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⚠️ Please read with care: This blog shares personal, sometimes painful experiences. My intention is to support and speak honestly not to harm. I’m not a professional, just someone who understands how hard it can get. If you're struggling, you're not alone please reach out for professional help.
Ah, summer. Sun, ice cream, holidays… unless you’ve got multiple sclerosis. Then it’s basically the devil turning the thermostat up just to watch you squirm.
Welcome to Uhthoff’s phenomenon — or as I call it, “boiling alive in your own nervous system.”
What the Hell Is It?
Uhthoff’s phenomenon is when heat makes your MS symptoms worse. Not permanently, just temporarily. But temporary doesn’t mean pleasant — it means your body throws a tantrum until you cool the hell down.
Why? Because MS already stripped the insulation (myelin) off your nerves. Heat makes that damage even more obvious. It’s like taking a half-broken wire and then running extra current through it — sparks, short circuits, total chaos.
Triggers: The Everyday Tortures
Hot weather → 25°C feels like the Sahara.
Exercise → five minutes of effort and I’m a puddle.
Hot showers or baths → who knew basic hygiene could become extreme sport?
Fever → as if being sick wasn’t enough.
Sitting in a stuffy room → congratulations, you just bought a ticket to hell.
What It Feels Like
Pick your poison:
Blurred vision — like someone smeared Vaseline over your eyes.
Weakness — your legs forget they’re supposed to be legs.
Balance — wobbly as a drunk pigeon on roller skates.
Fatigue — next-level exhaustion, like gravity tripled overnight.
Brain fog — thoughts move slower than dial-up internet.
All your regular MS crap, amped up by heat.
The (Small) Mercy
The only good news? It’s temporary. Once you cool down, things usually settle back to “normal” (whatever your personal version of normal is). You’re not getting worse long-term — you’re just being tortured in the moment. Lucky you.
Coping (aka Not Melting to Death)
Stay hydrated (yes, I know, bladder hell — but dehydration makes it worse).
Fans, cold packs, cool showers.
Avoid heat like it’s an ex who still owes you money.
Build your life around shade and air-con if you can.
Basically: treat yourself like a vampire — avoid the sun, keep cool, drink fluids, and hope the day doesn’t cook you alive.
Why Write This?
Because no one tells you about Uhthoff’s until you’re the one keeling over in the heat. Doctors might brush it off like, “Oh, just avoid hot weather.” Yeah, thanks genius — let me just move to the Arctic.
The reality is: this is part of the MS package deal. It’s crap, but it’s survivable. And if nothing else, talking about it means the rest of us don’t feel like we’re losing the plot when our bodies shut down on sunny days.
So next time you see me looking like a melted candle in a conservatory, know this: it’s not laziness, it’s not in my head — it’s just Uhthoff’s. And it can piss right off.
I write in ink and fury, in breath and broken bone.
Through storm and silence, I survive. That is the crime and the miracle.
