Effect of tropical weather on POIS

[joelawerence]

I am not sure which part of the forum this is appropriate for, but as I have low testosterone and believe my POIS is because of that I post here.

One thing I have consistently noted is that my POIS is significantly reduced when I visit tropical countries and in the summer here in UK. Both the duration and severity of POIS seems to reduce by 40-50%. Does anyone else experience this?

It could be because the weather is increasing my testosterone levels which is very low usually.

[Muon]

I've got exactly the opposite. Faster recovery times and lower POIS peak intensity during winter season especially freezing temperatures. In mast cell activation disorders you see people reacting on hot temperatures while others with the same disorder might experience the opposite. I think these triggers might act on the same cell as POIS does and keep the reaction going on, just my two cents. Hopefully I have some new data ready at the end of the summer to back up my speculative thought. 

[sayman]

i am also faster recover in winter.

[nanna1]

Hi joelawerence,

If sun light helps you recover, does vitamin D3 help you recover faster? Why do you think it's your testosterone levels that are causing/curing POIS?

[Investigator]

Sun is good, but high temperatures are bad. For me, cold but sunny winter days have a good effect and I have reduction of symptoms. Now that the summer has settled in, I feel worse.

My doctor, looking at a bunch of lab tests, told me, among other things, that my white blood cells are a little low - for that, it is better to be at cold temperatures, this increases the amount of white blood cells.

My understanding is that the immune system fights in some way (either autoimmune reaction or some inflammation that is taking place), so these white blood cells go "in vain", they are used unnecessarily to fight against something they shouldn't. But, it is in any case better to have more of them. The body produces more in cold temperatures. This is my view. 

[Muon]

Same here, summer has settled in it's like I'm in a constant inflammatory state with symptom intensity behaving as a function of environmental temperature. At nightfall symptoms decrease because it cools down. When I walk into a room with low temperature I can feel instant improvement. For example in winter time I can go from room temp and step outside in sub zero temperatures and feel better instantly (like increased muscle strength, lighter body, better digestion, improved postural intolerance, accelerated improvement of POIS symptoms) but I need to be dressed properly though so I don't cool down too fast. I often get the impression that something is being cleared from your body by cold.

At this moment with high temperatures a short 5 min walk to the grocery store can be problematic, especially once you warm up due to the sun it feels like some chain reaction is being activated (it begins with a pressure like sensation underneath the skin and for me that's a sign I need to avoid the sun before it reach a certain threshold where this reaction sets in), when I'm inside again away from sunlight this reaction just keeps going for a while, in that regard it reminds me sometimes of POIS.

Once this reaction has been tempered, it goes into a next phase where I get the impression that something has been released inside your body (tissue feels heavy and movement intolerance is high) and it tries to get rid of it but perhaps some kind of clearance rate isn't high enough to 'clean' it up fast (very sloppy unscientific description from me, but whatever, I don't know how to describe it properly in english). The reaction I'm talking about is basically a smoke screen for the (sensation+impression) my body tries to get 'rid' of something effect. Once the reaction tempers down I can feel that last effect clearly. This 'clean up phase' effect is the same as in the late stage of POIS where the reaction tempers down and you will get the impression that the body is cleaning(?) up something.

Now I had low vitamin D levels in the past and still felt better during winter time. It doesn't make sense when it's an auto-immune disease because these patients do feel worse during winter and also have a low vit D level: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28624334

My POTS symptoms are negligible at the moment so this has to be something else. I suspect that mast cells are being unstable but I might be wrong. And it's not sunlight itself because i can tolerate sunlight fine during winter season or when temperatures are such that you won't be warmed up by it. It's temperature.

[amstro]

Muscle cluster POIS here.
I also noticed less POIS effects in tropical countries.
However when in tropical countries I tend to have:
- More physical activity.
- Drink more.
- Eat different food (spicy).
- Have less sleep.

So this variable can't easily be separated from others.

[BoneBroth]

Me too! When I was in Asia for 40 days vacation (sun, warm, physic activity, social activities, exploring, nice people etcetera), POIS were gone for 40 days! Whyyyyy!! I wish I knew the exactly "secret ingredient" that caused this POIS pause, but I cant figure it out and recreate it here... This makes me think that there are something in the air in our appartments that is bad (mold etcetera). Or perhaps the body/brain just cant reproduce such a lower state of stress that a vacation can, only by doing anti stress management. You need all the other "vacational factors" as well.