far infrared sauna confusion

[Daffodil]

i spent all day researching infrared saunas and almost bought an expensive portable one but stopped myself at the last minute. i am really confused as to what to do. many on lyme boards swear by them but i still cannot really make up my mind. it's so costly to return things in the mail especially from here in canada.....and i really cannot stand being hot. i also, i get night sweats ...so maybe that is doing enough? i just dont know. i need more input!i mean..money is so tight...is this worth it?
thanks!

 

[Vojta]

I use infrared home sauna for about month and I like it. It improves blood and lymph circulation significantly. For example lymph node under my ear is almost 3times smaller after using sauna. If I have swollen one under armpit. It is not painful after. I also like it warms up my joints. Im always cold despite my subfebrile temperature so I tolerate heat very well. I suppose sweating helps with detox but cant prove it. I didnt experience any direct effect on whatever infection I have but as supplement therapy it is good if you can take the heat.
I use it every second day if Im not too sick for 30 mins temp set at 62C now.

 

[xrunner]

is this worth it?

No if you ask me.
I tried a portable one recommended by a dr and it smelled so bad I had to return it unused. Then I bought an expensive cabin, again recommended by a dr but every time (the following days) ended up in bed with a crash. I was never able to sauna longer than 15 minutes. But I was quite unwell at the time.
However, my mum has been able to manage her life-long Lyme symptoms through hyperthermia. So if one is able to stand heat, I mean a lot of heat, that may help with Lyme.

Before you commit the money, perhaps you could try it out at a gym/spa centre and see if it works for you. If you could raise body temperature and sweat through exercise that would be good as well but cheaper.

 

[Daffodil]

No if you ask me.
I tried a portable one recommended by a dr and it smelled so bad I had to return it unused. Then I bought an expensive cabin, again recommended by a dr but every time (the following days) ended up in bed with a crash. I was never able to sauna longer than 15 minutes. But I was quite unwell at the time.
However, my mum has been able to manage her life-long Lyme symptoms through hyperthermia. So if one is able to stand heat, I mean a lot of heat, that may help with Lyme.

Before you commit the money, perhaps you could try it out at a gym/spa centre and see if it works for you. If you could raise body temperature and sweat through exercise that would be good as well but cheaper.

hi xrunner. thanks for sharing your experience.

that is the thing...i cannot exercise at all. i also cannot stand heat. i heard saunsa are not recommended for those with MS and we have a kind of atypical MS profile so I am wondering if it's a good idea.

i know i would not be able to stand the one that heats my head, but the body one, maybe. i also would crash, but isnt that supposed to be a herx?

i keep abandoning the idea and convincing myself i will just do epsom salt baths but to be honest, right now, i am too sick to even clean the bathtub that often lol. then a day later, i will entertain the sauna idea cuz some of the stories online are so compelling.

since i cannot afford a cabin one nor do i have room, i wanted to get the Therasage portable...but it would come to $1000 + 13% tax here in Canada! That is a huge decision and I might well end up not using it, which would be terrible. They even charge hundreds to return it.

Do you do epsom salt baths? Everyone keeps telling me detoxing is my big problem.

Thanks
xoxo

 

[RML]

I was doing sauna's at home for a while at the beginning of the summer and found them a great benefit at the time.

I mean sometimes I would be completely wiped out afterwards and need to rest/lie on bed for half an hour or hour sometimes. But once I passed that initial bit, for rest of day would feel much better and following day too - more energy, less sluggish/toxic, more alert and alive slightly.

The detoxing from it was great and over the few months was enjoying them.

They felt like work and sometimes didn't feel in the mood for that but once i pushed myself a little and had it done and out of the way, I was glad I did and the benefits from it.
Someone I know who is recovered swears by them and encouraged me to try them. She suggested everyday or at least that is what she did. But for me I usually managed twice a week.
I started off slow at 10-15 mins, worked up slowly to about 45 mins in the end.

In August, I started herbs and they really knocked me out. I went from feeling great (May-July) and even starting to part time work again, to being back bed bound most of day, only getting up for a few hours to the sofa in the evening after dinner. I was too bad at that point to handle sauna's and only had the odd one. I was so bad in general that I couldn't tell or feel the benefit any more.i have not had one now in ages. But the last few weeks, I have picked up again and handling the herbal protocol much better, so I am gonna try them out again and start slow and work up.

I think it is a near infra red sauna type. I don't know much about the difference between near and far and which is better.

 

[xrunner]

i also would crash, but isnt that supposed to be a herx?

I don't think so. My sauna' crashes (malaise, unable to stand/talk/do anything) were different from the herxes I experienced on abx (night sweats, chills, lightheadedness, fatigue). The crashes weren't followed by improvements, the herxes were.

Do you do epsom salt baths?
No I don't do baths, I don't do anything at all in terms of treatments, haven't done any for at least a couple of years.

Everyone keeps telling me detoxing is my big problem.

I don't think detoxing is a key issue in ME or Lyme. I'm not sure it's an issue at all. I spent two years with drs telling me I had to work on detoxing. No improvements.

 

[shannah]

@Daffodil

I've also been looking at what's out there in terms of far infrared therapy.

Here's an article on far infrared heating pads. I like the fact that you can lay down as I'm too weak to sit up for a sauna. Not sure how the two would compare to each other though. Perhaps less sweating on the pad?

http://drsircus.com/fir/using-a-far...ail&utm_term=0_ea98c09673-fbfcfcf8df-10766941

 

[Daffodil]

@xrunner i am glad you told me this. i also do not feel like my feeling hot/feverish/sweating after hot shower is herx - i mean it doesnt feel like a herx - but i do feel somewhat better when i wake up after having night sweats. i mean, i think i do. i dont know.

after talking and reading some more, i am thinking maybe a biomat would be better..but of course, that's even more expensive.

i am desperate and afraid i will buy something i will regret

@shannah i also would have trouble sitting up in my current situation...

maybe i need to just do epsom salt baths and stop thinking about this.

but with the biomat, my mom could benefit too, maybe .. UGH

 

[maryb]

@Daffodil - even an Epsom salt footbath would be a useful start, ahmo also used them to get vits and minerals in to start,

 

[Daffodil]

ty @maryb i have heard of those, too. do you do any saunas?

i ordered 2 tubs of epsom salt from walmart and plan to start the baths as soon as that arrives.

i used to hear that cfs patients are supposed to keep their body cool.......but apparently now heat/sweating is good? i dont know

 

[maryb]

Bacteria and viruses hate heat, that's why the body sweats to get rid of them. I;m not sweating as much but feel a lot sicker, I think my body is struggling to fight as well as it used to.

I went through a really good patch in the summer, was doing iIR saunas 2 times a week, plenty of fluids was the key for me to cope with them, same as enemas, have to replace the electrolytes, so important. At present too ill to do saunas, you have to be in a relatively good place, maybe I might start again with just a couple of minutes. I was doing 30 minutes when feeling better. Just done an Epsom foot soak for 30minutes. Not up to having a bath, think that may just see me off Good luck with yours, take it easy, don't forget it has to be warm not hot, its not about sweating, just soaking.

 

[Aerose91]

Not sure if anyone is still looking at this but heres my input.

I just built an infared sauna for myself because theres no sun where i am in the winter. The first time i went in was maybe 10 minutes and i barely broke a sweat and it crushed me. I take minerals and electrolytes but my heart was racing all night, muscle pain, woozy and i woke up with swollen lymph nodes. Now, i can literally only take about 5 minutes in it, i just rotate slowly twice and then get out- and im still feeling issues.

I dont necessarilly take this as bad though- its doing something. Also, infared is good for you, regardless of if we sweat out a bunch of toxins or not its still healing and good for redox so i think we just have to take it extra easy but will still benefit from the IR

 

[Daffodil]

thanks guys! so i asked my doc if fir sauna can help my very troubling brain fog..since i dont really have pain....and he said "no". so, given the cost, i decided to put it on the back burner for now...but thanks for the responses! i definitely think it is generally good for ones health to do.