If you really want to accelerate your body’s habituation to the cold, frigid showers will get the job done. “Cold showers are no fun, but they cause the body to adapt pretty quickly,” says John Castellani, a research physiologist for the U.S. Army who has studied how people respond and adapt to the cold. He suggests starting off with just a quick cold-shower exposure—say 15 seconds—and adding 10 seconds every day. (You can turn up the water temp once you’ve endured your measure of icy water.)
Do you have any opinion or recommendation about gradual cold exposure as a way of improving Raynaud's symptoms? It is something I am interested in trying next Spring or Summer.
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mike444
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Not sure to be honest. The 2 things that have helped me manage mine are:
1. Exercise as it increases the blood flow.
2. The second thing I tried which helped was going to a spa. Switching from hot sauna room to the cold room and having a cold shower then going back into the sauna.
It wasn't pleasant the first few times but I do feel those 2 things helped with that awful feeling when your hands and feet start to warm up. It reduced the pain and swelling.
I would probably try this first rather than go straight to cold 🥶
agree whole heartedly - I also wear infrared glove to bed a night and my hands feel better in the morning - a nitroglycerin patch can help when you have a flare up to open up the blood vessels
It’s states he’s a research physiologist in the US military. If his observation subjects are young healthy military personnel they are not going to suffer from Raynauds in the first place. My son is in the Royal Navy and you can’t join if you have a Raynauds diagnosis. It’s on the list of conditions not allowed like diabetes and asthma. However if your willing to give it a go I’d be very interested to hear how you fair. There is lots of research about exposure therapy especially with allergies etc now so it’s not impossible that it may have some benefits in Raynauds but I’m afraid I’m to much of a wimp to be a guinea pig 😆
i would think it depends on whether there is an autoimmune cause for your Raynaud’s. Secondary Raynaud’s is a very different beast to primary.. people with secondary can lose digits to the ischemic damage it does to us, have serious organ involvement etc. So you’d need to be careful about which type you have regardless of whether or not it might help. Sounds bit of a gamble to me personally.
Thank you for your replies. I have Primary Raynaud's. I would like to trial it in the spring or summer, so that when I leave the shower, my body can warm up after. My home can get quite cold in the winter. I plan to start at 15 seconds of cold shower, then slowly increase.
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