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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Snowdonia UK
    Posts
    15

    Question Why am I always cold?

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    Is anyone out there 'always cold' like me? When everyone is wandering around in tee shirts I seem to need a technical baselayer and a tee on top (with long sleeves.) I always have to take spare clothes - which is a right pain.

    Recently I went for a check up and doc said - 'Doing well - oh, hang on a minute your cholesterol reading is blipping' and peering into the screen she said Oh! - its lower than normal!

    My thinking is that I have inadequate fat in the blood maybe that is whats making me permanently cold.

    In addition I can't take real heat! I have to run away and hide in the shade once its in the 80s!

    I get very fed up with all this as it makes me feel I can't join in with some activities unless I take a truck load of spare gear (which adds to the weight!)

    I am light and skinny with a kind of Scandinavian skin (pale and easily burned) and build, and I eat a diet of wholefoods, never drink tea or coffee or eat red meat.

    Any comments and ideas gratefully received!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Newport, RI
    Posts
    3,821
    I'm freezing all the time, too! I don't have an explanation or advice, but I'm right with you, sister!

    I'm also thin, fair skinned, with low cholesterol, and low blood pressure, too. I also don't eat red meat or poultry, just a little fish now and then.

    I remember when I was a teenager and I ate everything, and was overweight, I was also always cold. This leads me to believe that for me, it's not diet related. I wonder if it could be a circulatory issue?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    California
    Posts
    777
    I have no idea as I am always cold as well, BUT I am thin, olive-skinned, low blood pressure, and HIGH CHOLESTEROL despite plenty of exercise and adherence to a non-processed/whole foods diet with olive oil, fish, and ground flax seed as my primary sources of fat.

    My mother and grandmother were always cold and diagnosed with low thyroid. Supposedly, my thyroid is fine though.

    I don't understand your intolerance to heat - you say you are ALWAYS cold, but have to find shade in the 80's. Do you mean that you are NOT cold once it hits 80 degrees? I am able to tolerate heat into the 100's and continue to wear long pants and long sleeves in that weather (I never bare my arms and legs in public - not even on the bike).

    Hope you find some answers!

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    8,548
    I am another always cold and can't take the heat.
    I have noticed that since i have gotten fitter, I can handle more heat
    and cold now.

    If I am in lower temps (below 60) and am inactive, i get miserable fast.
    As long as I can stay moving, i can handle it now.

    I also used to get really painful ears in the cold (50-60 degrees). THAT has also vanished.
    Mimi Team TE BIANCHISTA
    for six tanks of gas you could have bought a bike.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Limbo
    Posts
    8,769
    You're all thin. You don't have enough insulation.
    Have some candy corn.
    2008 Trek FX 7.2/Terry Cite X
    2009 Jamis Aurora/Brooks B-68
    2010 Trek FX 7.6 WSD/stock bontrager

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Portland OR
    Posts
    52

    low BW + no red meat + cold =

    Borderline anemia???? Many docs underdiagnose this in women, figuring that it's just a byproduct of menstruation.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Limbo
    Posts
    8,769
    No anemia. I think it has to do with being thin.
    I remember a lab we did in Bio 101 that involved a mouse. The point of the experiment being how smaller things tended to have colder body temps.
    I felt terrible about what we had to do to the mouse even though it wasn't harmed.
    2008 Trek FX 7.2/Terry Cite X
    2009 Jamis Aurora/Brooks B-68
    2010 Trek FX 7.6 WSD/stock bontrager

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    8,548
    no anema here either.
    i think thin is what it is/was. I'm less thin now that i have more muscle mass.
    Mimi Team TE BIANCHISTA
    for six tanks of gas you could have bought a bike.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Uncanny Valley
    Posts
    14,498
    Another one here. Mostly I have trouble if I'm less active, although once I get cold, I will not warm up no matter what I do, short of a total immersion hot bath. I have a terrible time at seminars where they tend to set the AC at 70F or below - my thumbs and fingers get numb and painful. Before we started flying south for the winters, my toes would be blue (literally) from December through April.

    Same thing with the heat (95F and above) - difficult and dangerous for me on the motorcycle (moderate exertion), have to wear a cooling vest; no real problem on the bicycle. Hydration has a lot to do with that, I know - I get dehydrated very, very easily to the point where I can't absorb plain water and have to drink hydration solutions - but I really don't think that's all that's going on, considering I have trouble with the cold, too.

    Faulty thermostat, is all. Someone told me once that the kidneys are the thermostat of the body; I have no idea whether that's true or not.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    San Francisco, CA
    Posts
    564
    Ain't nothing wrong with calling a space heater your best friend, IMHO.

    -- gnat! (they don't take hugs well, however)

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    mo
    Posts
    706
    Thin is definitely what it is for me, especially when I was cutting back on calories to lose weight on a getting thin frame. Last I was at that point not so long ago I had low cholesterol, normal to low blood pressure and a resting heart rate of 35-40.

    Right now I am not thin, not cutting calories and not cold.

    Heat, on the other hand, only bothers me when I'm not thin. Like now. Too many candy corns.
    I used to have an open mind but my brains kept falling out.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Posts
    317
    I'm often cold when other people aren't. In the 80s and 90s, I'll be happy and comfy, and everyone else will want to kill me because I'm bouncing. Doesn't matter how thin or fat I am. Hydration does matter, because I lose a lot of heat tolerance when dehydrated. If I feel cold, I put on a sweater or a hat. If I feel hot, I drink more water or put on a hat. Hats are lovely things for temperature control.

    So I tend to figure I'm just an oddball who likes to be a bit warmer than average. It doesn't take much forethought for me to be comfortable and stay comfortable.

    It's not unusual for people to be sensitive to cold *and* sensitive to heat. If it's not causing serious trouble (and no, packing a light jacket in the summer doesn't count as serious trouble), I wouldn't worry about it. If it's to the point where things like layering, wearing a hat, and drinking plenty of fluids don't solve things, you may have a problem. If you've got a history of hypothermia or hyperthermia, then you've got an easy explanation. Once you've had some form of trouble with your internal thermostat, it's much easier to have trouble again. Lots of other possible medical explanations, but very often it is just your body doesn't take extremes well.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Kelowna, BC, Canada
    Posts
    2,737
    Quote Originally Posted by mimitabby View Post
    I am another always cold and can't take the heat.
    I have noticed that since i have gotten fitter, I can handle more heat
    and cold now.

    If I am in lower temps (below 60) and am inactive, i get miserable fast.
    As long as I can stay moving, i can handle it now.

    I also used to get really painful ears in the cold (50-60 degrees). THAT has also vanished.
    Me too Mimi, I can handle more heat and cold now. And I don't get the earaches I used to get when I first started biking.

    I dress in layers at work because I can go from freezing to sweating in a matter of minutes. If I'm not moving, I get really cold, but as soon as I start walking around, I have to peel off the layers.
    It is never too late to be what you might have been. ~ George Elliot


    My podcast about being a rookie triathlete:Kelownagurl Tris Podcast

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    I'm the only one allowed to whine
    Posts
    10,557
    Hot flashes are great for warming me right up!
    "If Americans want to live the American Dream, they should go to Denmark." - Richard Wilkinson

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Limbo
    Posts
    8,769

    I just re-read this

    and I think we have our answer.

    Moptop is always cold because she's in the UK
    2008 Trek FX 7.2/Terry Cite X
    2009 Jamis Aurora/Brooks B-68
    2010 Trek FX 7.6 WSD/stock bontrager

 

 

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