Cryogenic Chamber Therapy / Cold Adaptation

[Goemon_]

I have also tried to follow the C's advice regarding the cold bath.

The weather permit me to go gradually.

I started taking bath at 18/20°C. I was staying 15 minutes and was shivering something like the 10 last minutes.

"Strangely" the first time the water was down to 15°C (which coincide with the day the bathtub has been put outside the house in a kind of open garage) I didn't shiver any more during the bath.

I even find it easiest when the water was down to 10°C (except the initial shock : the first 30 sec or so).

I have take one bath a day for three weeks between 10 and 15°C (after something like one month of bath between 16°C and 20°C).

Then I did continue the bath every other day. Sometimes I was very cold for an hour after the bath. So, then I have adjust the duration of the bath. I would stay 8 minutes at 10°C, 9 minutes at 11°C, etc... Since then I hadn't fell cold too long after the bath.

The difficult part is always the moment I tell me I have to go. Then I start the routine (washing myself with some bottles of water sometimes colder than the bath, sometimes warmer in a room 1 or 2°C warmer than outside / taking the bath / get my clothes on).

Now that the winter is here it as begun to be more complecated. As I have no warm water and the temperature in the tub is often arround 3°C it takes One hour to boil the necessary quantity of water to get the tub water neer 10°C. Adding to that a friend needed a place to stay for a while and I didn't manage to keep my routine on. So, I didn't take the bath during a whole week, then I manage to take one and I cough a flu. The next day was the usual day of the week to meet a couple of neighbour friend. The woman and her child just ad vomiting during the night and the next day I had the same symptoms (milder than the woman however). Now it don't seems to be a good idea do take the bath again and I get loose stools without taking vitamin C any more after one day of a high dose.

I also didn't think to take my usual daily dose of fermented cold liver oil for the last 10 days period. I will start a higher dose today to compensate and hope that will help.

 

[Scottie]

Today, Niall, Pierre and I went into the pool... 2.6 minutes at 2.6 degrees. It was a bit cold , but I learned a new trick.

To prevent your fingers from getting too chilled, make a fist and rest your loosely clenched fists against your legs or body somewhere. Ta-DA! No more frozen fingers when you get out and try to do this:

 

[Joe]

Today, Niall, Pierre and I went into the pool... 2.6 minutes at 2.6 degrees. It was a bit cold , but I learned a new trick.

To prevent your fingers from getting too chilled, make a fist and rest your loosely clenched fists against your legs or body somewhere. Ta-DA! No more frozen fingers when you get out and try to do this:

I also stick my thumbs inside my clenched fists. Toes are still a problem though. How to make a 'fist' with my feet...hmmm.

 

[Scottie]

I also stick my thumbs inside my clenched fists. Toes are still a problem though. How to make a 'fist' with my feet...hmmm.

I thought about putting my toes in my armpits, which I think I could pull off - but alas, I would then sink rapidly... :(

 

[RedFox]

Holy cow that's cold!

I also stick my thumbs inside my clenched fists. Toes are still a problem though. How to make a 'fist' with my feet...hmmm.

I thought about putting my toes in my armpits, which I think I could pull off - but alas, I would then sink rapidly... :(

Unless you can park yourself at the side and grab your toes/make fists around them the best option I could find was neoprene socks (they ware them in triathlons sometimes).
_http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=neoprene+socks&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aneoprene+socks
You could get gloves too.

Perceval, are you doing 1 minute per degree or 30 seconds?
Being a skinny I had to drop down from 10 minutes at 10 degrees to 5 minutes.
I've had to make an effort to eat enough calories too - having spent a day shivering a few weeks ago I worked out I wasn't eating enough.
Fat bombs to the rescue!

 

[Niall]

Today, Niall, Pierre and I went into the pool... 2.6 minutes at 2.6 degrees. It was a bit cold , but I learned a new trick.

To prevent your fingers from getting too chilled, make a fist and rest your loosely clenched fists against your legs or body somewhere. Ta-DA! No more frozen fingers when you get out and try to do this:

A warning to anyone thinking of doing likewise at such low temperatures: do it in company, or at least have someone nearby. Note that we're doing this in a small swimming pool, accessed via safe, sturdy steps, and then have a short distance to walk into a warm house.

My hands became so numb I could barely hold a towel afterwards! I imagine if you had to climb out of a lake, river or whatever, and navigate awkward, icy terrain with numbed limbs, you're at a much higher risk of injuring yourself.

Be safe!

 

[naorma]

Standing regularly in cold showers for nearly 4 months I would like to tell some of my experiences.

After app. 10 days of Standing in the cold shower or sitting in a cold bath I got some very bad aches in my maxillary sinus (Kieferhöhle) and I was already calling someone for help but he was not available and after two days the pain had gone and my nose and this area on my head had become very clean and fresh for breathing. Which has not been so before. I sometimes had to use some medicine to keep my nose free. It was on both sides and it hurt terrible for 2-3 days but now it is gone and never has come back and my lungs get more fresh air.
After a while I realised it must have been the kind of reaction you have when taking homeopathic medicine. It first gets worse and then it heals.

Another symptom that arose was that after 3 months little questions (very very very little ones, but they were) arose: I am so tired - is it really necessary to take that cold bath? Like the poor little cowgirl feeling I mentioned above. And in realizing that this was just the normal 3 months symptom which often happens when you start something it helped me to get through.

The benefits are visible at my skin too. Most often in winter time I got rough skin spots which were biting me. They appear now as simple red marks but they do not hurt me any more and I think they will disappear after a while, because they get smaller and smaller.

And the most benevolent thing is about fever blisters.´Everytime I was overstraining my body he answered with those blisters, which I definitely did not like to have.
And now these blisters dont have a chance. When I am working too much and my body is overstrained I realise how they try to get out (just that kind of prickling everyone knows who has these Virus) but they don't succeed!! So I see that this Kind of "medicine" really works!

And of course the temperature of the rooms I live in has been reduced. Last winter I needed 21° C, this year it is mostly between 17 and 18°C - which saves money, too!

The only thing that I have to solve is: My fingers get very white after standing in the shower or in the bath - but I am sure this will disappear, too.

 

[lilyalic]

A warning to anyone thinking of doing likewise at such low temperatures: do it in company, or at least have someone nearby. Note that we're doing this in a small swimming pool, accessed via safe, sturdy steps, and then have a short distance to walk into a warm house.

My hands became so numb I could barely hold a towel afterwards! I imagine if you had to climb out of a lake, river or whatever, and navigate awkward, icy terrain with numbed limbs, you're at a much higher risk of injuring yourself.

Be safe!

That's a useful suggestion! it also helps doing it with someone else as it's more motivating to stay in! sharing the cold pain together!

 

[Scottie]

Standing regularly in cold showers for nearly 4 months I would like to tell some of my experiences.

Wow! Sounds like the cold is helping you quite a bit.

The only thing that I have to solve is: My fingers get very white after standing in the shower or in the bath - but I am sure this will disappear, too.

Fingers are strange...

If I take a cold shower (15C), my fingers aren't white afterwards, but a couple of them are numb and tingly for about an hour afterwards.

But if I take a cold bath (usually lower than 15C), my fingers sometimes turn white for a short time, but they do not go numb unless the water temperature is below 5C.

I have also noticed skin improvements: the keto diet + cold = shiny, smooth skin with no more excessive dryness or oiliness.

It's like magic, I tell ya!

 

[naorma]

Hi Scottie and all the others! Thanks for sharing your experiences!

As mentioned before me and my body do these showers and bathes regularly. But sometimes there are some disagreements between me and my body. Me saying: "Oh, its so cold outside, the weather is bad, I am sooo tired, so poor" and my body simply moving to the shower or the bath and stepping in. And then we are there.

And then another I steps in to help. It starts singing. Not only singing, but sometimes growling or hissing (I did not find the right word perhaps, in German - at least in Austrian German - we say "pfauchen" - doing like a cat when she is angry) or screaming like "Pumuckl", snickering like a horse, making grimaces as ugly as possible - and after a short time I really feel as if a bad spirit is leaving, I relax and feel happy again.

And then the singing changes. It becomes music again. Sometimes its just juuh-huhu, la, la, la , sometimes simple children songs like "ba ba black sheep have you any wool" (99 times ;) ) - sometimes Christmas Songs - everything that comes to my mind, how stupid or wonderful as ever and as loud as possible - and I repeat it very very often. It helps to get through these 10-12 minutes. And since my body always reacts to music it starts moving under the shower as well. And that keeps me fresh and relaxed in a different way, too. And I won! (I mean, we won)

In fact there are similar reactions like when doing the EE programme!

It helps a lot to know there are people that are doing the same. Because although I talk a lot about what I am doing and my family sometimes admires me of sitting in the cold bath - there is no one around me who is doing this, too.

So have a good time everybody, congratulations and thanks and enjoy the cold water!!!

;

P.S. For those who do not know "Pumuckl" I enclose a link ;D just to see how I feel sometimes!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhbY0Pcair4

 

[seek10]

I also stick my thumbs inside my clenched fists. Toes are still a problem though. How to make a 'fist' with my feet...hmmm.

I thought about putting my toes in my armpits, which I think I could pull off - but alas, I would then sink rapidly... :(

For me, my thigh's are sensitive area prone to easy cold burns, boxers( 95% cotton, 5% spindex) seems to prevent it. Extending it, Probably you can try with tight socks like soccer socks and see whether it helps.

On the same note, After doing 2 months as per protocol, I took a break for month though i did it once in a while. Do I need to start it again with daily for 3 weeks. of course, any concession is good. ;) It depends on the anti-virus production, but there is no way to identify the production. Probably not a big deal, still any Ideas?.

 

[thorbiorn]

Today, Niall, Pierre and I went into the pool... 2.6 minutes at 2.6 degrees. It was a bit cold , but I learned a new trick.

To prevent your fingers from getting too chilled, make a fist and rest your loosely clenched fists against your legs or body somewhere. Ta-DA! No more frozen fingers when you get out and try to do this:

A warning to anyone thinking of doing likewise at such low temperatures: do it in company, or at least have someone nearby. Note that we're doing this in a small swimming pool, accessed via safe, sturdy steps, and then have a short distance to walk into a warm house.

My hands became so numb I could barely hold a towel afterwards! I imagine if you had to climb out of a lake, river or whatever, and navigate awkward, icy terrain with numbed limbs, you're at a much higher risk of injuring yourself.

Be safe!

Niall is right. Safety is very important, more so if one is not practicing in a tub or small pool. I looked up some winter swimming clubs in Denmark, who all together have some 25000 members and growing. A club in Kolding posted (January 5th) a guidance for those swimming in open water during the winter which had been worked out at a recent workshop for these clubs. They recommend for open water winter bathing:

Before going into the water:
It is preferable to be three and still better four. If there are three, one can go for help and one can look after the person who is not well. One person is rarely enough to help a cold water swimmer who is not feeling well out of the water. In addition, they mention that experiences show it usually requires four people to get a person on a spineboard out of the water.

To have the necessary equipment available to help get people out of the water if something happens.

To check the weather forecast, and be aware of the possibility of strong currents in the water.

One should not walk on a bathing jetty or on steps which are ice covered, since a fall can have "catastrophic consequences."

One should not bathe, if one is influenced by alkohol, medication, is having a flu or not feeling well.

While in the water:
To enter slowly into the water. Never do a head jump into cold water, as it may lead to a dangerous increase of the blood pressure. Also, and for the same reason, one should not go directly from a sauna and into cold water, but give the body a minute to cool down, before going in.

To look out for each other.

To breathe slowly as hyperventilation can lead to faintiing.

One should stay close to the area where one can get out of the water.

To get out when one begins to freeze, as one's muscle power and sense of feeling is reduced. As a result it may be difficult for a person to grab the handrail and help her- or himself out of the water. They say bathing may last as little as 10-30 seconds, if one stays more than 2 minutes it may affect musclepower and sensitivity in the legs and thus the ability to get out of the water by oneself.

One should not swim under ice, as one's ability to hold one's breath is greatly reduced.

It is advisable not to go further out than one can still touch the bottom wiith ones feet.

Other advice
To be helpful to people who are new to winter swimming.

Those were some of the general advices for open water winter bathing from this web site: _http://www.hopifjorden.dk/konklusioner-fra-workshop-med-vinterbadeklubberne-2014 In Danish

These suggestions may sound a bit conservative. On the other hand, while winter swimming means swimming during the winter season, winter swimming becomes ice swimming when the water temperature is below 5.0 degrees Celsius (<41 deg. F) according to _https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_swimming although the Russian page says ice swimming occurs when the water is between -2 C to + 4 C (28.4 to 39.2 deg F) _https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%97%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%B5_%D0%BF%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5

On the Russian Wiki page mentioned above, they also say, children can do ice swimming, but with care and for a shorter time, as hypothermia sets in more rapidly than in adults. Besides, if one is new to ice swimming, then one should only stay in for a few seconds, as one is likely to experience hyperventilation, but this reaction goes away with more practice. Further, one should pay attention to one's body and one's feelings regarding the duration of the swim in the open water hole. In other words they have no second or minute limit as on the Danish site. (On the Russian Wiki the "open water hole" is understood as a 20-40 meter long opening cut out of the ice of a lake, river or sea.). For me paying attention to ones body could include knowing the signs and stages of hypothermia, as well as how one's body reacts to cold water.

 

[fabric]

(On the Russian Wiki the "open water hole" is understood as a 20-40 meter long opening cut out of the ice of a lake, river or sea.). For me paying attention to ones body could include knowing the signs and stages of hypothermia, as well as how one's body reacts to cold water.

Seems like that's a popular thing in Russia!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V13ARK9g578

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI8Z239e3ss

Now to find a nice frozen lake to carve a strip out. With the crazy low temps coming probably won't be long ;)

 

[Keit]

Seems like that's a popular thing in Russia!

Not only popular, once a year people who never did winter swimming before are willing to do it for religious purposes. It's called The Epiphany:

In Russia and other Eastern European countries where Eastern Orthodox Christianity is the prevalent religion ice swimming is connected with the celebration of the Epiphany. The Epiphany is observed on 19 January according to the Julian calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church. The day marks the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan. To celebrate this, holes are cut in the ice on rivers, lakes or other bodies of water, usually in the form of a Christian or Orthodox cross. Around midnight, believers submerge themselves three times in the water to honour the Holy Trinity, after a priest says a prayer.

https://youtu.be/GV87YnIuij0

They do similar celebrations here too, so my friends already started to remind me about my promise to try it out, because they want to take pictures of the whole process.

 

[Keyhole]

I also stick my thumbs inside my clenched fists. Toes are still a problem though. How to make a 'fist' with my feet...hmmm.

Since the tap water here in the UK has dropped down to roughly 5-6C I noticed that whenever I took a shower my feet became extremely numb and actually started to hurt a little bit. Anyway, occasionally I will wake up the next morning with a strong pain in my feet, swelling of the toes and a feeling of bruising of the bone. This pain persists throughout the rest of the day!

I have done a bit of research on this and I think it may be an issue of "Chilblains".

[quote author=Wikipedia]a medical condition that occurs when a predisposed individual is exposed to cold and humidity, causing tissue damage. It is often confused with frostbite and trench foot. The cold exposure damages capillary beds in the skin, which in turn causes redness, itching, blisters, and inflammation.[2] Chilblains can be prevented by keeping the feet and hands warm in cold weather.[/quote]
[quote author=NHS]
During cold weather blood vessels near the surface of the skin get narrower, causing the blood to flow deeper in the skin. This is your body's normal response to cold and is designed to preserve your core body temperature.
When skin is exposed to warmth again, the blood vessels near the surface of the skin expand and blood flow returns to normal.
If skin is heated up too quickly, for example by placing your feet in hot water or near a heater, the blood vessels near the surface of the extremities, such as the hands and feet, cannot always handle the increased blood flow.
This creates a "bottleneck" effect that can cause blood to leak into surrounding tissue. This is thought to be the reason for the swelling and itchiness associated with chilblains.[/quote]

Has anyone else experienced anything else like this? I would not recommend warming up too quickly after a cold exposure because I think this is what has happened to both me and my partner before! When I get out of the shower, I would previously put socks and some warm, fluffy slippers on. Now I try to leave it a while before even putting any socks on and let my feet gradually warm up again. The picture is not of my feet, but just for people to see who may be having the same problem.

Take care of your feet everyone :D