Why Cold Exposure May Help with ME/CFS, Fibromyalgia and Long COVID
- Condition
- ME/CFS
- At worst
- Moderate (mostly housebound)
- Ill for
- Not stated
- Published
- Undated
Summary
Cold water immersion, roughly 20-minute sessions at about 60F/14C in a hydro tank, is used by a commenter with low-end moderate ME/CFS who spends most of her time in bed; illness duration is not stated. She says the primary benefit is emotional, describing joy while in the water, and that it also helps her endurance. She reports significant physiological aftereffects, including hours of impaired temperature recovery from an absent shiver reflex and dysautonomia, requiring extensive layering afterward. This is a repeated coping practice, not a cure, with a real physical cost each time. No further outcome beyond this ongoing trade-off is reported.
Symptoms mentioned
Symptoms: POTS & dysautonomia, Pain & fibromyalgia.
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