Am I The Only One Who Has This ?

[Troy]

I developed autonomic problems back in 2000 after I overdosed on a combination recreational drugs like ecstacy and speed which I had been taking on a weekend bassis for many years at rave parties. As much as I am ashamed at my reckless behaviour and regret my self destructive past I have come out stronger and learnt a valuable life lesson.

Following the day of the overdose I immedeatly developed a massive chemical sensitivity and an allergic response to the very chemicals I had taken so that even a miniscule dose would have me feeling sick and feverish. Being as ignorant as I was back then and unable to accept this allergic reaction I had developed I continued tampering witht my body looking for loopholes by consuming miniscule amounts of drugs to get high without the allergic reaction but each time the response was the same and I would overheat and spend the entire time under a cold shower fighting for my survival. Eventually this behaviour came to an end after one night when I developed massive chest pain and irregualr and rapid pulse every time I tried to move along with a high fever, this continued for many months day after day until I was diagnosed with POTS.

For the past 8 years my worst symptom continues to be the overheating. Although I have been also diagnosed with POTS as well I belive there is more to it than that contributing to my condition. I am aware that others with POTS overheat and experience heat intolarance but with me it goes beyond that. As bad as my other symptoms are the overheating is my worst symptom, it gets so bad I question my wellbeing and survival. My body is generating so much heat regardless of the outside temperature, even in winter while everyone is dreseed in warm clothes I can go outside ina t-shirt and sit in the supposedly cold wether and rain trying to cool down. I spend so much time indoors in front of the air conditioner and when i go out i wear a cooling vest and carry a spray pump water bottle to spray myself as I have also lost the abilty to sweat. Sometimes the colder the outside temperature gets the hotter I get. I have even been admitted to hospital purely as a result of overheating. The heat is so intense it make sme feel nauseaus, irretable, confused and tachycardic.

I believe I have more of an issue with temperature than others with POTS is due to the fact that when I overdosed and experienced hyperthermia I may have damaged a part of my brain that is resposible for temperature regulation. My POTS is a direct result of chemical exposure and although this is a known cause for POTS I have not heard of many others who have developed POTS due this reason. I believe I have stumbled on to a recepie for disaster when I continued using drugs after the first time I overdosed and developed allergic reactions and then further tampering caused this full blown complex condition which no one can really seem to understand or diagnose.

Furthermore after recent unknown problems with my joints and detereoration leading to torn ligaments and cartlige I have discovered that I am unable to take painkillers as I keep having adverse reactions to all the ones ive tried and everytime i have an adverse reaction to any meds it manifests itself in the form of even worse overheating and hyperthermia where I have to go directly under a cold shower for long periods.

It makes me frustrated that there are no scientists out there studying the thermoregulatory side of thing in regards to Dysautonomia and the overheating experienced in people like me to find cures or to reduce the overheating. It seems that no one cares about investing time and effort looking for cures for those in a minority group as those scientists would much rather help the larger society. Despite my vast search on the net over the years I have still not been unable to find anyone else who has developed POTS due to recreational drug use or an overdose , which is why I ask, am I the only one ?

[Alizee]

I am sorry if I've missed anything in your post as I'm going through a bad flare right now and it's hard for me to think straight but yes for the last year I've been having horrible intolarence to heat. My room, right now my AC is going, I must have it at least 60 degrees or i get sick. My face will start to get flushed starts with my nose and then spreads to my hands. It looks and feels like a fever, I only get 2-4 hours of sleep a night due to my body being hot but my feet could be ice cold and start to hurt, I'd rather have the ice cold painful feet than the flushing problems that never go away and then with that can come with nausea, tremors and of course insomnia. i recently say a new doc last week and I asked him is there anything he can do to get rid of the temperature problems he said not really but they would test my cortisol levels so right now i'm waiting on that test.

I can't say I've ever had a drug overdose or done recreational drugs but I traced back through my medical records back from 2001 and during that time I kept getting sick like every month which was unusual for me, I'd always been healthy before then. Anyways my family Doc put me on some strong antibiotic for months that I thought read somewhere on the net that it can potentially cause autonomic damage. Anyways I feel for you, it's so horrible having your body too hot.

Hugs

[corina]

i have big temperature issues as well. i?ve had them all my life, mostly feeling very cold but as i was thin i was told i didn?t have enough weight. after giving birth to my oldest son i started with episodes of feeling overheated, undiagnosed of course , immediately after surgery in 2001 i became too cold. for me being too cold was the worst. now i was told it was because of the bb?s, which wasn?t the case as i started the bb?s 6 months after surgery.

when i started mestinon a few years ago, i found out that it was a BIG help for my temperature issues. right now i am a new episode (well, new to me that is) where one day i get way too cold and the other day i have spells of overheating. i don't know what is going on, but i'll wait and see if there is a kind of pattern.

take care,

corina

[Troy]

Thanks for sharing your experiences but does anyone else find that they still overheat even when its freezing cold in winter?

[pat57]

these look like they might be heplful

Causes of fever:

1.infections caused by bacteria, ricketsia, chlamydia, viruses, and parasites

2.immune reactions, including defects in collagen, immunological

abnormalities and acquired immunodeficiency

3.destruction of tissues, such as trauma, local necrosis (infarction),

and inflammatory reaction in tissues and vessels (phlebitis,

arteritis), pulmonary infarction, cerebral and myocardial infarction,

and rhabdomyolysis

4.specific inflammations (sarcoidosis, granulomatous hepatitis)

5.inflammation of intestine and intra-abdominal inflammatory processes

6.neoplastic processes with the participation of lymphoendothelial

system and hematopoetic system, solid tumours (Grawitz tumour of the

kidney, carcinoma of the pancreas, pulmonary and skeletal tumours,

hepatoma) Fever is present in complications of solid tumours, usually

in metastases that are associated with necrosis of the tumour,

obstruction of ducts, or with infection

7.acute metabolic failures such as arthritis urica, (sic)porfyria

(porphyria), Addison's crisis, thyrotoxic crisis, and pheochromocytoma

8.administration of some drugs

9.dehydration or admistration of salts. That's why fever occurs

together with diarrhea.

10.administration of foreign proteins (e.g. globulinum

antitetanicum-antitoxic fraction of horse serum) may be the reason of

fever's origin.

http://nic.sav.sk/logos/books/scientific/n...000000000000000

http://nic.sav.sk/logos/books/scientific/n...000000000000000

Pathogenesis of fever ( above link didn't post any)

Homeostasis controls the ?fight or flight? response, blood pH, water

potential ,O2 and Co2 concentrations in the blood, blood glucose,

glucagon and insulin, and the one you were waiting for?..body

temperature! All of these factors influence each other, and when one

gets out of sync, the rest are affected. Many of these mechanisms rely

on negative feedback: a rise or fall in any one, such as blood

glucose, oxygen, or temperature is detected by receptors. These

receptors then send the information to the hypothalamus, which reacts

by returning to the original value, as a normal body temperature.

Homeostasis keeps the body's internal temperature constant , at 98.6

F (36.5oC), plus or minus 1 degree ?Humans maintain body temperature

within 1oC of 98.6.? There is also a natural variation during the

day. Body temperature is lower in the morning and highest on average

in the afternoon. Morning temperatures might be as low as 96.0 .

more.......

http://www.answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=354326

[Troy]

Thanks very much for that valuable information Pat. I apreciate you taking the time to find it. I will show some of that information to my neurologists to see if he thinks any of it could be factors in my overheating. I also would be quite interested in contacting the people who wrote those articles for further information.

[Maxine]

I have already been struggling with the heat, and just getting into the hot car after just a few days of spring weather in NW Ohio, and I can'y believe how quickly I crash in this. It's like a switch is turned off. After getting into more tolerable temperatures---60 to 70 degrees--(no sun), then I don't feel so paralized.

I absolutely can not tolerate anything over 70 degrees with the sun out. I now have a car starter to get my air conditioning going before I get to my car. Without this, functioning would be out during the day. As it is functioning isn't great without the heat. Last year, I had to wait until evening to venture out of the house.

Maxine :0)

[pat57]

I hope there is something helpful-in it.

good luck

[Megan]

I overheat in winter when I walk across campus in a winter coat. (I also get really really cold and can't warm up, so it's a balancing act for me) I don't know where you live or what the possibilities of moving are (or if it would help at all) but I thought I'd throw that out as a possible option? Hopefully you find something to help you!

Meg

[nadine]

Heat intolerance is a huge symptom for me and most I see on here. I can't tolerate it over low 60's, summer time over 70- I have A/C on to 60's. This is when I am most comfortable. My family is constantly freezing due to this. I also have very poor sleep due to waking up from being too hot, taking all the covers off, sometimes opening windows in winter. It is awful for me. I can't stand in front of anything hot on stove, no steamy showers, have fan and window open for shower. Eating makes me very overheated after for about an hour. I think it is right up there on the top of my list as far as making me miserable. Way dift. then my phase of hot flashes- just not the same at all. Sitting in any direct sun is awful, also can't tolerate sunlight in vehicle. If anyone transports me and leaves me in the car to do errand- I always have them leave keys to cool down the car if needed.

thanks for sharing your history- I think your story could be very important for others to hear who use recreational drugs- even if you never find someone who had similar experience. One never knows what may set something off in their system, in my opinion. I became very ill after heavy doses of medications for infection.

[dino551]

Hi!

I just posted something about sweating/over heating issues. I suffer with it in general, but mine is really around pms time. Just a little exertion triggers it and it feels like I've been out in the heat for a day. I keep asking myself if it is something more hormone related since it gets really bad for me around my cycle time. But, I've had numerous blood test and nobody tells me anything. Its fustrating, I know. It is also very bothersome for me at night when I'm sleeping. I wake up being very hot/sweaty and then I get cold. Hot, Cold, Hot, Cold-Its not fun. Take care!

[ajw4790]

Hi! Yes, I too am heat intolerant, and sometimes cold intolerant. As far as overheating in dead of winter, only when in the overwhelming heat inside or have over exerted self. I know especially last winter I would be way too hot when there is snow on the ground and twenty degrees out and would go outside with a light coat unzipped and a very thin shortsleeved shirt on and still be hot and thought the cool felt good while everyone else is shivering.

[Troy]

Thanks everyone! I feel a bit more at peace with my overheating symptom knowing that its commonly shared trait with the condition we have.

[Alizee]

Also I overheat even in the dead of winter I could be outside with no jacket on and I still overheat. I wear summer nightgowns all year round if anything when I go to bed

[JaneEyre9]

I looked around and you might want to try Google search with keywords like "hyperthermia" or "thermogenesis" along with either "autonomic" or "drug overdose." That seems to describe what you are experiencing. Granted, I'm not a doctor, don't know you, and only have my "Google degree," but I think searching with these terms is a good place to start. At least it might help you understand what's going on a bit more and to educate your doctors as well.

Do you ever take your core temperature when you are really hot?

Here are some syndromes I found associated with drug overdose that cause hyperthermia:

neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS), serotonin syndrome, sympathomimetic poisoning syndrome, and anticholinergic poisoning syndrome

http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic562.htm

From this article about sympathomimetic poisoning syndrome, it sounds like acute hyperthermia from drug overdose can be caused by excess norepinephrine that is not properly handled and can be treated with benzodiazepines. However, that is in acute cases, and since you are not taking the drugs anymore, that may not be the issue for you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonergic_syndrome

Serotonin syndrome is caused by excess serotonin in the central nervous system and would be worsened by the common SSRI antidepressants.

Searching for these syndromes individually and reading up on links associated with them might help you too. Some of them sound like acute rather than chronic syndromes, but it's a place to start. There are research articles on cocaine causing hyperthermic reactions, so I think there are people studying problems similar to yours.

As a personal side note, I have an interest in the chronic effects of chemical exposure and have an article on my computer by a man named Martin Pall who works at Washington State University. He writes papers on the biochemical "vicious cycle" that may occur in the body of someone with chemical sensitivity and chronic illness. Here is a link to the abstract:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17448611

What you are experiencing sounds awful, so I hope you can get some answers with these searches and talking to your doctor.

Kristen

[willows]

Hello Endure,

Well at least your still here after your problems in the past few years...............dont slip backwards its not worth it.

I to have temperature problems, my husband tells me he sometimes its like getting into bed with an electric fire full on or laying next to a blast furnace, he's often been tempted to lay a slice of bacon on me and see if it starts to sizzle .............

Hot is an understatement to say the least and there's not a thing I can do to stop it ...............summers coming and I know I will spend most of my time between the end of May to the begining of September stuck in my bedroom with the curtains drawn laying on the bed with just a caftan on .

Winters OK but then if I suddenly 'drop out' with a sudden full blow pots dose , well I go down with really bad raynaud's and get so much pain from the cold it makes me cry , silly really but it just hurts so much .

I dont know the answer to the problem, in my case its I just grit my teeth and get on with my life as best I can , doing something for others ( working for children who will not live long ) keeps me alive, gets me out of bed in the morning if I can and gives me something to feel good about with my life .

Take care Love Willows ( Ami )