By Becky Upham – Medically Reviewed by Samuel Mackenzie, MD, PhD
Reviewed: January 21, 2022
Overheating during hot weather or in a hot bath is known to magnify symptoms in many people with multiple sclerosis (MS).
But for some, cold weather can be just as problematic. No one knows this better than Barbara Appelbaum, a 59-year-old semiretired motivational speaker and wellness coach who spent much of her life enduring the unforgiving winters of Chicago. She now relocates to the California desert during the most frigid months of the year.
Appelbaum felt certain symptoms of her MS appear or worsen on “bitterly cold” days. “I would get increased fatigue and also experience occasional shooting pains, primarily in my feet,” she says.
10 to 15 Percent of People With MS Experience Symptoms Due to Cold Weather
It’s more common for people with MS to experience symptoms due to heat rather than the cold, says Scott Ireland Otallah, MD, a neurologist who specializes in multiple sclerosis at Atrium Health at Wake Forest Baptist in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Indeed, now that Appelbaum winters in a warmer climate, heat is her winter nemesis. “It causes fatigue, not in a ‘sleepy tired’ way, but rather a fatigue of my muscles and bones, along with a dizziness that occasionally gives me wobbly legs,” she says.
According to Dr. Otallah, “Cold weather’s impact on MS is a little less understood. It doesn’t seem to have the same impact as heat, because it doesn’t cause conduction block in the same way.”
A temporary worsening of neurological function due to an increase in core body temperature, known as Uhthoff phenomenon, happens in about 60 to 80 percent of MS patients, Otallah says.
“Worsening of symptoms due to cold only happens in about 10 to 15 percent of patients, at least in the surveys that have been done,” he adds.
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