Does anyone else find that cooling their body down, rather than using heat, helps with pain? — Scope | Disability forum
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Does anyone else find that cooling their body down, rather than using heat, helps with pain?

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trey18feb
trey18feb Community member Posts: 2 Listener
edited April 2022 in Chronic pain and pain management
Hi there to my fellow sufferers. A question I would like to ask anyone out there. Having looked at the NHS website,a warm bath or pool can help with the pain,we'll for me it actually makes the pain worse.What I do and it works for to cool my body down and try to get as cold as possible.Is this the same  for you my fellow sufferers.I am in antidepressant string painkillers and antipsychotic medication 💊. I sure am glad most doctors recognise this disease as very serious.
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  • Alex_Alumni
    Alex_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 7,562 Disability Gamechanger
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    Hi @trey18feb and welcome to the community :) thanks for your post, it's certainly interesting to think about how different things work for different people when it comes to pain management. 

    I'm not an expert by any means, but I think being very hot helps to relax and loosen muscles, and being very cold sort of numbs the body from feeling pain, and prevents swelling. That's why a bag of peas is often recommended for helping recover from sprains and strains!
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  • trey18feb
    trey18feb Community member Posts: 2 Listener
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    As i understand the the pain that we get from fibromyalgia , is that the thing that triggers the pain is an inflamation of your muscles.  Therefore any heat applied would make the pain worse, so a cooling effect would be beneficial to this  malaise.
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  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 54,038 Disability Gamechanger
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    trey18feb said:
    As i understand the the pain that we get from fibromyalgia , is that the thing that triggers the pain is an inflamation of your muscles.  Therefore any heat applied would make the pain worse, so a cooling effect would be beneficial to this  malaise.
    As a Fibromyalgia sufferer myself for more than 10 years I have to say that I couldn’t disagree with you more. 
    Cold makes my pain a million times worse. Hot baths, hot weather help me so much and decreases my pain, making it more manageable.  
    Winter is the worst time of year for me.
    I also have a friend that I’ve known personally for 14 years and she also has fibromyalgia. Cold also makes her pain even worse. 
    I’ve yet to hear of anyone with fibromyalgia that thinks the cold helps them. See link https://www.verywellhealth.com/cold-weather-pain-fibromyalgia-3972975
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
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  • leeCal
    leeCal Community member Posts: 7,550 Disability Gamechanger
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    When I have back problems I often use a hot water bottle on it which helps a lot. However the trick is to use a slightly hotter than warm bottle otherwise following the use my back can stiffen up and be a little worse. Probably due to the heat softened cartilage settling into a sitting and therefore not straight position. That’s just my opinion of course.

    “This is my simple religion. No need for temples. No need for complicated philosophy. Your own mind, your own heart is the temple. Your philosophy is simple kindness.” 
    ― Dalai Lama XIV

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  • SpinalPain
    SpinalPain Community member Posts: 5 Listener
    edited April 2022
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    I have long term spinal pain (neck & lower back). Heat always works for me.

    At times, I’ll alternate heat with cold, but mainly heat.
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