Reeve Foundation Paralysis Community

I live in New England, and as much as I love the changing seasons I am dreading winter.  There are lots of physical reasons for this.  The cold bothers me ( a lot!).  Getting around in snow and ice is more difficult.  So both of these keep me inside more than usual.  I miss the sun.  And I find once I am not getting out, my tendency to be a hermit just snowballs.  The longer I stay in, the harder it is to go out.

Anyone else feel this way?  

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T 7-8 since 2005

I sure do and I live in the mid-atlantic area, less snow and cold than New England. WInter turns my body upside down and I miss the ability to go outside easily. I loathe the malls but find I will frequent them just to get outside and see others.

I think part of the issue is that in winter my body feels so much more confined. I am at the mercy of the elements. WHile I may be ambulatory, I fall a lot more in the winter and the cold makes it hurt a lot more.

I have found that if I do activities that I feel that I have some control over, I mind the snow and cold much less. Two years ago I tried bi-skiing and loved it. I felt free on the slopes and the cold bothered me less. I am hoping to hit the slopes again this year at Ski Libery in PA as they have a great adaptive ski program.

I guess if I can't beat them, join them!

I live in the south and I dread the winter. I do not handle cold well anymore, thank goodness we don't get much snow. My biggest problem is the short days.  It is so depressing to me. I believe I have what they call SAD. I have checked into getting a lamp that imitates the sun but they have been too expensive. It used to be so bad that I hated summer solstice. I swear i can feel the days getting shorter even then in the middle of summer. Throw in the time change and it really gets me. On the bright side Dec 21st is not far away and the days will start getting longer again.

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I just came back from yesterday.

Me too! I feel as if my mobility is taken away with the first snowstorm. I have an Entervan with the fold out ramp, but you can't deploy it onto a snowbank, and since much of my driving is city driving I am often forced to take a manual chair instead of my power chair and have someone load it on the non-ramp side for me. It also means someone has to unload it for me. I hate that! As long as it stays snow free I can deal with the cold. I am uncomfortable in cold temps, but at least I don't feel so totally restricted. Eileen (yep, Eileen from CC)

Hi Eileen!  Welcome!  (I keep the same name everywhere I go ..... can;t remember if you use something different!  Of course it is a secret alias, created with a complicated formula!)

Ifonly ..... I am sure the daylight is part of it, I think that is why Novemeber is so hard.

Another part for me, which I can;t beleive I forgot when I posted before, is that I was hurt sledding, so snow doesn;t equal fun anymore to me. 

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T 7-8 since 2005

Sjean: I knew you were hurt sleding and I am sorry if my answer came off insensitive. I have just come up with a "Can't beat them, join them" attitude where possible. Maybe with time the fun will return.

As a walking quad, it is the falls that I hate most about winter. After reading this thread I did a search to see what is available to help with slips and slidding. I think I might give these a shot.: http://www.llbean.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?categoryId=43355&storeId=1&catalogId=1&langId=-1&from=SR&feat=sr

For the crutch tip there are these: http://www.walkeasy.com/shop/product_details.asp?ProductCode=T02

 Amanda in Ohio, what do you think? I know you are in a similar position.

sjean423,
Thank your for your welcome to this site! Certainly getting injured sledding puts a whole different spin on winter. There is no way to avoid snow when you live in our clime, but I can certainly avoid high diving events quite easily :) I don't like the lack of sunshine either, although now that I am no longer working it doesn't have a totally time-stealing quality to it. When I worked I always thought that I went to work in the dark, came home in the dark, and felt like a depressed mole who never got to experience daylight other than through a window. Eileen

Oh no, I wasn't responding to that at all.  I was actually thinking that I was surprised that I didn;t consider that as part of my winter bashing post in the first place.  Maybe that means I AM getting past it!

PRC_Bernadette:

Sjean: I knew you were hurt sleding and I am sorry if my answer came off insensitive. I have just come up with a "Can't beat them, join them" attitude where possible. Maybe with time the fun will return.

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T 7-8 since 2005

hi Bernadette sorry it has taken me awhile to see this. i am new to the forums. i will have to check out these links to see what they're coming up with these days for the "not so sure of foot."

i have used these things I will just call extra treads. you slip them over the bottom of your shoes and get extra traction from the criss-crosses of coiled wire. (sorry if this is what you've posted and i just haven't checked them yet). to date i have not fallen with them and do feel like i get a better grip on snow, ice, etc. The biggest problem with them is that they can be difficult to put on...and as always, NOTHING works when you're tired and let's saying...trying to carry in 4-5 bags of groceries at a time! (my point? i bet all of these products work much better without the sometimes "I AM SUPERHUMAN" attitude : ).

take care.

I have a few thoughts on the "Icers" that Bernadette posted the link to. I have used both the kind Bernadette linked to and the ones Alo12 mentioned, which use the same basic idea. I used them for hiking in the winter and found they work really well to prevent slipping and falling. But as mentioned, they can sometimes be difficult to put on your shoes or boots. Especially when the rubber gets cold and it loses its flexibility. I could see that it would be an issue for someone without fully functioning hands. But it also reminded me of yet another version of this product I have used before, which might be more helpful for some people here.

 

http://www.leevalley.com/gifts/page.aspx?c=1&p=40911&cat=4,104,53221&ap=4

 

These have the advantage of being strapped to a shoe or boot with velcro, so they are much easier to put on or take off. Also because the spikes go around the outside of the sole, they offer considerably more grip and traction. The only drawback is they are about double the price.

One unfortunate drawback of all these items though, is that while they work really great on snow or ice, they might actually make walking on bare patches of  roads or sidewalks or inside a store  more difficult and uncomfortable. This would be a less of a problem with the ones that use coils on the sole, rather than spikes or cleats. Such as these:

 

http://www.yaktrax.com/ProductsWalker.aspx

 

The only problem with these ones are I found  if too much snow got in the coils, they became virtually useless. I always preferred the ones with cleats.

 

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"Don't be silly, Toto. Scarecrows don't talk. "