Members treatments Cold baths: They really work !!

As many of you may know, in the past I’ve gone on a bit about cold baths as a therapy for M.E. when I first started taking them in 1995 I was ecstatic about their effect. They really made me feel so much better. On referring to my diary I’d typically put, "woke feeling really awful (s***y) then had cold bath and felt transformed, yes they really work". I did them religiously during 95 and 96, but then tended only to partake when I was feeling particularly grotty, using them as a tool to alleviate my more nasty symptoms.

In 1998 after a long spell of feeling awful, I thought I must do something to address the bad effects the illness was having on my body. So I earnestly started on the baths, unaware that I was going down with a severe chest infection, well after a week I felt so weak and decided that I couldn’t carry on with them. Luckily I stopped, as I became very ill and didn’t think I’d ever get rid of the infection. The experience changed my views of the baths, and I realised one had to be cautious. Since that time I hadn’t had a cold bath!

Well the other day I decided, once again, to take a cold bath. I don’t know why on this particular morning, as I’ve been pretty awful for some time, although in the last few weeks feeling like a zombie would be an under statement, more like sheer hell. Well I couldn’t believe it, I felt like a different person it’s just unbelievable. Physically and mentally you couldn’t believe the change! Although it’s not a cure and the down side is, it tends to make you overdo things as when you feel "human" you want to do things, and yes its still a bit of a shock to the system getting into the relatively cold water.

I still say it’s the only treatment I’ve found to have any effect on my condition. PS my girlfriend has often taken the cold baths, partly to give me encouragement but also because they are supposed to benefit non-sufferer’s general health, circulation etc. Interestingly she doesn’t feel any noticeable effects apart from the initial effect of getting into colder water (i.e. invigorating), whereas I get a whole gambit of sensations: a mental high straight after, and my muscles feel toned up (like they belong to me). Followed by feeling a bit shiverish and a bit light headed for about an hour. Later in the day I feel a glowing warmth and mentally very good (happy) sort of the opposite of having M.E! I think it’s rather like taking a paracetamol if you don’t have a headache you wouldn’t notice any effect! Perhaps the cold baths encourage the blood to flow and so neutralise the symptoms of M.E. At the moment I feel I must spread the news. Kevin.

PS since writing the above I can add the following update:

The day I started this session of baths I agreed to oversee some work (planting, etc.) in the garden, feeling so well I couldn’t resist getting involved myself and stupidly overdid it. At the time I thought I was mad, I knew I’d pay for it the next day but though what the heck. Throughout that week whilst doing the baths I kept up the pace as I was feeling so much better. Well I think you know what’s coming next. By the end of the week I was feeling really awful. It may have been a throat infection, or perhaps I just wrung more energy I didn’t have out of my system, I felt as if I’d been run over by a ten ton lorry!

But yes, as soon as I feel well enough, I will definitely be going back on the cold baths.J

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