Cryogenic Chamber Therapy / Cold Adaptation

[Voyageur]

Re: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy

I recently returned from a trip to a spa where they had a Zimmerman 3-chamber Cryo machine. I did ten full 3-minute sessions over 5 days. I was a little nervous before going in, but the instructor was knowledgable and explained the process and what to expect while inside. The first 2-3 sessions were quite uncomfortable, with a feeling considerable aching pain in my wrists, forearms, neck and shoulders around the 2 minute mark. Near the end, I found myself actually looking forward to the sessions, with little or no discomfort and hardly any shivering after exiting the machine.

I slept quite well most days after the sessions, and noticed a subtle overall increase in energy levels. Not having any significant joint or muscle problems prior to going in, I can't say I feel much different now, a week after the process. But, I'm glad I went and I'd do it again if ever given the opportunity. Next time I'd like to try the nitrogen chamber as a comparison.

Glad you had a good experience with the Zimmerman sessions and a comparison would be interesting, too.

 

[David]

Re: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy

Laura, it might also be useful, not sure, to ask Psyche about Hyperbaric medicine. A friend of mine was a professional deep sea diver and a professional operator of these chambers and he said that selected physicians now operate these chambers and there worth is vastly underrated as they are used to treat decompression sickness primarily but have many oxygenating properties useful for health. He said they are so good at somethings that he just can't understand why they are not standard equipment in hospitals.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbaric_medicine

Wonderful… A student once legally blind can now see well enough to drive a car – due to hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

From_http://www.independent.ie/health/health-news/student-who-was-legally-blind-can-now-drive-thanks-to-decompression-therapy-3130611.html Article by Louise Hogan

Eric Lokko…. was on the point of applying for a guide dog when the revolutionary treatment for his hereditary eye condition began to turn his life around.

His eye specialist, Professor Lorraine Cassidy, sent him to the privately run National Hyperbaric Centre, near Jervis Street in Dublin, at the age of 14.

Eric received hyperbaric oxygen therapy in the chamber for an hour at a time, using a method similar to that used to treat divers suffering from decompression sickness after a diving accident.

A face mask delivers oxygen to a patient's lungs while the increased pressure inside the chamber allows more of the gas into the body's tissues.

"My mam had the papers and everything for the guide dog just before we started coming to the chambers," he said.

However, by the age of 16 his eyesight had improved to the extent that he qualified for a moped licence, and he is now driving a car.

"One eye is still coming back, it was just a slower process than the other one. It is a slow process but it is better than being blind," he said.

Eric was one of the first sent for the treatment by eye specialists. However, more students with the same condition were sent after the results became clear. He now comes in to use the chamber once a week.

How hyperbaric therapy works

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy involves sitting in a sealed chamber and breathing pure oxygen through a mask. The air pressure is slowly increased, driving blood oxygen levels up, helping heal damaged tissue.

People often experience earache -- similar to that felt on an aeroplane. Swallowing can relieve this.

For therapeutic treatments, the pressure is increased to the equivalent of going 10m under water. l It is more commonly used to treat decompression sickness (the bends) in divers.

The therapy is also used to treat diabetics with non-healing ulcers who may be at risk of losing toes, feet or limbs; carbon monoxide poisoning; and serious burns.

Sorry if a little off topic.. but since hyperbaric therapy is mentioned here..

 

[Voyageur]

Re: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy

[quote author=Davida]

"A student once legally blind can now see well enough to drive a car"
[...]
Sorry if a little off topic.. but since hyperbaric therapy is mentioned here..
[/quote]

Thanks for the story regardless, a positive experience for this persons future; gift of sight. :)

 

[seek10]

Re: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy

As my current medical insurance is expiring, Recently I did got my blood work done first time after went full paleo. Doctor called me to tell her list of her cautions.

the one that are in brackets are considered to be healthy range . These are the one doctor is concerned about.

Lipid panel
Cholestrol, Total 287 ( 100-199)
Triglycerides 79 mg/dl ( 0-149 )
HDL cholestrol 69 ( > 39 )
VLDL cholesterol Cal 16 mg/DL ( 5-40 )
LDL cholestrol Cal 202 mg/DL ( 0-99)

TSH 7.85 uIU/mL ( .45-4.5)
Vitamin B 12 1210 pg/mL ( 211-946)

Vitamin D , 1, 23+ 25-Hydroxy
Calcitriol ( 1,24 di-OH Vit D) 163.7 pg/mL ( 10-75)
Vitamin D , 25 -Hydroxy 127.0 ng/mL ( 30-100)


TSH 7.85 uIU/mL ( .45-4.5) makes me hypo thyrodic , she wants me to take synthroid and try the blood test after a month.

I was thinking of going to Northern california Cryo center for some time. By the time I got the time and permission for Jul 4th week , Now I have these results . I called the cryo center, they say hypo thyrodism may not be a issue. psyche mentioned people with hyper thyrodism may have tolerance issues. I do take cold baths with not so much ease though. Wondering whether to book the flights or not for Cryo. Any suggestions ?

She has a Long list of suggestions to me for avoiding cholesterol medications which made me hard NOT to Laugh.

Large bowl of cereal for breakfast , mostly with oatmeal
3 times a day green vegetables
No red meat ( at most once a weak)
No fried food
and Finally stressed NO BACON.

she doesn't know what I eat any way. she must have confused to my smiling reaction to her serious suggestions. I need to some thing with thyroid issue though.first thing in mind is it worth heading for doing cryo or not.

Also she wants me to stop taking Vitamin D too.

 

[LQB]

Re: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy

As my current medical insurance is expiring, Recently I did got my blood work done first time after went full paleo. Doctor called me to tell her list of her cautions.

the one that are in brackets are considered to be healthy range . These are the one doctor is concerned about.

Lipid panel
Cholestrol, Total 287 ( 100-199)
Triglycerides 79 mg/dl ( 0-149 )
HDL cholestrol 69 ( > 39 )
VLDL cholesterol Cal 16 mg/DL ( 5-40 )
LDL cholestrol Cal 202 mg/DL ( 0-99)

TSH 7.85 uIU/mL ( .45-4.5)
Vitamin B 12 1210 pg/mL ( 211-946)

Vitamin D , 1, 23+ 25-Hydroxy
Calcitriol ( 1,24 di-OH Vit D) 163.7 pg/mL ( 10-75)
Vitamin D , 25 -Hydroxy 127.0 ng/mL ( 30-100)


TSH 7.85 uIU/mL ( .45-4.5) makes me hypo thyrodic , she wants me to take synthroid and try the blood test after a month.

I was thinking of going to Northern california Cryo center for some time. By the time I got the time and permission for Jul 4th week , Now I have these results . I called the cryo center, they say hypo thyrodism may not be a issue. psyche mentioned people with hyper thyrodism may have tolerance issues. I do take cold baths with not so much ease though. Wondering whether to book the flights or not for Cryo. Any suggestions ?

She has a Long list of suggestions to me for avoiding cholesterol medications which made me hard NOT to Laugh.

Large bowl of cereal for breakfast , mostly with oatmeal
3 times a day green vegetables
No red meat ( at most once a weak)
No fried food
and Finally stressed NO BACON.

she doesn't know what I eat any way. she must have confused to my smiling reaction to her serious suggestions. I need to some thing with thyroid issue though.first thing in mind is it worth heading for doing cryo or not.

Also she wants me to stop taking Vitamin D too.

Looks like you got hit with doc's cholesterol stick too!! Maybe you should play that BACON video for her. :P

Not sure what to say about the cryo - maybe Psyche will comment.

 

[bngenoh]

Re: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy

Hi seek10,

Since you take Vitamin D, I don't know if this will change anything regarding your cholesterol levels: http://www.sott.net/articles/show/246216-High-Cholesterol-Linked-to-Sunlight-Vitamin-D-Deficiency

Maybe the dosage of Vitamin D plays a part, sun exposure produces much more Vitamin D than is in pill form, at least the pills that I have seen.

 

[Mrs. Peel]

Re: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy

I need to some thing with thyroid issue though.first thing in mind is it worth heading for doing cryo or not.

Also she wants me to stop taking Vitamin D too.

I wouldn't take Synthroid right off the bat. I saw a doctor last week who order a whole new panel of thyroid bloodwork for me, including reverse T3 and some other stuff. She did name a different medication, it wasn't Armour (she said they changed it) as a possibility. Also, I believe if you don't straighten out the adrenals, all the thyroid meds in the world won't work. I did Synthroid years ago, the numbers came down, but I never felt any different. Never crossed the blood-brain barrier, or something like that.

 

[Laura]

Re: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy

I need to some thing with thyroid issue though.first thing in mind is it worth heading for doing cryo or not.

Also she wants me to stop taking Vitamin D too.

I wouldn't take Synthroid right off the bat. I saw a doctor last week who order a whole new panel of thyroid bloodwork for me, including reverse T3 and some other stuff. She did name a different medication, it wasn't Armour (she said they changed it) as a possibility. Also, I believe if you don't straighten out the adrenals, all the thyroid meds in the world won't work. I did Synthroid years ago, the numbers came down, but I never felt any different. Never crossed the blood-brain barrier, or something like that.

I took whole Armour thyroid for years and then they tried the synthroid and it was horrible. I then decided that I didn't want to be stuck on a pill for the rest of my life so gradually weaned myself off of it. If you look at the video that Megan linked in the Life Without Bread thread, the doctor talks about how going low carb too fast can make the thyroid go wonky. So check it out.

 

[seek10]

Re: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy

I need to some thing with thyroid issue though.first thing in mind is it worth heading for doing cryo or not.

Also she wants me to stop taking Vitamin D too.

I wouldn't take Synthroid right off the bat. I saw a doctor last week who order a whole new panel of thyroid bloodwork for me, including reverse T3 and some other stuff. She did name a different medication, it wasn't Armour (she said they changed it) as a possibility. Also, I believe if you don't straighten out the adrenals, all the thyroid meds in the world won't work. I did Synthroid years ago, the numbers came down, but I never felt any different. Never crossed the blood-brain barrier, or something like that.

I took whole Armour thyroid for years and then they tried the synthroid and it was horrible. I then decided that I didn't want to be stuck on a pill for the rest of my life so gradually weaned myself off of it. If you look at the video that Megan linked in the Life Without Bread thread, the doctor talks about how going low carb too fast can make the thyroid go wonky. So check it out.

Thank you for the suggestion. I saw the video before, but didn't made the connection at that time. I had the symptoms of hypo thyroid for a while, occasionally was taking iodoral and selenium if not regularly. I will be sending for iodine testing too to see if there is any issues. For now, dropped the idea of cryo and will try after a month.

I used to take synthroid decade back( took it for years ), but dropped it after blood test became normal in consecutive blood tests. So this seems to have cropped up during last 2 years ( since last blood test ) . Of course, Blood test is normal doesn't mean that people doesn't have thyroid issue. I find this video reminding, though it is not new.
_http://www.katu.com/amnw/segments/96156079.html

 

[Gertrudes]

Re: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy

An update on my experiences with cold showers:

I have been experimenting with cold showers for 4 months now. I started in March, entering the shower with warm water and gradually lowering the temperature until reaching almost cold. Then I moved on to gradually lowering it until completely cold. I then started lowering the temperature earlier so that I'd be under cold water for longer, and eventually washing my hair under cold water. Up till then I would only immerse my body, but not my head. When I began to immerse my head I started experiencing a strong bout of fatigue about an hour later, accompanied by dizziness.
I paced it back down, stopped immersing my head and stood under cold water for lesser time which made the fatigue subside entirely.

Throughout these months I have been building up my tolerance, I can stand cold water for longer now but have not immersed my head, nor intend to do so again. I feel that that will be too much, at least for now. I have been taking cold showers twice a day, the morning one is a proper washing myself shower, the evening one is a much shorter one, starting at warmish water and rapidly decreasing to cold.
I have been finding that cold showering is almost an art of fine tuning. Like diet. Too cold too soon, and that may lead to a bout of fatigue, so it is about decreasing the temperature at just the right speed, and staying under cold water just the right amount of time.

The other day I went all superwoman and jumped straight into cold water. It was hard, but I managed to get through it. However, the worst part came afterwards. One hour later the familiar but long gone bout of fatigue was back. So no more being heroine for me!

The results of these 4 months have been very promising. I am finally gaining tolerance to cold. For years I have been so incredibly sensitive to cold that it felt, at points, almost disabling. I got used to wear 2 (sometimes even 3) times the amount of clothes people around me are using, often with a few thin layers of clothes beneath the external ones. Well, that is no longer happening. As some members here have said, it's like I have a new skin, and it's incredibly liberating not to be shivering whilst everyone else wants the windows opened.

For the first time in many years I am sleeping without socks and with sleeveless shirts! This, for me, is a big thing.

But the biggest improvement is my digestion. It's as if I have a whole new digestive system. I have not had a single problem since I have started with the cold showers. Before, it was often a hit and miss with how much fat, how much protein, how soon to eat before going to work or to bed. Not only have I not had a problem with that, but I just seem to digest things much better. So the cold has definitely been working on my digestion better then any supplement has. I do take L-Glutamin though, which seems to be just the perfect soother for my IBS prone intestines, but I was already taking it before the cold showers.

I'll post more updates if anything else of relevance happens.

 

[Redrock12]

Re: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy

I started taking cold showers about a month ago. For the first three days, I would ease into it, starting with lukewarm and then gradually turning down the warm until it was completely cold. Then on the fourth day I went totally cold, and I haven't looked back.
No more patches of dry skin, particularly around my ankles. I also had a dry, flaky scalp, and that has disappeared.
And I feel totally energized. During the hot weather, I usually take 2-4 showers/day to cool down. I'm also sleeping better.
Cold showers. Great idea.

 

[Ollie]

Re: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy

The other day I went all superwoman and jumped straight into cold water. It was hard, but I managed to get through it. However, the worst part came afterwards. One hour later the familiar but long gone bout of fatigue was back. So no more being heroine for me!

My experience was that 'the hero' was the only way to go. To get past the mental and physical 'blocks', on the days when I do not have a full cold water bath, I do what my late mother called a 'strip wash' washing at the sink with cold water and a sponge and soap all over - the first thing I do is wet my hair with cold water. For me, the worst part of the cold adaption, was adapting my arms! It took some while to overcome the feeling of fatigue and sensation of cold/shivering after emersions (an hour or move).

 

[Psalehesost]

Re: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy

I gave up the daily cold shower routine about a month ago - my skin gets dry and flaky on my legs, to the point of getting scaly and cracked on the top of my toes. (first it gets red and itchy, then the itchy area settles down and becomes a dried-out patch) I think it is likely due to a sensitivity to the chlorinated city water, where too-regular exposure means problems.

I am still able to have a cold shower - part of me still resists the thought and intention of it at first, but the cold does not actually bother me. Cutting down drastically on them, however, now means my skin has gradually improved and is now fine again - toe skin still having a little way to go.

Would be great if I had easier access to cold water that doesn't damage my skin.

 

[Mikey]

Re: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy

I'm apparently very sensitive to cold. When taking showers, I start with a temperature that is slightly below body temperature. When I'm done, I turn on full cold and start to cool down my legs, my hands, and head and neck separately, since the cold causes me automatic, heavy breathing, to the point where I'm getting too much oxygen and get dizzy. Once that shock is over, I immerse my whole body into the shower. But after about 20 to 30 seconds, the cold causes a dull and rather intense surface pain on my head and lower abdomen around my kidneys. So I never managed to do longer than 30 seconds.

When I tried Cryotherapy, the pain on the skin of my abdomen (near the kidneys) was hurting the same, and it was so intense that I thought I cannot breathe any more.

After taking about 20 of these showers, the situation has not changed.

 

[Laura]

Re: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy

I am really impressed, Gertrudes. I'm wondering if the fatigue is a result of the body working very hard to keep the blood to the head warm? On the other hand, sometimes you need to keep the blood to the brain cool, like when doing a sauna. I always found myself better able to tolerate the heat if I had a cold cloth on my neck.

I think that there is something really beneficial about this cold water business and I want to try it in a very gradual way. I've stopped having my bath so hot that I turn red and think that I will gradually just lower the temp in a very slow, incremental way so that maybe I can trick myself into not noticing it at all! Like, adjust the faucet a little lower every day over a period of weeks.

Psalehesost, is the water where you are very hard?

Data, maybe you should go about it much more gradually?