Heat Intolerance: Symptom of Neuropathy?

@sunnyflower
Sunny, your therapist is correct, life with neuropathy does involve LOSS. Even mourning, for things you will never be able to do again. But there is GAIN as well. As you intimate, finding Connect is one, meeting others who "get it" and have understanding and compassion for each other. Its a meaningful gain for sure. Another is questioning life, like why is this happening to me? What does it mean that this is life for me now. Where this leads is for each of us to decide, but it's there and we have to deal with these new questions. Is that a gain? Up to each of us to figure out. Closeness can be a gain. I know that I am closer to my wife since this all started and I know she feels closer to me. It's a significant gain. My point is that for all the new BAD in our lives, there is some good if you try to find it. Lots of loss described in this discussion. Can't sit in the sun, can't use blow dryer, etc. Life gets so circumscribed by neuropathy. So many new things now off the list. You know what else is a BIG gain? I don't even care about watching the news any more. I have got more important fish to fry, and a wife to care for. Yes!

I heard for years that aging in general involved loss. That people who deal with aging sometimes find that they begin to have more appreciation for the things they still have or can do, and they appreciate them more now that other abilities have gone by the wayside. No sermon here, just a thought.

Hank

@jesfactsmon I know in my heart you are right but I can’t help but feel this is karma or kismet and I deserve it. Thank you for your wise words @sunnyflower

@jesfactsmon I know in my heart you are right but I can’t help but feel this is karma or kismet and I deserve it. Thank you for your wise words @sunnyflower

Hi Hank, Oh yes, absolutely gain in affliction and any unwanted difficult things in life.

As I have shared extensively here on the blog, we all walk through many fires here in this life and for me, these trials have driven me right into the hands of Almighty God.

Were I well, healthy, fit, pain and trial free, etc., I wouldn't have needed to seek His comfort, peace and understanding in this way.

Spiritually before I became so ill, I was seeking that which could permanently fill the needs of my soul and of course tried everything but the one and only thing able to do that, an intimate relationship with our living God. Now that has proven to be the gain that far outweighs anything!!

My post you are responding to where I shared we need to recognize our circumstances as a loss, is a good tool that therapists use to help clients identify/articulate why they are struggling/feeling the way they do. Once that is achieved, they /we can begin the healing process including looking at things in a different perspective including the gains our circumstances bring to our lives.

I had never heard that we should honor our pain, emotional or otherwise . So many feel guilt over it/them, and can't move on.

These perspectives are each pieces of the whole that all must be taken into account to move forward.

Hope that clarifies where I was coming from in the post you replied to.

Have a lovely day, Sunnyflower

@bustrbrwn22 Does it really matter to feel if your condition was brought on by Karma? I don’t think so. What is important is for you to accept your current health condition and be able to move on. Do yourself a favor by caring. Help yourself find answers for a better life. We are all here to listen and give suggestions, but it is you that has to ultimately want and need the help. Reach for it! Wish you well. Toni

bustrbrwn22, I understand exactly. I hate that you feel this way.

I find my answers in the bible which has the best explanation for everything.

For me, it makes sense. The bible teaches that we're in spiritual warfare which takes place in our thoughts. It calls Satan the father of lies, the accuser and that he seeks to devour and destroy.

Whenever I get stinkin' thinkin', only occasionally every minute or so, I stop the thought and wallpaper my mind with God's truth: Who we are to Him, how He feels about us, His promises to us, what eternal life with Him through Christ, will be like, etc.

I have written a lot about this. Have you seen thise posts? If not and you're interested, let me know and I will copy and paste them into a private message for you.

I understand self-loathing to the max! God doesn't call perfect
people.

A really cool exercise my therapist taught me was to look into a mirror three times a day and talk to the vision of myself as I would talk to someone I love very much. Very loving, very kind, very warm, encouraging, building up that person you see in the mirror as you would your best friend or someone you love very deeply.

I found this exercise almost impossible to do at first. It took a lot of practice but it really works. She said it takes about three weeks of doing it three times a day but definitely to go longer if necessary and at minimum, after the three weeks or once it is working, then to continue it in a regular periodic that works for you.

I think the way you will know when it is working, is when these self derogatory thoughts and things we say out loud to ourself begin to diminish and eventually go away. They will of course try to pop back up and that's when we know we need to be doing this exercise again.

I am not a licensed therapist so can only share what has work for me when I saw a really good therapist for a very small. Of my life a few years ago when I had to retire because my body was failing me.

I was bullied a lot in my life for my weight and always trying to earn the approval of people. God says in the Bible that we shouldn't do that and only need to be concerned with his approval not to be confused with his love which is unconditional.

I will be praying for you and that you can get past this in your life and understand your value. You are made in the image of God!

I care very deeply about your well-being and will be thinking of and praying for you! Warmest regards, Sunny flower. 😊

@sunnyflower thank you for giving the gift of your time to me! Anything you can send is appreciated. I tried the mirror exercise many times with no success. I am not an attractive person. I will try this exercise again. As they say in slang “you go girl with your bad self!!”

I can't tag everyone in this discussion, but reading through the past 2 days' posts, I thought of a couple of things I might add.

Interesting that autonomic neuropathy can cause both excessive sweating and no sweating. I'm in the latter group. I have to stop for lots of breaks when I'm working outside, and always have water and crystal light with me. When it was 100 a week ago, I came in the house, feeling really hot, but my skin was dry.

I like to take showers between hot and warm. If the water's hot, I don't feel it hitting my feet because they're numb. Another thing to be aware of.

Was it in this discussion that @sunnyflower and others talked about not being able to respond to as many messages as we'd like. I'm 2 days behind, and I counted 240 messages in my inbox! No way to respond to them all, even though I'm retired.

Jim

@bustrbrwn22 Okay, you just knew I had to throw my 2 cent in here right?

My take on this mirror exercise is that it is a form of trying to get to the feeling of self love. It is no easy task, whatever method you try. My suggestion, if you are trying this thing, is to use that image as a placeholder for you, but don't look at the image directly. Don't see you, the physical you. Just see your image in somewhat your peripheral vision. Again, let it stand as a placeholder for you, the person that is inside you, the true you. Then talk to it, that image, that central you, that you do not see directly, but in your peripheral vision.

In other words, I think you need to not be distracted by what you see exactly in the mirror. You might not love how that physical you looks, but the core you, the true you, that is the lovable you. That is the you to be talking to. There you go. Maybe just worth one cent? Hank

I can't tag everyone in this discussion, but reading through the past 2 days' posts, I thought of a couple of things I might add.

Interesting that autonomic neuropathy can cause both excessive sweating and no sweating. I'm in the latter group. I have to stop for lots of breaks when I'm working outside, and always have water and crystal light with me. When it was 100 a week ago, I came in the house, feeling really hot, but my skin was dry.

I like to take showers between hot and warm. If the water's hot, I don't feel it hitting my feet because they're numb. Another thing to be aware of.

Was it in this discussion that @sunnyflower and others talked about not being able to respond to as many messages as we'd like. I'm 2 days behind, and I counted 240 messages in my inbox! No way to respond to them all, even though I'm retired.

Jim