Hot Water?
 

A friend just emailed me and said that the guy she goes to for Watsu (I think that's what it's called) said that "warm water is no longer a no-no for MS patients" and that he "did the research and found that out."

What did I miss? The last I knew, some of us are more sensitive to heat than others, but I don't remember seeing any recent research that changed the basic facts.

I wonder if he meant that the symptoms exacerbated by raised body temperature are usually transient? Anybody hear anything I didn't??

I think the warm/hot water can be ok for some MSers. I dont normally have a problem with heat unless it's insanely hot outside, but if I've got a weird flare going on (usually a visual flare) the heat drives me bonkers.

I can tell when I've got inflammation going on somewhere, because I'll either get a l'hermittes when I bend my head forward, or taking a warm shower or bath will set off some numbness.

If I'm not flaring, I'm fine with hot showers (love them in the wintertime)

I do try to be careful with hot showers, because sometimes I dont know I've got a flare coming on until I take too long of a hot shower.

possibly that's what he meant, B2y, but you're right, for *some* people too much heat is a bad idea...

I think that blanket statements of that sort sometimes do more to upset the applecart than carefully phrased caveats. LOL !!

from Mult-Sclerosis dot Org:

Uhthoff's symptom is a condition most commonly observed multiple sclerosis and particularly in Optic Neuritis where small increases in body temperature (hyperthermia) caused by exercise, hot baths or showers or otherwise, cause a worsening of symptoms.

The Uhthoff induced symptoms tend to go away as the body returns to its correct temperature after anything from several minutes to a few hours has passed. A very few cases have been reported where new symptoms have been induced by hyperthermia that have not eased away as the hyperthermia passes.

(snipped)

One explanation of Uhthoff's symptom is that hyperthermia induces a heat-linked neuro-blockade of partially demyelinated axons..

http://www.mult-sclerosis.org/Uhthoffssymptom.html

B2Y, "warm" water may be okay (for him, and many others), just not as hot as it is in a hot tub, for example, like Janie, that'd totally wipe ME out, transient or not.

some people can handle 110 degree-days in the desert, and some can't handle 90...

my doc said to try and keep cool, use gel-headbands and neckerkechiefs that get soaked, frozen, and placed around the neck to lower core body temp. and never exercise during the heat of day, or in the sun.

he was clear to state that for *some people with MS* the effects of heat may NOT be transient, so, better safe than sorry... and that's the advice I've kept to for a decade.

I'd also appreciate hearing about it if anyone else has heard differently.

undx..but hey...I cant be in a HOT shower very long, or for sure no hot tub...or like sauna...I would fall over...weak..or dizziness, or eye blurrs...but hey I dont have anythign neurological according to the neuros lol...sarah

Cayokay is correct, at least according to everything I've heard.

Before MRI's, they used to dip us in hot baths to see if that would stimulate symptoms, so I'm guessing a lot of people do have problem with heat. Perhaps that symptom tends to become more apparent the longer we've had the disease too . . . but people are getting dx much earlier these days.

I've never heard heat causes "permanent" damage, but it may trigger symptoms for some people. My symptoms always let up let up when I cool off though . . . so I'd be surprised if we need to be concerned beyond that. :confused:

Cherie

I don't know if the Watsu guy phrased it the way she quoted him or not, but my first thought was "Oh thanks a LOT! Now folks will think we're faking or over-cautious if we say we can't do this or that because of the way the heat affects us."

Especially the fact that she told me that he said "according to the latest research". That kind of ruffled my feathers, so I sent her a copy/paste from the NMSS on heat & MS symptoms, and told her that they (NMSS) are pretty much up to date on the latest research.

I asked her if she knew where he got the information/research, and she forwarded from him some news article about hydrotherapy being good for MS patients. Well, I already knew that, but I read the whole article, word by word, and never once was the TEMPERATURE of the water addressed.

I'm hoping that there was just a semantical glitch or misunderstanding, but I don't want the "education" getting spread around that overheating the body is "no longer a no-no" for MSers. That might be true for some, but it is a very big NUH-UH, NO WAY for me and others I know.

The MS Research Center here has a big poster on the wall about heat and MS, and it says that some people are not at all affected, whereas others can experience "temporary" difficulty from it. I does say very clearly that it won't cause "damage", just symptoms . . . but advice on these kind of matters seem to change as often as the wind.:rolleyes:

I know that "fever" bothers most, if not all of us . . . and can even set off a full blown attack for some. I think that has more to do with white count from infection though .... :confused:

Amazing how people can totally misinterpret information though, eh?

Cherie

i love hot baths and cant take one any more it knocks me out big time, so whatever the research, their conclusions do not help me any and are wrong in my eyes