Chronic Rants

My winter coat rocks.  No, really.  It’s one of the best purchases I’ve ever made.  It may even be the best.

Think about it: how many items do you have that can directly improve your symptoms?  Yesterday I ate something that was great; the same dish made me incredibly sick the day before.  Good old IBS.

Last week I had fun picking up and holding my friends’ cat; today picking up that same cat hurt.  Good old connective tissue disease.

Two nights ago I slept for 7 hours and woke up feeling great; last night I slept for 8 hours and woke up feeling exhausted.  I took a 2 hour nap this afternoon and am still exhausted.  Good old autoimmune issues.

So what’s my point?  My point is that my wonderful coat protects me.  Today it was 28 degrees (F) when I left the house.  I have Raynaud’s.  This isn’t the worst of my problems, even when I don’t address it, but keeping in check can definitely help the other issues.  Luckily, I don’t have a severe version of it.  If I keep my core temperature warm, the rest isn’t as bad.

And this is where the coat comes in.  I have a “normal” wool coat that I wear when it’s in the 40s, and even in the upper 30s.  But when it gets below about 35 degrees, I pull out the monster down coat.  This thing is big.  It’s pink (oops – in the catalogue it looked red, but I wanted to wear it right away instead of exchanging it.)  I am short and this thing looks pretty silly on me.  A friend told me that I look like a big pink penguin; I wish she was wrong.  But it’s warm!  I can’t emphasize that enough.  Maybe I look silly, but I see people walking around with hunched shoulders, shivering, in coats that clearly aren’t good enough.  When I wear this thing, it feels like I’m wrapped in a sleeping bag, all warm and cozy.  As you can see, it zips high and has a big hood closure that covers and protects half of my face.  If I’m not driving, I always put my hands in the pockets without gloves and they stay perfectly warm.  I haven’t found a pair of gloves yet that comes close to working as well for my hands as those pockets.  With some good boots keeping my feet warm, the Raynaud’s stays at bay and I feel perfectly comfortable.  It’s wonderful!

Several years ago I spent approximately $120 for this amazing coat and it was worth every single penny.  If you live in a cold place and you can afford it, go out and get the best coat you can – it’s worth it.  You may look silly, but you’ll be warm!

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This entry was posted on Saturday, December 24th, 2011 at 9:50 pm and is filed under Decisions, Expectations, Medication, Raves, Symptoms. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.