Positive update and jopefully helpful advice/suggestions..💗

[Turquoisesummer]

Hey guys,I haven't been on here a while, but I've been busy trying new ways to manage and get better (and also had bad anxiety for a while which is the main reason I wasn't here😕) and I wanted to share in hopes that it could help someone else.

So last year a had trouble walking, looking at people when I was talking to them, lifting my phone and pressing buttons.. literally everything was almost impossible because of pain and fatigue.. and the brain fog was terrible. I couldn't leave my house til 6pm and then I'd have about an hour where I could kind of function until I was done. I couldn't sleep for more than 5-10 minutes and had max 4 hour's sleep a night, interrupted (never slept longer than 30 min at once) and full of vivid dreams and nightmares.

A few months ago I began having cold showers, only because last winter (in Australia) was torture lol any hint of cold would cause me unbearable pain and i was dreading living through another winter. So I thought I'd try to increase my tolerance for cold and had heard a lot about cold exposure/cold showers. The first time I tried I felt panicky and as if my brain was short-circuiting and had to turn the water off immediately. But wait until the end..😋 lol

It's been maybe 5 months and we're in the middle of winter now.. and I'm loving the cold!😯 it no longer causes me pain but helps relieve my pain. I would always have hot showers/baths/sauna and stretch as much as possible, and I still do, but alternating hot with cold now helps even more...

And this is the best part...🙂 after about 2 months of daily cold showers, either after my morning hot shower (which I still can't function without) or during/after a sauna session, I was able to start doing cardio and weights at my gym for the first time since I got fibro 6 years ago. Before the cold showers, I would try to exercise but even the least but of exertion would leave me worse off for 2 weeks and I would be unable to exert myself until the pain started to wear off. Since starting cold showers I have been able to do weights and/or cardio up to 6 days a week (but usually only in the afternoon evenings, as i still struggle with pain and fatigue for a few hours after waking up, but i have been able to work out twice in the morning and when i have been able to i have felt so much better during the day).

I have continued to go to the sauna (I'll stay as long as i can until i start to feel dizzy and feel my heart beating [I'm not recommending this, it's just what I do! And my gym's sauna is usually full of people although i have never passed out]) and then have a cold shower (next to our sauna) and go back in the sauna until i feel like I'm done😛) and have cold showers after my hot morning shower daily (hot showers seem to relieve my pain and cold seems to relieve my fatigue.. which together seem to help heaps!!) and without either I struggle.

But I'm sharing this because after being bedridden for most of the day and night at 34 years old and having terrible sleep, brain fog and debilitating pain and fatigue, I have recently been able to sleep almost a full night of decent sleep without waking fully or for more than a minute, to leave my house before 12 pm instead of 6pm, to shower in half an hour instead of 3 hours, and to do cardio and weights up to 6 days a week when I couldn't workout, besides hot yoga, for 6 years, since I got fibro.

After about 3 months of cold showers and being able to work out I was able to change my diet and lifestyle to help even more. So i cut out sugar and processed food, alcohol, and also went vegan, after seeing many documentarys and doing lots of research. And i started jiu jitsu a month ago! Which I've wanted to do for years for self-defense, but wasn't able to do. I'm having the most fun I've had since I was a kid and although the jiu jitsu is giving me pain and bruises, I'm happy that I'm able to do something I love and enjoy, and even if it's causing me pain well I've had worse..🤭 I actually didn't have pain beside from my collar bones up for months since the cold showers, but only the last week I've had pain from jiu jitsu. The weights and cardio were even giving pain relief, while in the past they would have debilitated me for weeks.

I'm sorry this is so long, i just have trouble shortening stuff😕 I hope that at least this can help someone, and i know that we're all different and different things work for different people, but if this can help even 1 person feel better and have a better quality of life that would be awesome🥰

God bless

[Channy3]

I’m really happy for you hun, thank you for sharing as it’s lovely to read something positive, I hope it continues much love & god bless…

[Woodwalker]

well done and what a great helpful experience to share with us all. I shall be trying too after such a great endorsement

[Devon5]

excellent news. Well done. I’ve been toying with having cold showers for a while now. Will definitely give it a go.

[RustyOBear]

Morning Turquoisesummer

I also have a problem shortening my writing, so that made me smile 😂.

I really enjoyed this post, it is an uplifting message and we all need hope with this condition.

The alternating hot and cold makes sense because our nervous systems are so sensitive. It’s counterintuitive to give our already wonky thermostats even more extremes but maybe it somehow desensitises the nervous system?

My physio has recently suggested slowly adding a spell of cold after hot shower., beginning with a few seconds and building from there.

I have to force myself to have the hot shower because I hate the initial sensation of the water on my skin, but after a minute the warmth is nice and I don’t want to get out 😂.

Fibromyalgia is strange, the pain and fatigue make you do less, but doing less makes you lose muscle mass which then makes you feel weaker and pain and stiffness from not moving!

I think the idea of gradually building incrementally, routines, then adding to them over time is key. Being gently encouraged also helps with motivation.

Thanks for your positive story and the detail has been really helpful.

[JayCeon]

Hi there - great! I use cold showers daily to get to sleep, of all things, but also for 'broken thermostat', and the burst of cool also numbs pain and Ache. Unlike you it hasn't changed my life that much, but it's one of the most valuable of my 100s of tools.

For people not used to it or on days where we may be intolerant of it, it's good to start low (in temperature and on the body) and go slow, just as it's OK for us. It is 'hormesis' - as several US functional docs are now calling it - i.e. it's a bit of an advanced challenge we have to approach carefully.