It’s getting cold too quickly.  Weather.com tells me that there’s a chance of snow this weekend.  Aside from the annoyance that we longer have seasons (it’s October, where the heck is fall?), a long period of cold is really bad news for my joints.

Rhuematoid arthritis is a condition of heighten and chronic swelling in the joints.   And I’ve found that it’s particularly sensitive to cold and elevated humidity.   With my doctor, we had worked out a cocktail of drugs that had my condition pretty well managed through the warmer summer months.   I would wake up with the ability to use my fingers and toes, less swollen, less painful.  Cold weather, especially a wet cold, completely messes up that well working chemistry system.

I didn’t need a weather report to tell me it’s getting colder.  When I wake up, I’m swollen for longer.  I linger in bed because the balls of my feet hurt.  Even right now, I can’t close my hands into a full first.  Even if the swelling wasn’t painful, it’d still be causing lasting damage to my joints.

Damn the cold I say.   Every year I tell myself I’ll move somewhere warmer.  Eventually, and despite the things that keep me here, I think I’ll have to preserve my joints.