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Posted 9/14/2010 5:21 PM (GMT 0)
I will also throw this question out there...have any of you heard about hot tubs helping with lymes.  I was reading some thoughts on hot baths and hot tubs and wondered if anyone is actually seeing results?  Thanks!
Posted 9/14/2010 5:28 PM (GMT 0)
I have mixed feelings about using our hot tub. Since I do not have heat sensitivity as many with Lyme do, the warm water feels great on my sore muscles and joints, and sweating is useful for toxin release. However, the chemicals used to keep the hot tub safe are of concern to me. I filter bath water to remove some of the chemicals, but since hot tub water stays in all of the time, the chemicals need to be in there. We tried an all-natural system, and despite adherence to the program, we ended up with an orange entity all over the filters and in other places. BIG job getting that out of all the pipes, etc. So now I use the hot tub periodically for pain relief, but I think baths are much better for detox since the water can be filtered.

Rose
Posted 9/14/2010 5:47 PM (GMT 0)

My LLMD advised me to take HOT baths while on antibiotics because the heat boosts the killing power exponetially.  If I remember correctly, the goal was to get your body temp to 100 for 20-30 minutes.  My advice on that is to have a nice glass of cool water right next to you.

Good thinking about the chemicals in a hot tub though.

Posted 9/14/2010 6:44 PM (GMT 0)
I'm going to jump in here.... I swear I read somewhere that you're not supposed to take HOT soak baths. They're supposed to be WARM. Does anybody else remember this or better yet, where could I have read it????? I have no idea why a hot bath was poo-pooed yet one can sit in a hot FIR sauna. Again, any ideas???
Posted 9/14/2010 8:47 PM (GMT 0)
Yes, you do need to be very careful when taking hot showers or bathes, as a lot of Lymies get light-headed - some will even pass out- from the heat. That is why you have seen in places - like the sticky at the top of the forum "New to Lyme?"- that a person w/Lyme or co's should take only warm showers & bathes. It's more a matter of safety than anything else I believe.
Posted 9/15/2010 5:04 AM (GMT 0)
Thank you, Don. Makes sense warm bath to detox and hot bath to address microbes. Would never have put the two together. Isn't this forum wonderful????
Posted 9/15/2010 5:18 AM (GMT 0)
Jacuzzis are the ONLY thing that make me feel better when I'm in really bad shape...and nine times out of ten I usually feel pretty darn good afterward. I do get overheated very easily though, so I don't stay in very long at a time.
Posted 9/15/2010 5:27 AM (GMT 0)
Don,

I think it's more of being "weightless" in the water and taking the pressure off my joints than it is the heat that helps... I can take a hot bath and it doesn't even come close to how I feel in the jacuzzi...
Posted 9/18/2010 6:45 PM (GMT 0)
Epsom salt (sodium chloride is the key) in a bath works wonders for me after a long day with my Lyme pains. Your painkillers are nothing more than salts, so that's why it feels so good once the salt starts soaking in your skin pores! I have really bad neuropathy in my legs and before I started taking Cymbalta to control that, hot baths were the only thing that made that feel better! In addition to the baths, after much trial and error, I have a winning combination of medication that is controlling the pain immensely!! 100 mg Nucynta X 4 a day and 30 mg Cymbalta X1. If any of you are tired of taking Oxy and other drugs like I was, this combination may work for you. If this helps you, I'll be happy, because I know how hard this is and I'm thankful to God that I've been able to hang in there and not commit suicide or something. Unless you've experienced this pain, people just can't relate to it. Good luck to you all and write to me anytime you need to talk about it!

Mark
Posted 9/18/2010 9:13 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Synthkeys,

Are you having any side effects with the Cymbalta?
Posted 9/18/2010 11:07 PM (GMT 0)
Hi CajunGirl!

Thanks for fixing my link. I just logged online to find out who I could help out today and have never posted here before, so I'll get the hang of it eventually :-)

Cymbalta...that's a great question, because I've gone through some very bizarre side-effects so far. I started 2 weeks ago and a day on 30 mg a day and will be upped to 60 mg on the 23rd. The first 3 days were horrible. I had pretty difficult nausea and of course, you're immediately sleepy for a bit, but it comes and goes in waves after that, I'm guessing because it's a time-released capsule. It makes me yawn a lot, which is a very weird sensation on Cymbalta. It's like you're yawning in slow motion :-) The third side effect I had came on day 5, I was just sitting at my desk at work about 2:30 in the afternoon, and all of a sudden, where I usually had very bad neuropathy in my legs, turned to like a low-voltage humming in my legs and everywhere in my joints...this lasted for about 3 hours and then went away and hasn't returned since :-) So now that two weeks have gone by, it really controlled the pain in the back of my legs very well, but on day 6, my pain level went up a few notches, and it wasn't as effective. On Thursday, I asked to be put back on Nucynta, and the combination of those two are incredible. I finally have the best relief I've had since the Lyme pain kicked up in early May. So...the only long-lasting side effect that remains is like in my jaw area, yawning is weird and makes you sleepy from time to time. Once my dose is upped next week, I'll let you know how it goes. I've been on Neurontin, Lyrica and Savella, and Cymbalta helps where those other SRNIs didn't work at all, so anyone that experienced what I did, this might just be the one you need if you've tried all the others.

Mark
Posted 9/19/2010 12:06 AM (GMT 0)
Mark,

I tried Cymbalta when it first came on the market, at a fairly low dose, and felt very disconnected from reality. Things that used to bother me no longer bothered me and the people closest to me commented that I seemed to be "floating on a pink cloud" and "just chilling." I thought this was great at first, but quickly became very aggravated at how disconnected I felt...like it was no loner ME making the decision whether or not I would be angry about something that happened.

I'd never heard of Nucynta, so I looked it up...because I've been taking OxyContin for a couple of years now (however I have gotten the dose down halfway from last year!) and would love to not have to take it...BUT it looks like Nucynta is very similar. It's actually comparable to Tramadol (which I used to take, years ago, for migraine and never really helped me)...but as effective as Oxycodone. I'm also not a big fan of anti-depressants because every one I've ever taken has caused bad side effects, and NuCynta seems to work on norepinephrine as well as being an analgesic.

It's good to know about other options out there for pain relief though...especially things that have worked well for people! I was also on Neurontin (in combination with a couple of other anti-seizure medications) for migraine, and switched to Lyrica when I got Lyme disease in hopes that it might work better. I realized I was taking so much medication, yet still feeling so crumby, and I stopped...but I often wonder whether Neurontin might help if I tried it again. I have about five big bottles left over (I used to mail order my prescriptions in bulk), but I haven't tried it.
Posted 9/19/2010 1:42 AM (GMT 0)
Hi MadDriverGirl,

I guess I'm a newbie compared to a lot of you that have been on these things for years. I know what you mean about having big bottles of leftover meds that didn't work. I think I have a small pharmacy right here in my home from all the "experiments" docs have tried on me just since May. And you know...we're the LUCKY 10% of Lyme Disease victims that got diagnosed! My LLMD said if you bring him half of the Fibromyalgia patients in the world, he would diagnose them with Lyme Disease, because most doctors, especially here in Florida, don't know how to diagnose it or don't know to check off the Western Blot. The most frustrating part about the journey to find out what you have is you're ping-ponged around the medical community and it you can't get the relief you need because nobody knows how to treat you. Then there's the crowd of idiots out here abusing these drugs that makes our life a nightmare who don't need it for pain. That's the main reason I'm out here on these forums is to try to help other people stuck in that nightmare to give them hope! :-) Hang in there!
Posted 9/19/2010 3:35 AM (GMT 0)
I'm actually a newbie myself - I just found this forum within the last month and was so excited! I'd been looking for others with Lyme disease to network with for a very long time...had landed on a few other sites but nothing as active as I've found here.

You're right - and I often have to remind myself how grateful I am for being diagnosed and having the doctor I have. There are plenty of days I really can't imagine living the rest of my life like this, but I can't even imagine how much worse things would be without the treatment I've received. Yet the battle is so tough and long that one has to literally fight tooth-and-nail for their own adequate treatment, oftentimes after being mistreated by many doctors and losing most of everything they've established in their lives, and then struggle along with their physician to find something that works...it's sometimes hard to find gratitude after going through all of that...

I'm glad you found help in Florida - I bet it's difficult there. I saw an episode of Dateline or 20/20 (one of those shows) not too long ago about all the pain clinics in parts of Florida...sounds like a BIG problem. I'm fortunate that despite my primary care physician not doing much of anything to help me with the Lyme, his opinion on pain management is that you need to treat the pain, no matter what the cause...and he doesn't question me. Somehow I still feel like a criminal every time I call the office for a refill, which was the primary reason I decided to lower my dose once I knew I could handle it. I know a lot of people I've networked with online who deal with chronic pain are furious with the ones who have abused the system and ruined the trust for everyone else; it certainly isn't right to deny someone pain relief just because of fear...but many do.
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