(Northwoods, WI) Bright blue skies, blankets of snow, crisp days and cozy nights by a crackling fire. For many people, winter is a welcome time of year. But for people with certain diseases like arthritis, it can be a pain—literally. While cold weather doesn’t cause arthritis or most other conditions that get worse when temperatures drop, it can cause problems for people who have them. If you’ve got one of these conditions, here’s what you need to know to survive winter’s chill.
“Weather affects different people differently,” says Dr. Indra Kansari, Rheumatologist with Ministry Medical Group in Rhinelander. “Some people actually prefer cold weather, but many people with rheumatoid arthritis or lupus will be stiffer in the morning. It can take them longer to get up and loosen their joints and get going.”
There’s very little research showing that cold weather directly causes arthritis or alters its course. So why does the cold seem to make arthritis feel worse?
As the weather changes, so can the pressure in your joints. If you think of the tissues surrounding the joint as a balloon, Kansari explains, the balloon around the joint will expand a little when air pressure is low. The expanding tissues put pressure on the joint. People can actually feel changes in air pressure in their joints, which is why some people say they can predict the weather by the pain in their joints.
“Do what you can to keep warm,” Kansari says. “Bundle up from head to toe in several layers, preheat the car before getting into it and make sure your home or apartment is kept warm.” Other suggestions: Sleep under an electric blanket, warm clothing in the dryer before dressing and drink warm or hot drinks, such as coffee, tea or hot chocolate.
It’s also important to keep moving, Kansari says. Try exercising the affected joints before going out in the cold weather. It also helps to maintain a regular exercise program year round. Exercise will not only loosen stiff joints, but will help prevent winter weight gain that puts more stress on painful joints.
Joint stiffness isn’t the only problem low temperatures can cause. Raynaud’s disease is a condition in which the blood vessels quickly narrow, reducing the flow of blood and causing the skin on the fingers, toes and even the nose to temporarily turn white, then bluish. As blood flow returns, the skin turns red and becomes painful. In rare severe cases, Raynaud’s can cause skin sores or tissue death (gangrene) at the tips of the fingers and toes.
As with arthritis, the best advice for people with Raynaud’s is to keep warm. “Wear mittens as opposed to gloves,” Kansari advises. That way, the fingers can help keep each other warm.
Osteoporosis—in which the bones become porous and prone to fracture—may not itself worsen with cold. However, icy steps and walkways in the wintertime can present a particular danger to people whose bones are fragile. Slipping and falling can cause painful fractures that can be slow to heal and even disabling.
If you have osteoporosis, in addition to following the treatment plan your doctor prescribes, it’s important to take measures to reduce your risk of falling. Make sure you have handrails on your porch, keep sidewalks free of snow and ice, and avoid wearing shoes with slippery soles. If you take medications that affect your balance or stability, ask your doctor about the possibility of changing medications, or at least the timing of medications so that they’re less likely to interfere with daytime activities.
Cold weather may also affect people with certain lung diseases. For example, asthma can be triggered in some people by physical activity in cold weather. Rheumatoid lung disease, caused by the same immune response that affects the joints of people with rheumatoid arthritis, is characterized by shortness of breath, cough, chest pain and fever. For people with rheumatoid lung disease, winter air can aggravate problems breathing.
“If you have marginal breathing capacity and you compromise that in any way,” says Kansari, “cold winter air can make breathing worse.”
If you have difficulty breathing, try a face mask when you need to go out in the cold. Such masks, which can be found at many outdoor and sporting goods stores, cover your mouth and use the heat from your own breathing to warm the air before it enters your lungs.
If you have symptoms brought on by cold weather, be sure to mention them to your doctor. For more information or to schedule an appointment with a Ministry Medical Group provider call 715-361-4700. Information source: National Institutes of Health (NIH)