[painman2009]

so I went to my first session today with aqua therapy(30) min. my first sensation before entering was of course fear, will it be too cold. who knew it was that warm. so i placed one foot in just to pull it straight out again. then i slowly entered the pool after adjusting . then pow!!! like little tiny hot needles hitting me at 100 mph. I stuck with it as movement was easier so my exercises were better. but I never adjusted to the tiny hot pinpricks. then I started to get out and boom all my weight fell on my legs. then the cold a.c. I am not going to stop as this was only first attempt. and I NEED to lose weight and I am aloud to be in pool as long as i wish. but this is going to take more time than I thought. plus I already paid for the month(LOL) anyone have their own tales that might help me push through this??? all stories welcome

[LIT LOVE]

I feel LESS sensation in warm water. RSD is complicated (understatement...) so you'll just have to decide if you can handle it. In theory, I guess it could help you with desensitization. I'd rather calm things down, personally. You might be able to get a refund if you explain the issue. Have you tried an Epsom salt bath? It changes the texture of the water, makes you more bouyant, and the magnesium is beneficial.

Usually pools will let you try out a session before committing for any others considering aquatherapy.

[painman2009]

I keep seeing the epsom salt idea here but i have only stand up stalls and my house isn't big enough to change them. re the pool. I do not give in that easily Im stubborn that way i need to try giving this a chance. Im really just trying to see how this has effected others and how they coped. It might not be for me (that will suck) but for zoo many reasons(100 lbs of reasons) I need to try again

[reluctant@thetable]

Originally Posted by painman2009

I keep seeing the epsom salt idea here but i have only stand up stalls and my house isn't big enough to change them. re the pool. I do not give in that easily Im stubborn that way i need to try giving this a chance. Im really just trying to see how this has effected others and how they coped. It might not be for me (that will suck) but for zoo many reasons(100 lbs of reasons) I need to try again

I am doing aquatherapy. I'm relatively new to the disease. I started aquatherapy with a PT on a treadmill in about 4 ft. of water. The sessions were 2Xs/wk and the time in the water was about 15 min. I found I needed water shoes because the current on my foot was too painful (site of original injury). But then the PT's aquatherapy motherboard fried and the department is waiting on parts.

I didn't want to interupt my aquathery routine so I started my own aquatherapy at the local Y. The water temp is about 84 degrees. The advantage I found with the Y is that I just float or slowly tread water without any pressure on my foot. I tread the water in an upright position and just move my legs as if I'm riding a bicycle but without the pressure. The way I look at it is that my body is feeling comfortable sensation all over all at once so hopefully (???) I'll be able to reprogram my brain.

I love being in the water. What I have to be careful with is that I don't want to get out. I think I spend too much time in the water (over 1 hr.). If I were still working with my PT, he would make sure I didn't overdo it. I pay for it in that I get very fatiqued and, later that day, my right leg gets much colder to touch. I don't know if that's related to spending too much time in the pool or just part of the disease.

I do believe the aquatherapy is helping the mobility of my right ankle and foot. I'm finding more flexibility in both.

That's been my recent experience with aquatherapy. If you decide to stick with it, just be careful not to overdo it.

Best wishes.

[catra121]

I did aquatherapy fairly early on in the condition...about 5-6 months in. We started with 2 one-hour sessions in the water a week and one non-water session a week as well. Gradually we decreased that from 1 water session and 2 non-water sessions until I was out of the pool completely.

I didn't like the pool but I think it WAS beneficial...especially in terms of getting the function back at that time. We did a lot of the same exercises in the water that we did out of the water (toe/heel raises, walking, drawing the alphabet with my foot, squats, jumping jacks, etc). The focus was on getting the movements right while subjecting my ankle to less weight.

The main reason I didn't like the pool was that I experienced a lot of pain getting OUT of the pool. That cool air hitting my ankle was INTENSE pain. But they would walk me over to the regular PT area and we would do stim with heat for 15 minutes and then I would leave. TENS helps me...but their big stim machine with the heat there actually brought my pain levels down to a 3 after PT and the relief usually lasted for about an hour. So that horrible pain getting out of the water never lasted very long...just the amount of time it took me to get dressed and walk over to the other area. The relief from the stim and heat allowed me to drive home and rest up in relative comfort (compared to my regular pain levels which were otherwise never lower than a 5/6 at the time).

The only pool exercise that ever did me in was when she had me use a kick board and try to swim. I was actually shocked at how painful that was...the water movements against my ankle when I tried to kick with it. I actually cried because it was so bad. Totally caught me off guard because this was a month or so into the water therapy and nothing else had ever increased my pain like that in the water. Needless to say, we dropped that exercise and did something else.

[painman2009]

I see already that the current is a bad thing for me to feel and fast movement is equally painful. the pool actually localized my RSD zones. and still are burning. I hope this goes down. I am hopeful that the water therapy will at least help me lose weight there for lowering the pressure on my legs.

[catra121]

If you are having issues with the pool causing pain and still are determined to do it, I think you should (and you probably already do) have a focused plan for what you want to achieve. The water helped me more with the function than anything else, so if that's something that you are looking at then focusing on the movements that you can't do outside of the water yet might be a good idea and then transition to being able to do those things out of the water. Once I got the range of motion back, for example, I was able to use the exercise bike out of the water with less pain. Once I got the walking and the balance under control in the water, I was able to start using the treadmill. First for only 2 minutes but then gradually working my way up.

You might want to focus on the aquatherapy as a good transition therapy because starting in the water is a lot easier than starting on dry land for a lot of exercises. I only say this because it seems to be causing you additional pain. I know you are a fighter and want to push through but I just want to make sure that if you are doing that, that it is serving a real purpose. I push through the pain a lot and suffer through things because I know long term that they are better for me (both physically and emotionally)...but they are all deliberate and serve a purpose. I have tried some things and then stopped them because there were other ways to achieve what I wanted that were less painful or draining. Or I would do them until I got to the point where I could so something that was less painful in its place.

So if you stick with it, make sure you have set goals for yourself and are working directly at achieving those long term goals. If, after a month, you think the aquatherapy isn't serving the purpose you want it to then it might be time to reassess treatment options. I still really hope that this helps you. As I said before...I didn't like the aquatherapy...but it DID help me in the sense that it was a good starting point for other therapy later.

[painman2009]

Im hoping for cardio, and mobility. with less swelling and less joint pain and weight loss. (cardio) so that I can hopefully do some form of cardio out side of water. when i was doing regular PT I would push so far past pain levels just to gain muscle back in my atrophied leg. and after 2 years i started to. Then comp denied pt.. so much for progress. I am willing to put myself through hell to get results. I just hope that when i exit I'm a little better off then when I entered.

[LIT LOVE]

Everyone feels different with regards to pain meds, but, if they can calm things down and allow more normal function, you might want to see if there are other options.

[catra121]

Originally Posted by painman2009

Im hoping for cardio, and mobility. with less swelling and less joint pain and weight loss. (cardio) so that I can hopefully do some form of cardio out side of water. when i was doing regular PT I would push so far past pain levels just to gain muscle back in my atrophied leg. and after 2 years i started to. Then comp denied pt.. so much for progress. I am willing to put myself through hell to get results. I just hope that when i exit I'm a little better off then when I entered.

Ah...wonderful comp...aren't they just the best? I think all we can ever hope for with any treatment is to be at least a little better after than we were when we started. Sounds like you have a plan and I hope it works for you. Improving the function was so important for me...not just for my physical health but for my mental health as well.

Have you considered maybe at home physical therapy? I don't know whether comp would go for it or not but I found it incredibly helpful. Even if it's only once a week or once every two weeks...everything they give you to do you can do on your own and it's easy to keep up after since you don't need to rely on any special equipment in order to make progress. This doesn't work out well for everyone but if you are very motivated and can trust yourself to do these things EVERY day then it can work out great. I like that even on bad days I can still revert to the beginning exercises I did. I now have a rather large portfolio of exercises and none of them require any special equipment which is great for me. Of course...it helped that I had a great therapist. I had one come as a sub once when my regular therapist was out of town and I am SO glad I didn't have her as my regular because things could have turned out VERY differently. But I guess you always run that risk with any kind of therapy.