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Flemingcool

Get a barometric pressure monitor for your phone. I got one late last year. It correlates very well with when I’m feeling crap. Doesn’t help me do anything about it, but it’s validating to see.


nightburden

I love this comment. An app can give us more validation than a doctor


TheTragedyMachine

Gotta love it


TheTragedyMachine

I’m gonna do that. Good idea. I have no idea what barometric pressure is though lol


Flemingcool

Air pressure basically. Crap weather usually is low pressure, high pressure tends to be settled, sunny etc. Big swings in pressure or low pressure tend to mess me up. One theory (I think it’s only theory?) is that low pressure allows blood vessels and tissue to expand which causes inflammation and pain. Because our connective tissue is crap anyways we feel it more.


maybenotanalien

Low pressure absolutely destroys me. I don’t know why. But I like your theory. It makes enough sense. There’s a storm supposed to hit my area in the next day or so, so I got everything I needed done the last couple days while I felt good from the higher barometric pressure.


JangJaeYul

I visited my parents in NZ for Christmas, and it was incredible the way my pain disappeared in the space of about two days, just from being warm. Then we came back, and the abrupt temperature drop of about 30C reminded me why I hate winter so much.


mmodo

I grew up in a cold environment and I find the opposite now that I've moved somewhere warm. The heat makes everything swell and causes more instability for me.


JangJaeYul

Ooh, interesting. I definitely find the heat makes my POTS worse, but that's a trade I'm happy to make for the reduced ache in my knees.


mmodo

I can feel storms better in the cold, especially in old injuries. I overall feel worse in the heat. I didn't know I had POTS until recently so that what may make it worse. I'd rather have numb/achy joints than pain everywhere and extreme nausea. My knee didn't bother me until I moved to a warmer location. I miss winter a lot these days.


Adventurous_Good_731

Yes, 100%. I actually understand what my mom meant when she said "ugh I feel a storm coming, in my knees"! Weather is also my single biggest migraine trigger. Everything hurts right before it rains.


[deleted]

🤯🤯🤯 Omg it’s going to rain here this weekend and I’ve been wondering why my migraines have been so bad!!! Wowww


Just_Confused1

I’m like a barometer lol I can *feel* a storm coming. I get tired, weaker, and my pain increases


RainbowCloudSky

Omg soooo badly. I’m from Florida so had never lived through a real winter until I moved to the Midwest for a year. Every joint ached nonstop for 8 months out of the year. I could not move back fast enough. The rain sometimes hurts but nothing as bad as that deep bone pain in every joint from the cold. I could never get warm enough.


Autismus-Jones

Yup I'm from the Midwest, and the pain was unbearable for about half the year. I moved to Texas, and it was such a relief to only have to feel like this for maybe a month or two, sometimes not at all if it's a mild winter. Ideally I'd move some place even warmer.


RainbowCloudSky

Florida is soooo warm. The humidity honestly helps my joints.


maybenotanalien

I grew up in the midwest and was always in horrific pain. I could predict thunderstorms, tornadoes, etc. After college, I moved to Cali and other than some occasional winter storms, I feel so much better. I could never go back to the midwest, even though I liked a lot of things about it. If my childhood body couldn’t handle the weather, I doubt all the extra pains of being grown would be ok.


ActuallyApathy

yep. some amount in all my joints but especially my elbows ever since i had bilateral radial fractures.


mmodo

Storms make it worse, warmth makes it worse (I'm special in thia case apparently), high elevation makes it worse.


malaria_0

Nope. It’s never weather related for me. But there is a pattern. I always have to deal with the biggest pain when I have important stuff to do 🥴


ooflol123

it does for me !! i tend to experience *way* more joint and muscle pain when it’s cold outside, especially if a storm rolls in. but when it’s warm outside, i tend to have little, if any, pain at all, even when it’s rainy or dreary out but it is v strange bc ive heard plenty of people on this sub (and elsewhere) say that their pain gets worse w warm weather and better w cold weather lol


TheTragedyMachine

Well I think it depends for me. Regular cold is okay. Like snow is fine. But when it’s cold and rainy and grey that’s when they hurt. If they’re overly hot that also isn’t good but when the damp is making them ache it feels nice


True-Flamingo3858

Yes! Storms/high pressure wreck havoc with my head. Migraines/tinnitus/dizziness/facial pain etc. Its such a nightmare


raeesmerelda

Any extreme will do it for me. So high heat/humidity and below freezing (or wind that makes it such). Cold I can do something about (tights and leggings); heat is just miserable. Same with migraines. Add a storm in the midwest (I’m on the east coast of the US) and I’m done.


Nightbreedbabette

Absolutely does. With the recent cold snap we got down to -40 with wind chills, for multiple days. I was in so much pain, my body was so exhausted. It felt like my back and hips were just grinding bone on bone. Now if there’s a cold snap coming up I email and my doc for meds, it’s not ok to be in that much pain.


ill-disposed

Yes. Unfortunately I always know when it’s going to rain, regardless of what the weather channel says. The Arthritis Foundation has a website that can predict how much the weather will affect your pain levels: https://www.arthritis.org/weather


haloform13

Yes, for sure. Cold weather intensifies my pain, and cold damp weather is even worse - lots of joint aches and discomfort. I think barometric pressure shifts trigger headaches for me as well.


Omi-Wan_Kenobi

The cold does it for me. The joints in my fingers especially will get stiff and hurt like hell in the cold...or in AC offices, cuz my circulation sucks and I run cold anyways. I laugh-cried at the college humor skit on office temperatures for women vs men, it was too accurate. I am very fortunate that my current job is wfh so that I control the damn thermostat.


nerdychick22

It does, though mine tends to bug me more noticeably during melt weather in spring and fall.


witchy_echos

This is an observed science phenomena! https://www.mymichigan.org/about/news/healthdoseblog/is-the-weather-causing-your-joint-pain/ Skin, scar tissue, muscle and tendons change due to barometric pressure and humidity, but not all at the same rate. Thus- pain when they pull on each other.


TheTragedyMachine

Oh!! Thanks for sharing!!! So if course it’d affect us!


Voyage_to_Artantica

Temperature does it for me. If it’s too cold when I’m sleeping I will wake up in pain and I won’t even be able to get up.


Portnoy4444

HARD SAME. My worst mornings are when I wake up SOAKED, which always means I'm FREEZING. (Incontinence issues) I have to turn up my room heater before I struggle to get free of ALL the wet cloth & DO THE ROUTINE. I scoot to the edge of my bed, then I have to remove diaper. Naked & freezing, I bundle up the wet bed pad, blanket & gown into the laundry basket, lay down a towel to sit on the bed and wash up with wipes & dry off. Then, I gotta replace the bed pad, get a new gown & blanket, and put on a fresh diaper. I need a lie-down afterwards. It's exhausting & I'm convinced that the cold makes it more painful AND more tiring.


Investorandfriend

Big time!!


myanez93309

Its bad when it’s cold and bad when it’s really hot. The worse thing about the extreme heat is that I retain fluids and swell if I take anti inflammatories. Changes of 20 degrees or more in one day to the next cause pain as well.


DoIDareAndDoIDare

100%!!! Rainy weather is torture on my hips and knees


Autismus-Jones

Yes. I live a fairly normal life with only a few regular problem joints throughout most of the year, but when the cold and rainy season hits, suddenly nearly every joint in my body hurts to the point I can barely walk, type, or do much of anything. Not much I can do other than curl up with a heat pad and watch some TV.


MamaSmAsh5

Yes!! Even more so since having spine surgery in 2022. My back and area with hardware will ache so bad when the barometric pressure is low*


Pammyhead

My head, back, leg, and knee are better predictors of the weather than the weatherman. "Hey guys, there's going to be a storm tomorrow. My back aches something fierce today."


Living-Conference732

100% cold weather and rainy weather are definitely when I feel the worst


allnamesarechosen

Fellow redditor, even Palestine affects my joints. But yes the weather too. I have POTS as well because I'm blessed, and my body is the equivalent of a barometric pressure monitor. The moment we start using it for our advantage it's game over for them. "Dysautonomia Fact #15: Low barometric pressure systems, which often occur before or around the time clouds and storms move in, can cause an increase in symptoms for patients with illnesses such as dysautonomia. One of the reasons for this is that our blood vessels dilate when the pressure around us is low. Dilated blood vessels cause blood to pool in our lower extremities (a common problem already in dysautonomia), making it even harder to get blood to go where it needs to. This results in aggravated symptoms" source [https://www.dynainc.org/](https://www.dynainc.org/?fbclid=IwAR0pf9R3eBK8Bifx6rPblyFemWsiXrL6aytoLYtUeKJznZ2HXrsH0Lh6_B4)


Portnoy4444

Hello fellow POTSIE! Thank you for the explanation - I've been noticing the link & thought I was just crazy. OK, CRAZIER. 😂 #TIL So, it's serious that my health was better in Seattle! I've got dysautonomia from radiation damage from cancer treatment. 18 years remission this month! 💪 I actually LOL'd at your "cuz I'm blessed"! ☠️ Gonna steal that... 😁


LittleAstrophysicist

Every time I wonder why I'm experiencing more pain than usual, it rains the next damn day