My first session
I booked my first session in the infrared sauna with great trepidation! I have used saunas in the past and found them unbearable. I gave up even attempting to use a sauna after a frightening occasion in which I almost fainted inside one. A lot of people might be able to relate to this, especially if they have Lyme disease. Like many others, my body doesn’t cope with extreme temperatures and I can even herx in hot conditions…so it’s safe to say I was pretty nervous when it came time to step inside.
The whole experience turned out to be quite surprising though. As I opened the door it was a relief that the heat didn’t hit me the way it does with a sauna and nor did it snatch the air from my lungs. I sat, alone, on the bench inside the wooden sauna with the glowing red heat pads, which are inbuilt into the pod, at my back and on the backs on my calves. I took a book with me for my 30-minute session and or the first new minutes I didn’t notice a huge change in my body temperature. Slowly though, I began to feel sweat beading across my chest and stomach. I could feel the heat building within me but not in a way was uncomfortable. The heat radiated from the inside out and so my skin felt quite free to breathe. There were only a few moments in which I felt I might be getting too hot for my liking but a few gulps of water soon chased away the sensation.
Why infrared?
A huge issue with Lyme disease and any chronic illness is detoxing. When we excercise, our bodies push out toxins through our sweat but most people who are chronicall il and/or have Lyme disease aren’t well enough to exercise long enough to produce copious amounts of sweat and so these toxin build within out bodies causeing new symptoms and exasibating exhisting ones.
Lyme disease, as well as general everyday environmental factors, love to leave a litter of toxins in our body and if we’re unable to extract these toxins our bodies become overloaded with them. But, after fifteen minutes I was absolutely dripping with sweat! I have never, in my life, sweated so much. It was disgusting and astonishing. I was surprised by my body’s reaction as I didn’t feel weak or heady with it, I wasn’t squiring uncomfortable in the heat and, to my amazement, I read a number of chapters – normally my concentration would out be none existent in such heat. My 30 minutes flew past and, when the lights turned off, I very tentatively got to my feet. My caution was unneeded though, for I felt neither weak nor dizzy.
After Affect
On the way home, I felt like I was glowing from the inside out. I notice some strange marks developing on my arm – like stretch marks only the gaps in between were raised and red. I wonder if this was possibly from the Bartonella. By the time I got home the tissue in that same arm had begun to feel heavy and porous – it’s a strange feeling to try and describe. 30 minutes later, my left calf felt the same. The marks soon left but the feeling didn’t. I also noticed that my back pain, which I’d gone in the sauna, had returned. Two hours later, I did start to feel a sense of weakness settling into my limbs, my joints aching and my head hurting slightly as my body continued to detox and flush the toxins which had been pulled from my body. All in all, though, I don’t feel anywhere nearly as bad as I’d expected from such a rapid and extreme form of detox.
The infrared sauna has been a pleasant surprise and I’m actually looking forward to trying it again.
Update
Correction…this last session is the most I’ve ever sweated in my life! My goodness, I thought I sweated a lot the last few times. I’m actually somewhat embarrassed to be confessing this but I was drenched through the clothes I was wearing.
I’ve not had that strange rash (and later weakness) on my arm since my first session but I the last few weeks I’ve had rashes all over my back and the back of my legs – this, I imagine, is from the toxins being pushed out of my skin. The rash soon fades an hour or so after I’ve left the sauna but it’s interesting to see nonetheless.
I’ve now had several sessions in the infrared sauna and out of the many…many things I’ve tried over the years I have to admit that this is definitely up there for effectiveness. I no longer feel weak or tired after using the sauna and in the days after I’ve used it my body feels much lighter. Anyone who is chronically ill or has Lyme will probably understand when I say that our bodies feel heavy, it’s like we carry a dead weight inside us but the sauna has really helped! I feel like I have more energy in the days after I’ve used it, my pain also has reduced and, as a result, I feel more like me again.
I have to give a big thanks to the wonderful Pauline, at the Peace of Mind Therapy, who has the machine and has been so great and helpful with my illness.