I'm just so tired of the pain during winter.
I'm seriously looking at moving south. I have family in Florida. Has anyone moved to a warmer climate to help their RA? Was it worth it?
I moved to a warmer climate because I hated battling cold snowy Wisconsin winters.
I still have pain -but I do not have to shovel snow or slip and fall on ice any more. I'm glad to be in Arizona, but I can't tell you that it has changed the course of my Ra.
So move if you hate winter!
I moved from the mountains of Utah to Florida about 5 years ago. The winters are great here, no rain, lower humidity, less mosquitos. The summers are humid and it rains pretty much every day. I find the summers in FL to be every bit as painful as the winters were in UT...only the big difference is.. at least it's warm and sunny!
The trick is not to move *too* far south in FL. I live in the panhandle, and we get mildly cold winters - maybe a month of 30/40 degree weather, which is do-able. And then our summers aren't quite as hot. Granted, we still get the 100 degree sauna days, but at least it's not 115 degree sauna days..The other thing is family support. This is untradeable. If you have family/friends that help you out and is there for you, it is worth everything.
If you don't have that to lose, then it can be worth it. Being at a higher elevation is worse than a lower one. For instance, Albuquerque is worse for sun exposure and cold weather than Phoenix which is at a much lower elevation.
And, you want to consider being in a big enough place to have easy access to good medical care.
yeah, FL's public system is the same way. Utter crap. Keep it in mind.
Thanks for all the input. It is a lot to think over.
K-Lynn
I moved to FL and it's the best thing I could have done for my health. No more cold long winters for me!Being in Virginia, we have some pretty cold days and I have been hurting more than normal but I all in all, when you compare them to what is happening in the northeast and the midwest. We sure have been very fortunate. But the winters here are getting harder and harder to take.
Any one know anything about South Carolina and Georgia?
I was looking at the Greenwood section of South Carolina but I can't help but think it is possible pretty chilly there in the winter too and I do know that GA just got blasted with some snow. Not sure what locality.
Arizona may be a place to look at to but worried about my husband who has COPD. might get to hot for him.
All I know is... I need to get where the weather is warmer and the winter about 2 weeks long at Christmas and then back to late spring or summer. Anyone know of a place like that?
Thanks again for all your good information. It did help a lot.
I loved it there. The sea level altitude was the key for me and the ability to go into the Gulf whenever I felt really bad was so healing. Many people, Physicians included, had told me that the water can be very healing.
The back side of it is that the summers were very difficult, hot, hot, hot. But to me it was the trade off from the ice storms and feet of snow and bitter cold in the north.
I cannot relocate at this time due to the family support I have here and because my daughter is here, my son is in Indianapolis.My sister helps out with so many things and is always there by my side whenever I have an emergency health problem and must go to the hospital. If I were in a stable , long term relationship I would have that as support but I am not. Also my Physician here is probably without a doubt one of the best I have ever had, I will not be seeing a Rheumatologist because the ones up here are awful and the one that is good does not take new patients.
When my daughter and I were looking up housing in Florida ( her bfriends' sister lives there and they plan to move there eventually)we found that housing has increased immensly since I last lived there, tripling in price.
If you are able to get to a warmer climate and have the support system there available, I encourage you to do so, it could change your life for the better. Don't do what I did, it would have been a huge regret if the circumstances were not what they were. ( my daughter's father filed a lawsuit against me, I later learned that I could have fought it and won.........my daughter would have been safer there, I would not have gone through all I did had I stayed, but that is life.
Good luck!
We first moved to Florida Panhandle after my doctor in Wisconsin thought I should make a weather change for my health. And I found that the Panhandle was too cold and too sporatic when it came to warm weather. And, I didn't feel any better. So we moved way down South on Gulf and it has made such a difference. I love the warm weather and have found that I am not cured but, so much better. Sure the summers are hot but I would rather have the heat then the long cold winter weather in Wisconsin. And the humidity helps too. I actually feel better with humidity than dry weather. Hope this helps. I cannot say enough about walking out into the heat and just feeling it hit my bones and joints. It just makes everyone smile! I have only wonderful things to say about moving to the low Southwest on the Gulf.