There was a conversation that we had on a recent LIVE about a topic that affects many of you, and I thought I would share what we talked about with you in this post and my experiences with Dealing With Cold Feet From SFN.
Is it something that is controllable? Is it something I subject myself to and can avoid? Absolutely.
First begin with the premise that you’re not suffering from pulmonary edema or serious circulation issues and your symptoms are merely a result of peripheral neuropathy, a symptom you can manipulate FOR FREE, without using pain medication or seizure medications!
The best way to describe what this is and how to deal with it is to be very specific with my own circumstances which you may or may not be able to relate to, I suspect many of you can.
I live in South Florida where it is not the most comfortable environment at times, unless you have a large private estate and can walk around naked. We are in a climate where rarely will we see humidity below 70% and temperatures for the majority of days out of the year average in the mid 80s and above.
My normal body temperature is 98.6 and I really enjoy having the environment in my house below 73. Is I write this it is 12:30 in the afternoon, my Central AC is set at 71 and it is 84 outside with a lower than usual relative humidity of 57%. Those of you who live in Florida, particularly South Florida or plan to retire here you can rest assured that your environmental comfort zone will probably mean moving from one air conditioned environment to the next to be most comfortable. I have been playing at this South Florida lifestyle for 50 years now.
Key to my experience with cold feet is that I only experience them in certain conditions inside my house. If I go outside and I’m out and about my feet are not cold. If I’m active or inactive outside of my home, my feet are not cold.
Then what’s with the cold feet complaints?
They are specific and short-lived but oh too memorable.
In my case, I have no carpeting in my house except a small area rug here and there. I have porcelain tiles throughout and with the ambient temperature at 71° with the humidity of about 47% indoors the cold falls to the floor and is absorbed in my tiles.. ostensibly a 71° area to stand on and walk on throughout.
Apply a 98.6 temperature foot with short fiber neuropathy to a 71° tile and expect that nearly this 30° drop in temperature against the feet continuously is going to drop their internal temperature, which is going to trigger the nerves and a PN flare. A flare so extreme that when prolonged exposure occurs, the flare can last hours and be extremely uncomfortable no matter if you put on socks and get under a blanket. It is the bottom of the feet whose temperature is 30° below the best of the body’s temperature.. so no, my feet are not always freezing cold, I make them cold and have become aware of it and I know how to deal with it. When it happens to me it’s ONLY because I caused it, and I try my best to remember not to cause it (sometimes I still do because I have a lazy moment when I want to go from point A to point and then it never happens or it happens so infrequently it isn’t even worth mentioning or bitching about because it was my fault to begin with.
I hope this made sense because as I’m thinking about it and dictating to my phone it seems to be making sense to me. Sometimes explaining this in the spoken word feels easier to get the point across.. details are very important because they are responsible directly for impressions and perception.. our reality.
In summation. Perception is the very moments reality. Our memories of the sensations we feel are burned into our minds. If we can take simple steps to avoid certain exposures, our recollections of moments and our overall perception will change. Peripheral Neuropathy is not black and white and we control how it treats us.
I have ankle high socks that are not super thin nor are they tight. I want to walk around the house barefoot I can expect to have freezing cold feet and be uncomfortable because of it. If I take the seconds to apply the socks to my feet or put on my flip-flops, I can walk around my house without any uncomfortably frozen foot sensations afterwards.. just a freaking pair of socks or insulation between my feet and the floor. When I walk out of the house, I am sockless and in flip-flops because it’s comfortable for me and I am a Floridian. If I am going somewhere where shoes would be required, then I am in a soft canvas pair of Columbia canvas and leather soft loafers with my socks.
If you go with the base mindset that your feet are cold all the time, reanalyze exactly HOW you got to the cold foot moment. Apply some logic and I’ll bet more than half of you will be able to alleviate your cold feet sensations merely by forcing yourself to adapt to your environment at the moment, no matter how short term or inconvenient it seems.
For the record unless I have been exposed to the tile floor for an extended period of time, say in my kitchen cooking barefoot… my feet are never cold.. but when they are.. boy, is that nearly painful and very annoying.
I hope this landed with those of you who needed to land with.