<p>In addition to ramping up on your coat, I hope you’re also wearing something warm on your head, hands, legs and feet. </p>
<p>Something like 85% of body heat escapes via the head (so much blood there). Adding a hat can really make a difference to how your whole body feels.</p>
<p>Similarly: cotton or stretch acrylic gloves in autumn, thermal underwear or tights under your slacks, and heavy socks go a long way. If you must wear fashion shoes for work, at least come to work wearing socks ‘n’ boots and change upon arrival.</p>
<p>All this will augment the warmth provided by a coat. Good luck. </p>
<p>What troubles me about your post is that if your hypothyroid medicine dosage is correct, should you still be feeling so cold?</p>
<p>missypie, I do hope you’re taking meds for that hypothyroid!! Once you get your thyroid levels back to where they should be, this shouldn’t be a problem anymore.</p>
<p>I am sending this thread to my D. I’m also sending her a link to Sierra Trading Post who seems to have a deal on a nice Obermeyer (but what do I know about style?). </p>
<p>I have owned an Obermeyer parka with liner since she was little. I won’t ever need another coat. </p>
<p>Maybe the best quality clothing purchase I have ever made but (for me) stupid expensive.</p>
<p>Two weeks ago I sat in church absolutely freezing while others were fanning themselves. I went for blood tests the next day; my endocrinologist says I’m “low normal” so she wants to keep me where I am.</p>
<p>For a person who lives in Texas, I have an unbelieveable collection of long johns from Wintersilks. Last night it got down to 49 degrees at the football game. I was wearing long underwear top and bottom, jeans, wools socks, a turtle neck, a heavy sweatshirt, a wool jacket, a scarf, leather gloves and had a fleece blanket and I was still numb by the time it was over.</p>
<p>^^^ Missypie, have you tried those handwarmers, and shoes warmers, sold at Sporting Goods store, most likely in the hunting dept of the store, although great for skiing.
They are small and portable, and stay warm a surprisingly LONG TIME.</p>
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<p>If you are that cold with all those clothes in only 49 degrees, you need some sort of external heat supply. Insulation only slows the heat loss, if you are not producing enough heat piling on more layers is not likely to help than much.</p>
<p>What did you think of the coat that has the battery-powered heater in it that I mentioned in my previous post?</p>
<p>Football, especially at night, is one of the coldest things you can do. Three hours outside, just sitting or standing there, generating no heat. So, I’m sure that you were not the only one shivering.</p>
<p>If I might make an observation, I think your problem is the base layers. Jeans and cotton sweatshirts are horrible for warmth – especially if you work up even the slightest perspiration walking from the car (which I do). Then, you have this trapped layer of moisture in fabric which loses its poor insulating capabilities when damp.</p>
<p>I’m going to point out some products that you might want to consider:</p>
<p>I’ve been wearing a lightweight polartec base layer for a couple of weeks now working out in the yard and walking (45 degrees today) and this stuff is seriously warm.</p>
<p>b) Fleece midlayers. Forget cotton sweat shirts if you want warmth. 100% polyester Fleece shirts and pullovers. Polaratec makes it in three weights. 100 weight is thin an light, sort of cross between a shirt and a sweat shirt weight. 200 weight is the standard fleece pullover weight. And 300 weight is a heavy fleece jacket weight. I love the LLBean 100 weight fitness fleece:</p>
<p>I wear it as a shirt at night when the house is cool. As a sweatshirt over a mock turtleneck. Or as a mid layer under a coat. One of the other stores someone linked to here sells it as “butterfleece”.</p>
<p>c) Fleece pants. I have 100 weight fleece pants that I wear instead of conventional cotton sweat pants. I also have a pair of 200 weight fleece pants that I wear for snow blowing on zero degree nights and what I would probably wear to a winter football game. Ditch the jeans. Get some fleece pants and wear them under a windbreak pants layer.</p>
<p>On election day I held up signs from late afternoon until the polls closed at 8 pm and even though it wasn’t particularly cold (47-50 degrees) my hands were frozen after an hour or so. One of the guys with us had hand warmers that you could put inside your gloves. I was skeptical, but figured I’d try them because I was freezing. As it turned out–the things were wonderful. This was the brand. They have toe warmers too.</p>
<p>Even if your blood levels are testing w/i normals levels, what may be a healthy level for YOU is another thing. Ask your Dr if your blood tests included T3 with the T4 and TSH. Ask if they would consider a secondary Rx to treat T3 (assuming you are only on a T4). A combination can be very effective.</p>
<p>I like hot chilly’s too, and I have used hand and foot warmers for skiing. If ski type gear is not available in your area missypie, the underarmour sports underpieces (heatgear) might help. There are long leggings, t shirts, long sleeve shirts, and shorts. These are in sporting goods type stores. </p>
<p>Now no one has suggested fur of any sort, and I realize that this is politically incorrect, but it is warm. A heavy grade of leather with a nice plush lining can also be very warm (I don’t know if they sell that type of leather jacket in Texas.</p>
<p>I froze at a friday night football game too. My feet were the first to go (definitely the wrong shoes), and I had no gloves as well.</p>
<p>I agree with the layering. Perhaps an underarmour or silk long sleeve shirt and a fleece jacket. SierraTrading Post has great stuff cheap. </p>
<p>What I think you really need to do Missypie is come up to Boston for a long visit in Jan. When you return home, you will no longer think that TX weather is cold.</p>
<p>missypie - I am always freezing too. Do you have Ugg boots? I wear mine as if they were slippers, in the house. I don’t know how I lived without them. (Well, actually, I used to put my feet on a heating pad.) Sometimes my feet would get so cold, I felt like they would never warm up. I have been known to sleep with a polar fleece hat on. My husband, my kids, my friends, my mother - they all think I am nuts. I am posting because I didn’t see that anyone else had suggested this: do you have polypropylene long johns? They are not as elegant as silk long johns, but I think they are much warmer. I found mine at Gander Mountain but here are some I found on line.
[New</a> military ARMY polypropylene shirt & pants longjohns set small - DK Line’s Premium Military Surplus](<a href=“http://dklinespremiummilitarysurplus.com/New-military-ARMY-polypropylene-shirt-pants-longjohns-set-small-P906725.aspx]New”>http://dklinespremiummilitarysurplus.com/New-military-ARMY-polypropylene-shirt-pants-longjohns-set-small-P906725.aspx)
Polypropylene long johns are the best under layer I have ever found. Put these on under your clothes and then put your down coat on. :)</p>
<p>I am originally from Northern MN, where it gets SERIOUSLY cold. My husband says he can’t understand why I am so cold in Ohio because I grew up with much colder weather but my theory is that I was chilled as a child and have never quite warmed up. On the plus side, unless I am visiting Austin and it’s over 100 degrees, I am nearly never too hot.</p>
<p>Missypie: I thought about you while I was walking the dogs in high-40s rain this evening. Fleece jacket over cotton t-shirt, and the second the fleece soaked through and the cotton got wet I started to shiver. (It was a short walk, thankfully.) You need a next-to-skin layer that insulates even when wet or moist (because all of us sweat, whether we mean to or not). When I’m doing long-duration outside stuff in the cold and wet, I wear a base layer made by DeFeet (<a href=“http://www.defeet.com/product.php?id=154[/url]”>http://www.defeet.com/product.php?id=154</a>) and it makes a huge difference. It insulates even when wet. Over that, a fleece top–the Lands End quarter-zip someone else mentioned–or a thick wool sweater if it’s really cold. Then a fleece vest. Hat, gloves. Fleece and wool both insulate even when wet. Down does not. (It’s a saying around here: “cotton kills–wear wool”.)</p>
<p>Someone mentioned hats. I knit myself hats (and other people too) so I have a wide assortment. It is true that a study found that people lose huge amounts of heat from the head–but the study was seriously flawed, since the head was the only uninsulated (uncovered) area in the study! I find a hat makes a huge difference in how cold I am–I can do with one less layer if I’m wearing a hat. </p>
<p>Do you carry a good thermos with a hot drink in it? I have a truly excellent thermos that keeps tea too hot to drink for about 8 hours. I pour a cup into the lid, warm my hands with it, then drink it as hot as possible. That really helps when I’m cold.</p>
<p>(MidwestMom: I have a nice sweater with a hood–sometimes I sleep with the sweater on and the hood up if I’ve had a cold day. It makes a difference.)</p>
<p>Missypie: I am also cold a lot of the time and also hypothyroid. I wear wool socks most of the time, except summer. Do you have any Smartwool items? I have Smartwool socks, a quarter-zip top and a full set of long underwear. The tops and long johns are really, really warm, so warm I can only wear those outside. I also have several sets of silk long underwear, lots of cashmere hats and scarves (Target has some reasonably priced ones every fall), and cashmere and merino wool sweaters. </p>
<p>I don’t like fleece too much. I get uncomfortably hot quickly in most fleece things. I try to wear only natural fabrics like cotton, silk, wool. I do have a Northface fleece jacket that I like.</p>
<p>I think you need more layers with some silk and wool. And wool socks!</p>
</p>
On the plus side, unless I am visiting Austin and it’s over 100 degrees, I am nearly never too hot.</p>