Oregon climates for Rheumatoid Arthritis?

[oregonwoodsmoke]

If you need both dry and warm, Oregon doesn't have it. You need southern California, Arizona, the west side of the big island of Hawaii, and maybe north western Texas

[Nell Plotts]

It doesn't rain daily but it does rain often enough to cause you misery.

Consider Sacramento or Chico CA. You can visit Portland or Eugene by Amtrac. Southwest flies to Portland from Sacramento.

[peaceloveandjulie]

I have SLE (Lupus) and understand. Nowhere is going to be perfect, especially not year-round. You have to figure out what triggers the worst symptoms, what's negotiable, what isn't, and go from there. I live in West Texas and simply can't handle 7 months of wretched heat anymore. I also can't handle the drastic, rapid temperature changes we get OFTEN. The temperature can and does drop 30+ degrees in a couple of hours. That's super-hard on my body. Ironically, I moved here from Northern New England where I suffered many months of bitter cold and blizzards. Talk about living in extremes!

Southern Oregon will seem moderate for me. I'm moving east of Klamath Falls. There will be some snow (most winters) and quite cold temperatures in the winter, summer heat but nothing close to Texas where it's still 90 degrees at midnight, not much rain, and a lovely fall. In other words, totally doable. Cold is manageable since I can bundle up and/or stay inside. But ever-present, intense heat/sun causes my joints to swell, increases my skin rashes, and causes vital organ and joint damage over time, which is why I need to make a move. I wouldn't be able to handle lengthy periods of rain, high humidity, and damp so living in some other parts of Oregon wouldn't work.

I guess everything is relative to one's experiences and situation. Having spent more than 20 years each in two areas of the country with weather extremes and dealt with the effects, Southern Oregon will be the most moderate place I've lived and the best to deal with my disease, I reckon. The climate is classified as Mediterranean; the area is High Desert.

Speak with your mother's doctors and see what they say/recommend. I did that and mine felt that relocation to this particular part of Oregon was a very good idea. LOL, when I first said Oregon, they immediately thought "Portland," "PNW," and "RAIN!" and reacted with, "Are you nuts?" but after they looked up the maps, climate, and other information, they thought it would suit my health situation well. My cardiologist is a Stanford alum, two of my surgeons went to med. school at UCLA and one is a Washington State native, and my internal medicine doctor had a residency offer in Portland but her husband insisted they come back to Texas. So they were all familiar with the West Coast and started looking into medical resources for me.

Ensure that wherever you go, rheumatological care is available for your mother. There is a rheumatologist in Klamath Falls, and Sky Lakes Medical Center there has an excellent Orthopedic Surgery Dept., it turns out, so I'm quite comfortable about the care I'll receive. And if more specialized treatment is needed, I can take Amtrak to Eugene, Portland, Seattle, or San Francisco from Klamath Falls.

All of these things are important to consider when you're dealing with a chronic, incurable, serious disease like one of the autoimmunes. I wish you all the best of luck, good health, and happiness!

[TheDaveMaybe]

Originally Posted by peaceloveandjulie

I have SLE (Lupus) and understand. Nowhere is going to be perfect, especially not year-round. You have to figure out what triggers the worst symptoms, what's negotiable, what isn't, and go from there. I live in West Texas and simply can't handle 7 months of wretched heat anymore. I also can't handle the drastic, rapid temperature changes we get OFTEN. The temperature can and does drop 30+ degrees in a couple of hours. That's super-hard on my body. Ironically, I moved here from Northern New England where I suffered many months of bitter cold and blizzards. Talk about living in extremes!

Southern Oregon will seem moderate for me. I'm moving east of Klamath Falls. There will be some snow (most winters) and quite cold temperatures in the winter, summer heat but nothing close to Texas where it's still 90 degrees at midnight, not much rain, and a lovely fall. In other words, totally doable. Cold is manageable since I can bundle up and/or stay inside. But ever-present, intense heat/sun causes my joints to swell, increases my skin rashes, and causes vital organ and joint damage over time, which is why I need to make a move. I wouldn't be able to handle lengthy periods of rain, high humidity, and damp so living in some other parts of Oregon wouldn't work.

I guess everything is relative to one's experiences and situation. Having spent more than 20 years each in two areas of the country with weather extremes and dealt with the effects, Southern Oregon will be the most moderate place I've lived and the best to deal with my disease, I reckon. The climate is classified as Mediterranean; the area is High Desert.

Speak with your mother's doctors and see what they say/recommend. I did that and mine felt that relocation to this particular part of Oregon was a very good idea. LOL, when I first said Oregon, they immediately thought "Portland," "PNW," and "RAIN!" and reacted with, "Are you nuts?" but after they looked up the maps, climate, and other information, they thought it would suit my health situation well. My cardiologist is a Stanford alum, two of my surgeons went to med. school at UCLA and one is a Washington State native, and my internal medicine doctor had a residency offer in Portland but her husband insisted they come back to Texas. So they were all familiar with the West Coast and started looking into medical resources for me.

Ensure that wherever you go, rheumatological care is available for your mother. There is a rheumatologist in Klamath Falls, and Sky Lakes Medical Center there has an excellent Orthopedic Surgery Dept., it turns out, so I'm quite comfortable about the care I'll receive. And if more specialized treatment is needed, I can take Amtrak to Eugene, Portland, Seattle, or San Francisco from Klamath Falls.

All of these things are important to consider when you're dealing with a chronic, incurable, serious disease like one of the autoimmunes. I wish you all the best of luck, good health, and happiness!

Well, if you hate 30+ degree temperature jumps, you won't like Southern Oregon. Pretty much from April to October there's a 30 degree, or more, differential from daily highs to nightly lows. Take Medford for example. In April, the average high during the day is 65 degrees, while nights average 39 degrees. In May, 73 during the day, 45 at night. June, 82 during the day, 50 at night. July, 92 during the day, 57 at night. August, 91 during the day, 56 at night. September, 84 during the day, 49 at night and October, 70 during the day and 42 at night. Summers in Klamath Falls range from 40s at night to 80s during the day. If you don't want diurnal temperature ranges, don't move to Southern Oregon.

[oldtrader]

My wife and I don't live in Oregon any more, because of the high humidity and the cold damp weather. We find that there are much better places to live with arthritis and lung problems. Cold and damp, is the best way to explain their winters. A son has an art gallery on the Coast, and we would love to live near him, but had to leave due to the high humidity coupled with the cold in the winter. I talked to him yesterday and he says it has rained every day this month. Same report from our son in Portland.

If cold damp weather effects your mothers RA, run don't walk away from Oregon.

[Nell Plotts]

As Oldtrader doubtless knows we have deserts in Oregon. The problem is that they are east of the Cascade Mountains on a high plateau which means temperature extremes. We also have rain shadows, places on the eastern slope of the Coast range, where rainfall is significantly lower. Real Cliff Mass, PhD book Weather in the Pacific Northwest.

[peaceloveandjulie]

Originally Posted by TheDaveMaybe

Well, if you hate 30+ degree temperature jumps, you won't like Southern Oregon. Pretty much from April to October there's a 30 degree, or more, differential from daily highs to nightly lows. Take Medford for example. In April, the average high during the day is 65 degrees, while nights average 39 degrees. In May, 73 during the day, 45 at night. June, 82 during the day, 50 at night. July, 92 during the day, 57 at night. August, 91 during the day, 56 at night. September, 84 during the day, 49 at night and October, 70 during the day and 42 at night. Summers in Klamath Falls range from 40s at night to 80s during the day. If you don't want diurnal temperature ranges, don't move to Southern Oregon.

I guess I wasn't clear. Big differences between daytime and nighttime temps are expected and fine. I was talking about the huge weather changes in Texas when you go from 74 degrees to 38 degrees during the day and within a few hours, as we did most recently on Saturday. That's why we have so much crazy weather in Texas. Have you seen the tornados and what we're currently dealing with? That sort of thing. It's super hard on the body. And life in general, actually!