A mum who suffers from a condition that makes her faint when she gets too hot says the recent weather has left her a prisoner in her own home – with her body burning “from the inside out”.
While most Brits feel mildly uncomfortable from a spike in temperatures, Kerry Clayton has to shut herself away for days with blackout curtains drawn and five fans blasting.
The 35-year-old says last week’s record-breaking heatwave wreaked havoc on her.
Although she has suffered symptoms of her body rejecting the heat since childhood, Kerry was only diagnosed in her 30s – after her Fitbit revealed what was really going on.
The mum-of-two, whose kids are aged 10 and eight [not named for privacy reasons], says even mild summer temperatures, such as 20 degrees, sends her body into meltdown – her skin feels scorched, her face pounds and even simple tasks leave her on the brink of collapse.
“It feels like I’m trapped in a sauna,” Kerry, who lives in Maidstone, Kent, told Need To Know.
“I feel panicked that I can’t get out.
“I have about five fans running constantly in the summer – even 20 degrees is too hot for me.
“I go really red in the face and I can feel myself about to pass out.
“It didn’t used to be this hot in the UK.
“We keep getting heatwaves and it’s getting unbearably hot for me.
“I’m stuck inside for longer and have to limit going outside even more.
“I can do a 10-minute school run and then I’m overheated again.
“The heat makes me feel so tired a lot of the time that I’m stuck inside.
“I feel trapped inside my own home.”
Kerry was diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) three years ago.
The condition, which is often misdiagnosed, causes her heart rate to spike and blood pressure to plummet when she gets overheated.
This triggers exhaustion and blackouts.
She first noticed symptoms as a child after regularly fainting, feeling light-headed and instinctively hiding indoors to escape the warmth.
But it wasn’t until adulthood when a Fitbit reported her heart was spiking during hot temperatures that she finally got a diagnosis.
She said: “No one knew why but I would pass out all the time.
“I would get so dizzy.
“I couldn’t stand the heat so I would always want to be inside.
“I didn’t want to go out and play and would always stay in the middle of the house where it was the coolest.
“Even as an adult, I just passed out a lot but it wasn’t until a couple of years ago when I got a Fitbit that my heart rate would spike when it was hot.
“I went to the doctor and was referred to a cardiologist and had tests and was diagnosed that way.”
Kerry, who owns a statement jewellery business called Trend Tonic, says the heat has taken over her life – dictating everything from family outings to how long she can be outside.
She has been forced to turn down parties, skip holidays and stay home on hot weekends.
She said: “I’m an indoors person, I was listening to the radio everyone saying we’re going to the beach and that’s my worst nightmare.
“I need to stay inside with fans and a cool towel on.
“I will have the air con always running in the car whereas people might turn it off.
“I will stay inside but in the summer holidays but the kids get restless, they want to go out.
“I have to plan where are we going and if there will be shade.
“I know my son doesn’t mind, he’s similar to me, he wants to be inside.
“My daughter desperately wants to go to the park – I’m like ‘you’ll need to wait for daddy to finish work.’
“It feels like I’m letting them down.
“But if I’m outside for 10 minutes, the drive home makes me so overheated that I have to come into the house with the living room curtains and windows and doors shut, and a hot water bottle filled with ice on me.
“My husband, David, woke me up at 4am recently and I was drenched in sweat.”
The relentless impact of the heat doesn’t just affect Kerry physically – it’s shaped her entire lifestyle.
She added: “I don’t think people realise how brutal it is – it’s not just a bit of sweating, it’s like your whole body’s shutting down.
“I’d love to have a ‘normal’ summer, but this is my reality.
“I just have to make the best of it.”
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