surviving the summer…

I grew up in the desert, where triple digits during the summer are not only the norm, they’re the rule. Summers were long and brutal, at least for the adults. But I remember loving summer as a kid, because summer meant swimming all day, riding bikes, playing sports, and best of all, no school. The heat never seemed to be much of a factor. In fact, on my hometown’s record heat day of 122 degrees farenheit (that’s 50 degrees celsius), I was outside playing tennis.

Fast forward a couple decades, and my love of summers has morphed into a deep-seeded heat-fueled hatred of the season.

My thoughts about summer began to change when I reached that age where it’s no longer acceptable to always be a sweaty mess, when I stopped getting summers off,  and when it became like every other season, except my electricity bill tripled and it took twice as long to get anywhere due to all the tourists.

But I suspect that most of my aversion to summer is due to postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) and mast cell activation disorder (MCAD). You see, heat does not go well with either POTS or MCAD. We have what you call “heat intolerance”.

Heat causes blood vessels to dilate. When vessels dilate, it is more difficult to pump blood throughout the body. Your heart will beat a little faster to compensate for the reduction in the volume of blood being circulated. For those of us with POTS, our vessels are already often dilated, resulting in blood pooling. It’s why our legs often appear red or purple, and why we’re often lightheaded or dizzy when standing. When you add the increase in dilation to an already faulty autonomic nervous system, it becomes difficult to function. My blood pressure plummets on hot days, and staying upright becomes a challenge. It took me years to realize that not everybody’s vision starts to go black when out in the sun for 10 minutes.

Heat is also a trigger for MCAD and can result in flushing, rashes, hives, breathing difficulties, and even anaphylaxis. Fortunately I don’t get extreme MCAD reactions from heat, but I do flush and end up with the occasional rash if in direct sunlight for too long.

Many of us with POTS and MCAD are forced to avoid the sun, which means no beach days, no holiday bbqs, no surfing or paddleboarding or kayaking (assuming we were actually physically capable of doing those things), and no sunbathing. We spend the majority of the summer feeling lightheaded, flushed, and weak. Once autumn begins and temperatures slowly begin to fall, we don’t suddenly feel better. It takes months to return to where we were, pre-summer. As soon as our symptoms finally start to turn around, we only get a few months before it warms up again. Preparing to feel awful for an entire season isn’t easy.

I’m fortunate that I no longer live somewhere with triple digits every day of the summer, but we broke a lot of heat records here this summer. Air conditioning isn’t as prevalent here as it was where I grew up. So, I have discovered a few tips to help deal with the heat:

• Cooling vest. These are good for when you need to be out and about on a warm day, or when you need to quickly pursue that pesky rebel alliance that just destroyed the Death Star. If you’re not interested in paying $200 for this one, or you don’t already own a Storm Trooper costume, ice packs in bra straps are a nice cold alternative for those days when you want to let the world know that, yes, you do have nipples, and here they are for the world to see.
• A/C. If you live somewhere like my city, many houses may not have air conditioning, and you may not be interested in spending the $15,000 to have it installed. Fortunately, there are smaller and more portable units for a couple hundred dollars. You can get one on wheels, tie a rope around your waist, and just drag it around the house. You can even keep it on at night if you’re lulled to sleep by jet engine noise.
• Portable fan. Back in my day, a portable fan had 3 blades, one setting, a little push button oscillator that was constantly falling off, and was used for one of two reasons: to speed up airdrying of your unmentionables or to tell Luke that you’re his father. These days fans look like something built by NASA and have about 10 different settings: one for each way you have planned to kill your significant other if s/he claims it’s too cold and shuts off the spacefan. If you want to go old school, set a bowl of ice water in front of the fan. Provides a comfortable breeze and little something to keep your martini cool.
• Cooling towels. I had a blue one of these Frog things that I lost in my last move. I loved that thing – Froggy and I had some good times. Cooling towels are made of a special evaporative material that helps keep you cool without making you look like you entered a wet t-shirt contest. After wetting the towel, you wring out excess water and wrap it around your neck (or other body part of your choosing, if that’s your jam). You can also place it in the fridge to make it cooler. I know what you’re thinking – can’t I just place a regular wet towel in the fridge? Yes, yes you can.
• Eat/drink something cool. I know it’s obvious, but an ice cold drink can cool you down quickly. We like popsicles over at my house. Most popsicles are high in sugar, so we make our own. Using a popsicle mold, we make low sugar fruit juice popsicles for the BF and I, and my dog gets chicken broth popsicles. For any POTSies that need a sodium boost, the chicken broth popsicles actually aren’t bad.
• Hang out where it’s cool. If you’re not fortunate enough to have a reliable air conditioning unit, there are plenty of places to hang out around town to take advantage of free A/C. My dog and I sometimes head to a local brewery so cold you need to bring a sweater. Movie theaters, malls, libraries, and cafes all tend to keep their space very cold. Or, if you head to a friend’s house with a/c, you can lounge around all day and take naps. Pants optional. So come visit me in southern California.

So, welcome to the unofficial end of summer, friends. I hope you’re staying cool.

“If I’m going to be a mess, I may as well be a hot mess.” – Mindy Kaling

Smell ya later.
– Linds