Weather Changes And Flare-Ups?

[london]

It's not news that we are in a heat wave in the USA. In eastern KY, it's been non-stop thunderstorm, 100% humidity, and 100+ degree Fahrenheit temperatures. I AM A MESS. Weather changes and heat make my POTS almost unbearable. In fact, the only time I even notice my POTS in winter is before a big snow storm. However, my new electrophysiologist (who deals with POTS patients almost weekly) practically laughed when I mentioned this. "No, POTS will not make you predict the weather, lolol."

WRONG. I have puberty-induced POTS, my mother is pretty sure she had pregnancy-induced POTS (pregnant with me, we are both only children) and has a leaky valve, my grandmother (her mother) and great aunt (grandmother's sister) have SVT. We all flare before a storm. Is this common or is my family just crazy?

Also, do any of you have family with a link of heart problems? I know IST is just different flavor of SVT, and my mother and I both have had POTS (or POTS-like symptoms). My other cardio says it isn't genetic, but this is just too much of a coincidence for me.

[potsyturvy]

Weather changes definitely affect my POTS symptoms. I think it might have something to do with the barometric pressure? My grandpa used to have the same thing with his rheumatoid arthritis where is would get worse before and after storms. My POTS symptoms are definitely worse if there is a storm coming or if there is a sudden change in temperature or weather. So, I don't think you're families crazy because we all experience it in my family too!! lol

[london]

Thanks! We just finished a horrible thunderstorm here and all day I've had a pounding headache that no amount of coffee or midodrine would cure, nausea, dizziness, and general "bleh".

[potsyturvy]

Ugh.. I'm sorry to hear that! I get those headaches too when the weather changes.. I also get where there is so much pressure in my head it feels like it's going to explode. I hope the weather there evens out soon so you can start feeling a little better!

[Chaos]

I completely agree with you about the weather affecting your symptoms. Every time a storm moves thru, the humidity rises, etc I have a LOT more symptoms.

Migraines are another thing that can be triggered by weather changes.

When I saw my neuro at Mayo last week, his comment was ...."heat ALWAYS makes patients worse. Even patients who are in "remission" get worse with the heat." So he seems to think weather affects symptoms. When I asked about storms making me worse, he said that wasn't as common of a complaint but he didn't deny that it could happen.

Also, I know several doctors, including a cardiologist and an allergist, who have verified that patients in their practice have worse symptoms with storms coming thru. So, it would seem very likely that you would have several issues that could be affected by weather changes.

Interesting that your doctor said it isn't genetic. The doc at Mayo said he thinks I have a genetic pre-disposition for it and that my family history was "compelling" for thinking there was definitely a genetic component to it.

[abnel]

Hi London, I am definitely worse in the heat and the humidity. Many of us on this forum seem to get worse with weather changes.

Where I live we just experienced one of our most humid summers on record over the Christmas/New Year period. Some days I couldn't leave the house as I couldn't breathe when the humidity was over 85%. I was still working at that point and I was nearly passing out walking out of the air conditioned building to the un-airconditioned car park. I was particularly miserable when it got to nearly 100% humidity and it was in the low to mid 30's celsius.

I hope the weather improves greatly and soon for you and others out there who are suffering.

[Guest tearose]

Yes! Weather does effect some of us!

At the peak of the heat, at the coldest of winter and moving from air conditioning into extreme heat can all cause flare-ups!

For example:

It is often before the rainstorm that I will feel worse symptoms and as soon as the storm passes I feel the change for the better. I do believe we sense the barometric pressure changes.

It is one of those areas that if we did not have validation from each other, we would be upset because the "doctor says" it doesn't happen.

Trust us, it can cause flare ups!

[jknh9]

It's been between 100 and 104 where I live for nearly the last week and I've been miserable. I've been trying not to spend too much time going outside, but I'm trying my best to work part-time and recently my job requires me to go across town to the university for research so I've been getting in and out of the car a lot and walking from the parking lot over to the library etc (about a 5-7 min walk). I've been trying to exercise a bit inside, doing some cardio and my recumbent stationary bike, but it doesn't seem to help. This past week I've had some of the worst insomnia I've ever had and I feel extremely reluctant to eat, especially in the morning and in the heat of the day. I'm not good at salt-loading and this weather makes it even tougher for me to make myself eat salty stuff :/

I used to love hot weather, but since my symptoms started becoming a serious issue back in March, I feel like I just crumble in the heat.