People who take the medication and notice the side effects should not mistake them for just cold weather
Dr Punam has issued a warning to anyone taking certain medications for heart problems or poor circulation. Speaking on today’s (Nov 4) episode of the BBC’s talk show Morning Live, the NHS GP urged people to see a doctor if they noticed certain symptoms while taking the medication that could be mistaken for something else.
As the weather turns increasingly colder, people are being advised to watch out for red-flag signs that can be easily overlooked due to the low temperatures. While it is common to feel cold during winter, still feeling cold or having cold hands and feet while indoors or wearing thick clothing shouldn’t be ignored – and the type of medication you take can leave you vulnerable to these ‘hidden’ problems.
Speaking to hosts Gethin Jones and Helen Skelton, BBC Morning Live’s resident doctor, Dr Punman, said: “In winter we do tend to feel the cold a lot more. Some people feel it more than others. We’ve all got different cold thresholds. But if you are feeling it when you’re indoors, when you’re layered up, when the heating’s on and it’s a new change, then it’s worthwhile getting that checked out.
“Sometimes, that kind of cold could be associated with an underlying condition. This isn’t just about feeling a little bit cold. This is about it being something more than that shouldn’t be ignored.” She also said: “As we get older, we tend to lose our muscle mass, we lose our fat insulation, things that naturally keep us warm. Our metabolism also slows down.”
Dr Punam Krishan is a general practitioner with the NHS in Scotland. She is famous for being a resident doctor on the BBC daytime program. She works as a media medic and a medical teacher, and she has been on other BBC shows like Laid Bare.
What type of symptoms should people watch out for?
Dr Punam said: “If you are feeling cold and it is accompanied with other symptoms, so things like pain, tingling, numbness, maybe weakness or stiffness in the body, maybe it’s colour changes to your skin, then you need to speak to your doctor about that.”
Going through some of the more common ones that she sees as a GP, she said iron deficiency and anaemia. “If you have got low iron in your body, then you’ve not got enough healthy blood cells to be able to deliver oxygen to all the different parts of our body that we need. So blood flow in that case diverts to vital organs and your peripheries, your hands, your feet tend to feel the cold the most. It’s a straightforward blood test, very easy to diagnose and very easy to treat, but something not to ignore.”
Another one she mentioned is an underactive thyroid, which she says can “make you feel very cold and affect your temperature because your thyroid gland is responsible for your metabolism and body temperature”. Another condition to be mindful of is Raynaud’s.
“This is where you can get constriction of your blood vessels in the extremities,” she said. It can affect your hands, tips of your toes, nose, ears, and even the nipples. It can also cause the skin to change to white and blue, and become “really tender”.
She added: “And when the blood flow starts to return, they get really throbbing pain and they become really hot. If you do recognise this and maybe your hands and feet go like this then speak to your doctor. Lifestyle changes and trigger management can really be helpful.”
She also warned people with heart disease, peripheral artery disease, and blood pressure issues that these can also affect blood flow to your extremities, as well as diabetes, “especially in advanced diabetes”, which can affect your nerves and your blood vessels, and can make you feel very cold. “So do not ignore it if any of this sounds familiar and speak to your doctor”, she urged.
What medications can cause issues with feeling cold?
Dr Punam went on to list the common medications that can affect your temperature regulation and why it is important to speak to a doctor about it. They include:
- diuretics,
- antidepressants
- vasodilators
- beta blockers
Diuretics, often referred to as water tablets, are a type of medication that helps the body produce more urine to eliminate excess water and salt. Doctors usually give them to people with high blood pressure, heart failure, or fluid retention (oedema).
Diuretics function by affecting the kidneys, making them filter out more salt and water from the blood into the urine. Diuretics can cause you to feel chilly, especially in your hands and feet, but this is not as common as other side effects, such as frequent urination or dizziness.
Antidepressants might make you feel chilly because they can mess with how your body controls its temperature. This can show up as feeling cold overall, having chills, or just having cold hands and feet (which is called peripheral coldness).
Vasodilators can be used to manage blood pressure and treat angina and heart disease. Vasodilators can cause you to feel chilly because they increase blood flow to your skin. This helps your body get rid of heat and cool down its core temperature. When blood flows more to the surface, it can cause you to feel cold, especially in your hands and feet, as more heat escapes into the air.
Beta blockers are commonly used for medical conditions like anxiety, blood pressure and palpitations. One common side effect of beta blockers is experiencing cold hands and feet, also known as cold extremities. This happens because beta blockers can change how blood flows to your hands and feet.
Dr Punam warned: “So medications are big ones. If you started something recently, and maybe as a side effect have started noticing, ‘actually I’m feeling cold all the time’, it might be your medication, and we can change that for you.”
More than two million households plan to avoid using central heating this winter
What are the other reasons for feeling cold?
The NHS GP said: “Women tend to feel it much more, especially in midlife. And that’s because our hormones are all over the place. Perimenopause and menopause can really throw your temperature regulation off. A lot of people talk about hot flushes, but in between those, when the oestrogen is low, we actually feel the cold a lot more. So it’s something to be mindful of.”
She also stressed the importance of eating right and drinking plenty of water. “If you’re skipping meals regularly, if your blood sugars are dipping, you’re not hydrating yourself, your blood flow is going to be affected and you are going to feel chilly a lot more,” she said.
She also emphasised how vital it is to layer up. “People think when you’ve got a big bulky woolly jumper on, that’s enough, but actually that’s not an efficient way of keeping yourself warm. It’s about thinking of those layers. like thin layers, layered up, those base layers make a massive difference. They trap the heat a lot better, so you’re looking at your wool, your fleece, your thermal cotton, those kind of things.”
Making sure your environment at home is comfortable is another point she made, from daught excluders and rugs on floors, to thick curtains. “This is especially important if you have older adults, as the temperature should be set at least around 18 degrees,” she said.
For her final point, she said: “If you have got heart disease or if you’ve got problems with circulation, leg swelling, then elevating your legs if you’re sitting up Nighttime as well can make a big difference as well as compression stockings. But as I said, if you are struggling a bit more, then do speak to your doctor about that.”