Heat and Humidity

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Hi guys,

I have an extreme intolerance of heat and humidity. My psychologist says it's fairly typical among her Asperger's patients. Anyone else experience this? Any tips for coping?

Obviously, I stay in air conditioning as much as possible, but, in the summer, just moving from one air-conditioned location to another is enough to overwhelm and exhaust me. And sometimes, even air-conditioned places aren't air-conditioned enough. I get pretty depressed in the summer. I don't even have the energy to do basic things like cooking, laundry, keeping my apartment clean. I spend all summer just hiding in my room with the AC blasting. I don't even want to go out to see friends/family.

I've asked all the medical doctors I've seen, and they have no explanation and act like I'm crazy. I was like this even as a little kid. My father always said I had a "broken thermostat."

Thanks for any advice you might have.

I'd say it's pretty common. My tolerance for temperature is between 20 deg C and 28 deg C.
My room is completely unventilated so I have a fan on my computer desk and have to keep my doors open.
Today is a mild 17 last time I checked. It can get as high as 30 (90 F) though and we're not even into Summer yet.

I hate really humid days where you have to go out. I'm usually sweating in a change room. I hate that. It's also unbearable to go out in wintry weather.

I've been heat sensitive my whole life. Anything over 70 degrees, I start to feel uncomfortable. Anything over 75 and I start to get headaches and nausea. If I knew a way to cope with it, I would be sharing that information.

I hate when it's hot out, I can't stand it. When I step out into the sun, I feel like I'm going to burst into flames. And when it's hot at night I have trouble sleeping. I just hate the feeling of being hot. I don't really like humidity either. Everyone always acts like I'm crazy when I tell them that I don't like going to the beach. I like wearing a lot of clothing, so I dislike the heat. I'd much prefer to live some place that's gloomy and rainy every day. My family calls me a vampire.

My favorite season is winter. I hope to move to the Yukon one day.

I got better at this as I aged. After a while, I realized the shock of going from an air conditioned environment to a hot & humid environment was much more severe than a consistent environment, so I unlplugged the AC and opened the windows. Doesn't bother me so much anymore.

It is currently 41F here, and I just closed the windows a couple minutes ago and crawled into sleeping bag.

I just hate the shock of nice and warm to suddenly hot or cold. Slow transitions are much more comfortable.

p.s., dry heat is incredible. I love that stuff. same with dry cold (like minnesota, where it is too cold to precipitate.

Heat and humidity are my two worst enemies. I don't like hot and humid weather. I like a sunny, breezy day in the summertime.

We are just about to move into Summer, this "Spring'' weather so far I've experienced is 32 degree heat and 85 % humidity. Can't wait until summer (sacarsm)....

I don't mind heat so much if it's humid, and cloudy.
It's hot, dry, solar desert heat that bothers me more.
I have a harder time breathing if the air is too dry.

hot & humid makes feel warm from the outside.
hot, dry & sunny cooks me from the inside and I feel sick.
Actually, too much sun in general makes me feel sick, even if the temperature isn't that high.
I don't like summer.

I don't think I got much sensitivity to it. I can basically sleep and activate in any temperature, just due to having been forced to adapt to it.

One thing I am sensitive to, oddly, seems to be oxygen. I always gotta have windows open, or else it just gets too like, "stuffy." That, and fall is my favorite season, as the air is just perfect, it's not humid, and has the most crispness without it being ridiculously cold or anything. Also, at my friend's house, either he has poor ventilation or a slow CO leak, but whenever I go to his house, I get tired after like 2 hours there, and literally fall asleep. My family doesn't seem to be sensitive to stuff like that, and they'll be really surprised when I open all the windows for that reason.

I'm extremely sensitive to heat as well. I remember being in Sweden during winter several years ago and walking around in a cut-off t-shirt - even the locals were looking at me in awe, but it was the perfect temperature for me. I get overheated so damn easily.

Weirdly, I like hot weather, in a tactile sense, but it physically drains me pretty badly. My blood pressure runs low (autonomic glitch) and heat causes blood vessels to expand which lowers it even more. And then there's also sweating leading to dehydration which also lowers BP. I have found that the usual treatment for that, staying hydrated (including replacing lost salt), helps a lot with the fatigue and getting near fainting (or actually fainting, for that matter). Low blood pressure can be very exhausting.

I remember a place I used to work at, kept it at 80 degrees all the time (in the summer AND the winter!). I almost had to quit because I felt so miserable in that kind of heat lol, fortunately they let me bring a portable fan to work after a while! (and yes, I put it right by my face at full blast all day!).

heat and humidity are indeed common enemies to aspies, but coping is not really easy to do, only thing you can do is getting out of the sun and into the wind (if any is around).
one thing you can do though is no not take off clothes, but add some; i usually wear long-sleeved shirts and jeans in the hottest days of summer, this insulates me from the biggest heat and also prevents direct exposure to sunrays