If I Were Mother Nature: Controlling My Symptoms By Controlling the Weather

Weather has the power to make my PsA symptoms better or worse.  Based upon how my body reacts to certain types of weather, I have come up with how I would control my pain if I were awarded the position of Mother Nature.

Adjusting the thermostat

Before my diagnosis, I had a high heat tolerance.  This was a good thing considering that I had lived in Arizona for most of my life.  Soon after, my ability to tolerate heat began to decline making living in one the warmest parts of the country unbearable.  If I were in control of the world’s thermostat, I would set the daytime highs between 65 and 85 degrees and the lows between 45 and 55 degrees.  These are the temperatures that please my body the most, and those are the temperatures that I am gifted with for most of the year in southern California. 

Easy breezy

In my utopia, there would always be a light breeze.  Not the kind that blows my skirt up, but a gentle breeze that caresses my shoulders.  Again this is another perk of living in southern California - the air is always moving and we only experience strong gusts a few times a year.  I feel like I am suffocating when the air is stagnant and strong gusts beat the crud out of my body. 

April showers

Instead of violent storms, I would schedule light rain showers.  Summer monsoons in Arizona and any storm in Colorado would literally paralyze me.  The pressure from those storms moving in and their duration inflicted some of the worst pain that I have ever experienced in my life.  Even though humidity and precipitation in any amount causes my joints to swell and ache, I can cope with the level of pain that a light shower brings, just not everyday.

This is my weather utopia, what is yours?