Alan's doing the cold/hot water therapy again
 

Hi everyone.

I've been so busy taking care of Alan because of his re-curring foot ulcer and we just moved that everything is on my shoulders. But I do have good news. Actually more than good news. I made an instructional video to see what we did this morning.

Some time ago Alan had begun doing the cold/hot water therapy (you start with the cold water and go to the hot water and then end in the cold water). For whatever reason, this is the sequence.

Because Alan's foot ulcer came back, his podiatrist had said 'no water, no showers, nothing until it heals, and then you can go back to the therapy".

Alan was feeling SO good after doing the cold/hot water thing and only after one week, his feet were nice and pink, he was wiggling his toes, he had NO pain. It was too soon to know if he was getting any feeling back but it was a start. Alas, we had to stop.That was about 2 months ago.

Well, we went to the podiatrist yesterday. I had kept that man OFF that foot and he wore this special off loading shoe that makes one walk on their heels but Alan is no good at that so for the time it took to heal, I just did everything and he sat down or laid down. I also got this special compound cream last week from this woman who makes this stuff for people with foot ulcers. My friend gave it to me. I began putting it on Alan's foot ulcer a few days ago. WELL!!!! thank god I did that.

Yesterday the doctor announced. "His ulcer is all closed", keep wearing that shoe for one week and next week he can go back to his custom shoes with the custom orthotics and oh yes, YOU CAN GO BACK TO THE WATER THERAPY".

Well, we started last night and again this morning. Alan's reaction after doing this is amazing. Last night he said "OMG, I never felt so good"

This morning after doing it he said "I don't care what anyone says, this cold/hot thing works" And he has not complained of his burning and zipping and zapping.

Oh, one doesn't just go and put in ice cubes and go from ICE COLD and to HOT water. Not like that.

One eases into it. First time it's cool water into warm water. Every day a bit more. Then after a few days you add ice cubes to the cold water and you do the water as hot as you can stand. Because Alan has no feeling in his feet, I'm the one who tests the waters.

Here's the video I made this morning. If anyone doesn't know the purpose of this therapy, it's to jump start his immune system to go back into balance. And we're hoping it takes care of his psoriasis too. The only thing that worked on his psoriasis was the laser treatment. That eliminated it completely but alas, once the winter set in and we had to stop, it all came back. So let's see what happens after a few weeks of doing this cold/hot water therapy.

Here's the video I made this morning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK3269Nsxko

Melody

Hi Melody,
I actually learned to do this same thing in the shower from my shiatsu therapist. She said it would give me more energy. It works. I haven't done it in awhile so thanks for jugging my memory! I'm going to start again. I just can't let the water get too cold.

I hope it works well for your husband!
Hopeful

Thank you for the tape.

Anytime. I'm going to be making another video when he gets to the ice cube stage. We know people who have had SUCH GREAT RESULTS that they don't even use cold water anymore. They just put their feet in a bucket of ice and then back into warm water. They said it's amazing and they got feeling back into their feet. Alan hasn't had any feeling in over 20 years so if this does ANYTHING remotely like getting feeling back, well this will be a miracle.

But even if it just takes the neuropathy pain away, that in itself would be a miracle. He has such bad days. But right now I just asked him and he said "there is an improvement, I'm not getting the pins and needles", "I'm only getting the feeling like when one hand falls asleep"

So this will be a journey. Every day, bit by bit, we will do the water therapy and hey, who knows? Might help, can't hurt.

Any improvement will be a welcome change. Oh I just asked him "Can you move your toes?" (Before they were stiff and he rarely could move them"

He just said "Oh yes, I can wiggle my toes, because the blood is running through them"

So I shall give updates as they happen.

Best of luck to all of you and please share if you do this and you see any improvement.

Melody

Thanks for the information and video Melody. It will be very interesting to read your updates.

That is so exciting for you!!

Whatever works for each person is different and I am so happy for you.

I wonder if it works though for other kinds of PN. I mean, his feet are numb so I wonder if that is the reason it works for him. Who gave you this therapy or idea? I can not remember, is the pn a diabetic pn??

Hi, Alan's neuropathy has absolutely nothing to do with diabetes. Alan was diagnosed 20 years ago. It started with pain between the toes of each feet. Then his feet became totally numb. He has had every conceivable test known to man and it's all negative. He does have severe back issues, spinal stenosis and he has been to many back specialists who just said "no, we can't help, it's not his back". Of course we think it's his back because years ago he went to a chiropractic neurologist who made a new man out of him. His pn got a bit better but he was walking, going places, he even went back to work. Then he got the foot ulcer and the rest is history. He has a high arch and it's all about finding the CORRECT pair of orthotics and shoes for him. We are on our third podiatrist who seems to be the charm.

Will update. But I have to say. He is not complaining one bit about his PN pain and for that alone, this is a keeper.

Melody