have to go out in really hot weather, I fill a very small ziplock bag with several ice cubes and tuck it inside my bra. It works.

[mopinko]

8. i bet it does.

too bad i don't wear one.

[Warpy]

3. It's been a disgusting summer.

I'm in the high desert in NM and a persistent easterly flow of air around the high pressure area that cut off the rain to the corn belt has given us superheated air from Texas all summer.

I have an evaporative cooler but it's on its last legs so I don't use it much, just to cool the dump down in the evening so I can sleep.

I have a small fan at the puter. When I get up and walk away from the breeze, I melt. Mostly I sit and read and fool around on the computer and hope the hell the easterly flow breaks down for a couple of days so we can get our monsoon rains back instead of having them shoved into Arizona all summer. When I start getting woozy, I go soak my head and let the evaporation of wet hair cool me down. It works, by the way.

This must be the kind of thing that destroyed the Anasazi people, piss poor rainfall meaning piss poor harvests.

I'm getting so I dread summer. I hate this heat.

[kickysnana]

4. Unplug any non-nessesary appliances..

use lamps sparingly. CFS/Halogen give off less heat.

We put mylar on the windows this year available at Carol Wright.com and others. It dropped the temperature in our apartment 5 degrees.

Work in the morning and after dark if possible. Wash dishes and laundry after 10pm. Cook early or late and reheat or eat cold foods.

Park in the shade if you can. Keep car windows down 1/2 inch to vent heat. I had one of those solar powered window vents that helped but every time someone would ride with me they would forget, open the window and it would end up smashed on the pavement.

Even if you have AC. A small fan can make a difference in your personal space.

[grasswire]

7. distraction?

I am in the habit of going to the library when a heat wave is coming, and stocking up on books and DVDs.

I also know that I feel cooler if my space is clean. Nothing makes me feel hotter than a messy house.