How Winter Chills and Rainstorms Impact My Psoriatic Arthritis

I used to love winter. The scorching summers of Louisiana take their toll, and the cooler temperatures of winter become a welcome relief. Of course, I felt this way all before my diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis. Relief is a word I don't come by very often. I fondly reflect on that cool air and how it felt against my painful skin.

Well, now, the more my psoriatic disease progresses, the more it seems the cold air cuts straight through me. It's been a wet winter so far, and my joints are feeling it. Living in Louisiana, you get accustomed to living with changing weather conditions, but seriously does my psoriatic arthritis have to change with it?

The drastic change from summer to winter

I have lived in Louisiana my entire life. Summers here tend to be extremely hot. It is normal to see temperatures in the high 90 range pretty consistently. If it is a really hot summer, then we could have days of it consecutively being over 100 degrees.

Hotter temperatures feel like an electric blanket wrapped around my psoriatic arthritic body. Then comes winter, where the frigid and bitter air cuts like a dagger straight to the bones.

How the colder weather impacts my psoriatic arthritis

It seems the longer I live with psoriatic arthritis, the colder the winters seem to be. Our average winter will cause temps to be around the 40s, with some nights going as low as the 30s. Where I could be out in a short sleeve shirt before, now I have to be completely bundled up.

If I don't wear enough clothing, it only takes a few minutes, and my body hurts so bad to the point I want back inside. I can honestly say I dread winters now for that reason.

Rain doesn't help either...

Typically, my body hurts during a rainstorm. The worse the storm, the worse my body feels. We seem to be averaging a rainstorm at least once a week now. It is not something we normally see in winter. What's more, we are only two months into the winter, with the worst two months to come yet.

Do you ever wish you had the power to change the weather? I have thought about that before. I would have mine at a perfect 72 degrees year-round, so I could live comfortably. It would be the perfect temperature for my psoriatic arthritis. I know we can't do that, but it never hurts to imagine, right?