Health Information

Cold intolerance is an abnormal sensitivity to a cold environment or cold temperatures.

Sensitivity to the cold; Intolerance to cold

Cold intolerance can be a symptom of a metabolic problem.

Some people (often very thin women) do not tolerate cold environments because they have very little body fat and are unable to keep warm.

• Anemia
• Anorexia nervosa
• Blood vessel (vascular) problems, such as Raynaud's phenomenon
• Chronic severe illness
• General poor health
• Hypothyroidism
• Problem with the hypothalamus

Follow the recommended therapy for treating the cause of the problem.

Call your health care provider if you have long-term or extreme intolerance to cold.

Your health care provider will take a medical history and perform a physical examination.

Medical history questions may include:

• Time pattern
  • Have you always been intolerant of cold?
  • Has this developed recently?
  • Has it been getting worse?
  • Do you often feel cold when other people do not complain of the cold?
• Medical history
  • What is your diet like?
  • How is your general health?
  • What are your height and weight?
  • What other symptoms do you have?

Tests that may be performed include:

• Complete blood count (CBC)
• Serum TSH
• Thyroid hormone levels

If your health care provider diagnosed cold intolerance, you may want to note that diagnosis in your personal medical record.

Kim M, Ladenson P. Thyroid. In: Goldman L, Schafer AI, eds. Cecil Medicine. 24th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders Elsevier; 2011:chap 233.