Cold Showers for Chronic Pain Syndrome
Susan (Portland, OR) on 01/16/2008:
I have been sold on this cold water business for a couple of years now..and am convinced that it has surpressed my usual severe chronic pain to a manageable level. I don't have a shower and have some heart failure so I am generally freezing 99% of the time. But I do have a large claw foot tub. So each day I start with a warm/hot bath..and then towel off and hang out while the tub refilled with all cold. Then I get in...up to my waist and lay in the cold water for at least 5 minutes. Recently, after a car accident I started to lay down up to my neck (though I never immerse my chest..cause that would just be insane :) I lay there long enough for the "heat" to be pulled away..then get out. In summer..the water isn't quite cold enough..but I go swimming in cold lakes and rivers...in winter..the water gets so cold..I cheat a bit and add some hot to the mix so it is not 39 degrees. I swear by this and now do it everyday. If I am at a public pool, I use the cold shower method after swimming...but the cold bath is really good and I always soak my feet in it. I used to have chronic nerve pain the feet..but no more. I read that Thomas Jefferson (or was it Washington....?) soaked his feet in a cold water bucket every day too. It is also really good for the wrist pain you get with typing and mousing. I do not use ice...but have added ice to the tub when soaking at motels in the summer on vacation if the tap water is too warm. It is hard to lay in the tub...but I'm hooked and do it daily.
