sweating in MS

[Cece]

http://jap.physiology.org/content/92/5/1779.full

Recently, one study has assessed the thermoregulatory center and its impact on multiple sclerosis (3). In this study of a single subject with a history of multiple sclerosis and thermoregulatory dysfunction, temperature thresholds were calculated as the core temperature was slowly warmed to sweating and again as the core temperature was gradually cooled to vasoconstriction and shivering. It was found that the sweating threshold was a full 1°C higher than normal and the vasoconstriction threshold was 2°C below normal, making the calculated sweating-to-vasoconstriction range four times the normal amount. The shivering threshold was also lower than normal (31.8°C), making the vasoconstriction-to-shivering range more than twice the normal amount. Providing such information may sound academic and simplistic; however, this may be an important point to those with multiple sclerosis, altering them to the extent of dysfunction, and to others like caretakers and insurance companies, alerting them to the hazards of increased body temperature and the need for cooling devices.

Since we talk about an improvement in the ability to sweat as one of the outcomes of the CCSVI procedure, it is good to establish that a deficiency in sweating is characteristic of MS. This study showed that the sweating threshold in people with MS is a full degree higher than in the healthy controls.

[newlywed4ever]

I have also wondered if others (pwMS) have a lower "normal" body temp. Mine was pretty consistent at 97.4 prior to angio; now it's 98.4 post-angio. And I sweat!

[David1949]

My body temp also runs a bit on the low side. If I can find a thermometer in the house I'll check it.

[David1949]

OK 97.8 if this old thermometer is right.

[cheerleader]

The doctor who wrote this paper explains the importance of the emissary veins in thermal regulation. Marie has written on here many times about the importance of venous flow in cooling the brain. Slowed venous return would affect this process, and throw off thermal regulation of the whole body.

The brain is one of the most metabolically active tissues, generating large amounts of heat. Dissipating this heat as well as heat absorbed from the environment has been a major evolutionary hurdle, one that was necessary to overcome for the continued development of the brain and the evolution of humans. Simply put, the brain, like the automobile engine, could not increase in size without the simultaneous development of an adequate cooling system. The brain was constrained and could only develop in parallel to its “cranial radiator” (2). However, for many with multiple sclerosis, the cranial radiator is simply not adequate.

The evolution of emissary veins solved this problem and removed any restraint on brain development. According to this theory, a vascular network in the scalp and face developed with veins draining through emissary veins in the skull joining the meningeal veins and sinuses of the dura mater. From the dura, venous blood drains to veins within the brain, thereby removing heat from the brain. With heat stress, the venous plexus on the face and scalp dilate, promoting heat loss by conduction. In addition, secretomotor pathways activate sweating, further cooling the blood by evaporation. Thus venous blood, the temperature of which is lowered by conduction and evaporation, percolates back to cool the brain (2).

Jeff just got back from a long bike ride in the heat. No more heat intolerence since his venoplasty...before treatment he had to wear cooling vests and hats during LA summers. No longer. Ahd his body temp is 98.6.
cheer

[Cece]

That was the other part of the article that I had considered quoting!

[wruttle]

I sweat like a boss. when it's cool out. the least amount of activity. no controlling it. might also be environmental as i grew up in the Northwest Territories and now live in Regina.

[1eye]

The body's temperature regulation needs cooling. That can work, as cheerleader said, by conduction and by evaporation. Evaporation is the state change of water from liquid to gas, and requires heat, which is where the cooling comes in. We are also heavily dependent on the movement of hot blood to cooler places and cool blood to hotter places, in order to maintain an overall thermal equilibrium at a constant with an accuracy of one part per thousand. That is done mainly by contraction and dilation of the smooth muscles in blood vessels. The brain veins don't have any (so I'm told), so maybe that is one reason our heads sweat a lot. The brain must depend to some extent on veins to get rid of heated blood. If cooler arterial blood is available, probably neck arteries can dilate to allow it in. I imagine contraction of arteries in the neck or brain to prevent unwanted heat from getting in might be counter-productive, and lead to some kind of trauma. So, you can't shut out the heat, and you can't dilate the veins, so you sweat. Once, when I was standing in a heated store at Christmas time, with my coat on, my face became suddenly awash, as if someone had poured a bucket of sweat over my head.

At rehab, though, once, somebody told me she didn't have the energy to do enough exercise to break a sweat. Maybe low energy is to avoid overheating because we can't sweat enough to make a difference?

[syckbastid]

I definitely sweat all day too. Thought it was because I was fat. Lost 40 pounds, and still one sweaty dude. Ugh.

[Loobie]

Before the procedure, and when I was still capable of running, I sweat like a pig. I would get a 1/4 mile in and my shirt would be drenched. Likewise when I was simply hot out, I would also start dripping from my nose straight away. That went away to a point when I started 'getting bad'. After the procedure I'm back to my sweat pig ways and love it. I feel so much cooler sitting there in the sun when I'm pouring sweat vs. just baking and getting all red faced.

[hannakat]

No problem sweating here. Never did and still do. Wish my core temp WAS lower so I could function like other people without becoming a wet rag.

[sbr487]

... , I sweat like a pig.

same case here ...

[Meg8907]

Pigs don't sweat..

[jamit]

Sweat like a horse.

[Cece]

I used to sweat like a mannequin, now I sweat like a person. ;)