HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Does weather effect you?

Support Forums
>
Crohn's Disease
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 6/25/2012 7:45 PM (GMT 0)
I was at my pharmasist this morning picking up some pain meds and he was all over me about addiction and how much medication I take.  Apparently he printed my history and 60 T3's a month is crazy in his eyes so he started to question me and ask why I am not on humera etc....

As I explained to him, I cannot afford it and I feel that 60 t3's is not alot considering I could be asking for oxy and likely get it.

Anyhow he said I should apply for some sort of pharma care plan. I advised him I am moving to another province at the end of July and there is no point at this time in doing so. I will wait til I move and see what I can do and or qualify for from there.

When I told him where I was moving he pretty much told me not to. Said I would be sicker moving there as it is a colder climate (in winter) and that it will have a negative effect on me and my Crohn's.

I have never heard this before.  Does anyone have any input to share with regards to Crohn's and the climate?

Lala.

DX 95

Terminal Illium resection

Pentasa / Immuran / t3

Posted 6/25/2012 8:48 PM (GMT 0)
I think there is a higher incidence of Crohn's in the northern hemisphere, but that may be more due to genetics than it is actually weather. I have had flares in both summer and winter, so it doesn't seem to apply to me.
Posted 6/25/2012 11:03 PM (GMT 0)
I live in Montreal!!!! Cold humid and snowy in the winter.... hot,humid and rainy in the summer and I see no difference. I have flares both in winter and in summer for both arthritis and crohn's

you said you'll be moving to another 'province' so I may assume your in canada as well... may I ask where you'll be heading too? 

I've been both on private and 'quebec' medical plan I've never ever had an issue being accepted on humira OR remicade (remicade is so much more $$$ too)

Good luck!!!!!

Posted 6/25/2012 11:46 PM (GMT 0)
Some people think that weather has an effect on their IBD, personally I think it's coincidence but who knows...it can get very cold and very hot where I live, regardless of the weather, I'm always flaring which is another reason why I personally don't buy into the weather theory. There's no links to either cold or hot climate and IBD according to any research I've read.
Posted 6/26/2012 2:13 AM (GMT 0)
I have JRA with my Crohn's & everytime it rains or is cold they ache like crazy.

My Crohn's always gets worse in the end of winter/spring also. There is a link between season changes & Crohn's. I've never been in 'remission' but everytime I get close, it gets incrediably horriable. My flare worsens EVERY February.

February 2010: I had to get my GB removed & my JRA flared for the first time.
February 2011: My JRA flared again & my Crohn's showed up.
February 2012: I had to be switched to Humira because my Crohn's was too out of control.

Post Edited (keepingfaith) : 6/25/2012 8:19:22 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 6/26/2012 1:41 PM (GMT 0)
I'm 37 yrs old now, had Crohn's since I was 12 yrs old.

My symptoms/flare-ups have always been worse in winter.
Of course I have been sick in spring/summer but winter by far have been the worst. I live in NY and would move to Florida in a heartbeat if I could.
Posted 6/26/2012 2:11 PM (GMT 0)
The more suntan the more vitamin D, the more vitamin D, the less inflammation. ;-)
Posted 6/26/2012 4:44 PM (GMT 0)
Moving from British Columbia to Alberta. I sure hope if I need the Remicade or Humera, that Alberta Health Care will help me out!!! I have been told the cost is insane.
Posted 6/26/2012 5:46 PM (GMT 0)
I always have a flare in the spring!
Posted 6/26/2012 7:03 PM (GMT 0)
Timnlay,

Let me be the first to welcome you to Alberta!!! BC is such a beautiful province and even though it's often quite rainy I wish I could live there (I have 2 silbings living in Nanaimo). I was born and raised in Calgary (live just outside of the city now though because it's such a busy city that's way overpopulated now (the traffic is horrible).

I'm not 100% sure but I think AB health care covers both remi and humira....you'll be able to look into that easily online even.

Best of luck with your move!
Posted 6/26/2012 8:47 PM (GMT 0)
Yes i extreme weather efffects my crohns, as its too hot these days here i have flareups similarly when in winter its too cold i have the same condition so for me normal weather is helpful .....


Crohns patient since 2008
Dose asacol 400mg per day and some home remedies i.e aloe vera gel and fish oil omega 3.... Multivitamin inj once in a month
Posted 6/28/2012 5:47 AM (GMT 0)
my 2 cents.

i have had crohns for about 24 years. formally diagnosed for 14 years. and in my time i will truthfully say yes climate does play a factor at least for me. the cold always had an effect on me especially extreme cold like in the mountains when i went snowboarding or sitting on like a cold bench while in the mountains. BUT for me at least i would do what i want and eventually i think you will adapt and "deal with it". i am a firm believer in being positive and not letting the disease control you, you are the master of your own domain, doctors have told me my whole life what to do or not and though this can be like playing with fire, it has worked for me. mental health is as important as physical.

best of luck! find out what works for you.

Art
Posted 9/13/2013 5:04 PM (GMT 0)
I live in Southwestern Ontario. We have had fluctuating weather this past week - highs of 33 and today high of 12. My Crohn's has now flared up this week. I was diagnosed with Crohn's in 1994 and every Spring and Fall since it flares up. I always wondered if the weather was why, but doctors didn't believe me. I do believe the fluctuating weather has a lot to do with my flare ups. Wish I could move far South! But not an option.
Posted 9/13/2013 5:41 PM (GMT 0)
I think it was a Canadian study that linked Vitamin D deficiency to people who live in northern climates because we may not eat enough of the foods rich in Vit D, such as salmon, snapper, etc. During the summer months we get enough Vit D with only about 20 minutes exposure to sunlight. No one knows what triggers inflammatory disease, but anything that boosts your immune system can't hurt. And 70% of your immune system is in the intestines.

I wish you the best of luck. I would never tell someone what to do, but perhaps, this info is a place to start your research.

Posted 9/14/2013 12:52 AM (GMT 0)
I'm a new member is this primarily a Canadian forum. I'm in the states. My son seems to flare at season changes. It seems like the weather doesn't matter bc the flares tend to go on forever.
Posted 9/14/2013 1:22 AM (GMT 0)
Extreme heat tends to bother me more.
Posted 9/15/2013 1:52 AM (GMT 0)
This is primarily an English Language forum. Otherwise... where you're from doesn't matter that much. We all still poop too much. I live in Southern Minnesota. The climate here varies dramatically- 80 (f) degree summer is normal, can get upwards of 100 (increasingly often), winters regularly see negative numbers. A warm day in winter is ~20 degrees. Alas, winter seems to be getting shorter. Anyway, I feel better in winter. I like cold weather. When it's hot out I get overheated and light-headed and just generally feel awful. But that's probably just one of those interesting quirks that everyone has; some people like warm, some people like cold. I say the guy's full of it.

Besides, this is the Information Era. Indoor Climate Control is a few Eras back.
Posted 9/16/2013 4:03 AM (GMT 0)
It was said that the highest crohn's rates occurred in Manitoba, Canada, but much of the information out there right now is dated data.
I live here and have crohn's. Who knows, might be the water or the addition of chemicals in the water, and we do have a lot of diary farms around here. I haven't always lived here. I came from another province and growing up, I lived in a paper milll town that was dumping chemicals and mercury into the river nearby, so who knows, could be anyone of these things or not.

I think my worst bowel attacks/obstructions usually occurred in early to late spring and into the summer. While I still have bowel problems, I have more joint and stiffness problems in the winter, I think the other seasons are worse for me.
Posted 9/17/2013 5:08 PM (GMT 0)
Several years ago my GI said there was some research he'd seen supporting the hypothesis of seasonal flaring in some patients. My CD tends to get worse about this time of the year.

Climate change does probably have an effect on the disease. I know when I stayed in southern California for a short while the climate was better for me than where I live (Arkansas). I know my joints felt better and I wasn't as fatigued. But that may be more due to my joint problems.

It sounds like your pharmacist thinks he's a Crohn's specialist. He would really have a conniption if he were to fill my pain prescription and I'm certainly not on a maximum dose. I can't afford the biologics either, but it's not like those treatments don't have a potential for serious side effects, some life threatening. I wish people like that would be as concerned about those types of treatments as they are about narcotic addiction, especially when there's a doctor prescribing it for a patient who really needs it.
Posted 9/18/2013 12:49 AM (GMT 0)
I live in a climate that can be really hot and really cold. The weather doesn't bother my crohns, but it does severely bother my joints, to the point I can't move some days. And that's difficult having a very mobile 17 month old. They think the joint pain is from the crohns.
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply