Excessive heat can increase pain, inflammation for people with various health conditions including arthritis, heart problems
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Heat can increase pain for people with a variety of conditions, like arthritis, in addition to making you feel miserable and increasing the risk for dehydration.
Heat and humidity trigger inflammation that can make achy joints feel even worse.
Margie Lydon loves outdoor activities, especially her daily walks in Quakertown. It's an important part of her recovery from major back surgery.
"I definitely feel some twinges that I wasn't feeling," Lydon said.
She says the surgery successfully eliminated her excruciating back pain, but now being in the heat is bringing back some of the discomforts.
"Achy, sore, and even weak sometimes," Lydon said.
Research shows heat and humidity increase pain for a variety of conditions including osteoarthritis.
"People with chronic pain feel miserable on hot and humid days," Dr. Alexander Vaccaro, Head of Rothman Orthopaedic Institute, said. "It's related to barometric pressure."
Vaccaro says some people with fibromyalgia and joint problems are especially susceptible to weather conditions, high heat is often a pain trigger.
"On a humid day, you have more inflammation. It causes tendons to swell, causes ligaments to swell, and muscles to swell, so we say inflammation. Hot weather makes you feel stiff. You're dehydrated, fluids leave your joints, you feel achy," Vaccaro said.
Being dehydrated worsens a number of conditions, including migraine headaches, but drinking plenty of water will help.
"I do have osteoarthritis so other joints are letting me know this weather is having an impact," Lydon said.
She was incapacitated before the surgery and says she's grateful Dr. Vaccaro was able to fix her back, allowing her to resume her activities, except on hot days.
"My family teases me 'cause I'm still trying to get my steps in and I do loops around the first floor of my house," Lydon said.
A new study says scorching weather might be dangerous for people who take heart medications.
Asprin and beta-blockers are critically important medications for many heart patients, but a new study says in high heat people taking them have an increased risk for heart attack.
"The heat, high heat is not good for anybody," Dr. William Gray, co-director of Lankenau's Heart Institute, said.
Dr. Gray says while the new research is interesting, it doesn't explain how or why heart medications might be related to heart attacks in hot weather.
"There's clearly an association, but just because something's associated, doesn't mean it's causing the problem," Dr. Gray said. "It may just be the fact that more people with heart disease take beta-blockers and aspirin."
He says it's important to stay on prescribed medication and avoid excessive heat while staying hydrated.
Dr. Vacarro says it's best to exercise inside on these super hot days and of course stay hydrated.
