SilvyrRain
A lot of people love summertime. Summer comes with promises of fun, adventure, and relaxation. I love the fresh fruit, swimming, and memories of so many wonderful vacations. But, since I became chronically ill, summer has become a very difficult season for me. I have a very strong intolerance for heat and it’s debilitating.
Dysautonomia causes my body to act like its exercising just from sitting up, or more profoundly, from standing. Imagine going for a run. Your heart rate increases, you sweat as a natural way to cool your body, your muscles may hurt, you may start to run out of breath. Most people stop running after these symptoms intensify. If you run too much, push your body too hard, you may end up lightheaded and then, you may faint, if the exertion becomes too much.
Now, imagine that you can’t control when you stop running and your body just keeps running no matter what you do. That’s what my body does simply upon sitting up too long, or even worse, standing for more than about 10 minutes.
Add the summer heat to the equation. Running in the summer heat is much more difficult and comes with more risks if you push your body too hard. So, for me, even standing for 5 minutes in the summer heat puts me at risk of fainting. And sure enough, I have fainted multiple times this summer.
It’s hard on me. I currently live in the desert and the heat can be stifling, to say the least. On top of that, my house does not have very good cooling. This has caused me to spend a lot of the summer lying in bed, physically unable to do anything.
Truth be told, I miss the summer. It feels like it has been a big blob of time that has all blurred together this year. And, all I can do is wait; wait for the eventual cooling that comes with autumn. But, who likes to just wait?
