Helpful Hints that Can Help MS Sufferers Beat the Heat of Summer

If you are an MS sufferer, it is the summertime blues you have to beat rather than those that usually happen in the winter time. Summer can wreck havoc on your symptoms during the summer months or any time it is hot thanks to the intolerances to heat. So you have two choices to make. You can just stay indoors and put your life on hold until the weather outdoors becomes more tolerable or you can make a few changes in your routine and employ a few tips to beat the heat so that you can stay amongst the living outside the four air conditioned walls of your home.

Choosing the latter is the best way to push past your MS symptoms and live life as much as you can. There are a few easy things you can do to offset some of the heat so you can venture outdoors on occasion.

1. Use cooling products outdoors – There are a variety of cooling products like misting fans, personal cooling neck wraps and even cooling vests that can keep you from baking outdoors. The cooling vests come in a number of styles from the kind that need ice packs to those that require batteries.

2. Consume cold food and drink – Cold food and drink cools down the core of your body quickly. Besides the customary ice cream or popsicles to beat the heat, you can also freeze certain fruits like chunks of watermelon, banana or grapes for a healthy snack. Eat cold sandwiches, drink iced tea and consume cold salads instead of anything hot.

Freeze bottles of water so that you can take a bottle with you while running around town in the summer. Be sure to leave a little room at the top for expansion during the freezing process. Drink a large slush or cold fruit smoothie to cool your innards.

3. Take a cold shower – A cold shower can work wonders to make you feel better about the heat. In fact, if you can, take a cold shower before you leave to buy some heat acclimatization time.

4. Relocate – Obviously the best solution is to change where you live and move to a cooler climate. However, this is not always feasible so see if you can at least escape the heat for a while and vacation in a colder area.

5. Start your car and park close – Start your car and allow it to cool off before you head out. Also, park as closely as possible to your end destination. Some MS sufferers end up breaking down and getting a handicapped placard just for this purpose and then won’t use it in the cooler months as long as their symptoms are manageable.

6. Invest in a large misting fan – Just like those you see in open air festivals and other outdoor venues, these fans emit a mist while blowing air and the temperatures can drop drastically in the immediate vicinity. Just think how heavenly this could be when sitting out on your back patio!