Chronic Pain and Cold

Jayne Hats for Warmth!

Like so many other parts of the country, it was really, really cold last week. It was zero degrees a couple of days with the windchill in negative digits. It was cold inside our house because it couldn’t get up above 65. It seemed like everyone I knew was pretty miserable because of the cold weather but I thought I’d talk about how it affected my chronic pain.

Cold and chronic pain don’t mix so while we were dealing with the subzero temperatures, my pain levels were really high. In fact, they are still high today despite it being much warmer today. Nearly everyone in my various chronic pain support groups online were having similar issues.

The pain I could deal with, what was more annoying was my eczema. I have always had really dry skin but it wasn’t until I ended up at a dermatologist that I was diagnosed with very bad eczema. I was given a medicated creme which helps a lot.

Some parts of the year I can go months without having to use the creme at all. But winter is always a rough time. My eczema is all over and I have different hot spots every day. I’m very itchy especially before bedtime because usually I’m busy during the day and can ignore it.

Also because of the cold, I had been spending a lot of time under my electric blanket. Too much heat like that for too long can cause an eczema flare as well so I had to be careful on how long I kept the blanket on.

Thankfully the temperatures have risen and hopefully they won’t drop down that low again. I feel for everyone who has felt worse for whatever reason during this cold snap!