Search This Blog

Sunday 14 January 2018

Part 3-The ice man!




I went to see my friend in 2008 who is a Sports Therapist he said he wanted me to lie in a bath of Ice cold water, l said you having laugh, he had been watching a program about using ice to break up scaring and reduce all aspects of inflammatory such as swelling, heat and redness.

I started the baths with just cold water at first then after a couple of weeks I started to add about 100 ice cubes. I spent 30 minutes lying in the bath. I did my stretches before I went for daily visits to the gym, I worked out for an hour and a half each time. I use to drive to Canary Wharf after the Gym where I was working at the time.



I use to have a cold bath when I got home from work in the evenings as having a bath gave me my strength back. l decided to go for a walk where it was flat, I was using two crutches to walk before having a bath so I was amazed when I was able to walk without the Crutches, only for 100yrds at first but I built this up to waking 1000 yard's over the next 4 years, this strength only lasted for about 2 hours after the bath.

I did believe the only way to treat Multiple Sclerosis was naturally, I tried reflexology, Bowen Massage and Pilates. I had Hyperbaric Oxygen for a few weeks, this helped improve my speech but I used to get ear pain like you do when an aircraft is landing. I use to drink 2 litres of water every day as I did not want to get dehydrated, I had a healthy diet eating my 5 fruit and vegetables a day.

I tried Cryotherapy, this is a deep freeze at temperatures of -135 dry cold. You go into 2 chambers, the first chamber is at cool -65, the second chamber at a freezing –135, wearing just two pairs of shorts and two pairs of thick socks and gloves. You wear bandages where skin is thin and a face mask so you do not breath in the extreme cold air. You spend 30 seconds in first chamber and then 5 minutes in the second.



I use to sing, you are my sunshine, my only sunshine, to take my mind off the extreme cold.


 I had been driving for an hour to my work in London in warm temperatures. I stepped out of my car, lost my balance and fell straight back hitting my head on the wall. Luckily I was not seriously injured but I was taken to Hospital in an ambulance, I was ok.

The Clients who we were providing It Support for said it was too much of a risk for me to be at their property because I had that fall so I was told to work from home, which I did for a year or more.

I had to go into the office one day to see my manager, we have an Incapacity Benefit at my Employee, which I have been applying for last few months. I was told by my manager to go home, do no work, no study, that's it, I felt unreal. I am on the incapacity benefit, so no more stress of work, I may even get stronger, that was what I was hoping anyway.

I was talking to a friend at the Gym, about what did I want to improve. I want to improve my walking I said, my friend trained me most Saturdays, for two years. He did a lot of work on hip flexors, Plank, lunges, I use to do Lunges in front of a mirror. I am not vain, it was to make sure I am doing correct technique, honest. I also did a lot of Mobility training on both sides of the body. We did some posture and walking, I progressed to jogging across the studio after about 2 years.
We did some NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming), NLP is about getting you to visualize the things you want to do and not focusing on the negatives of what you think you can't. Its a positive reminder of what you are trying to do.

I was given a grant for a wet room and a accessible kitchen, so I decided to stop having the ice baths. I have been having these ice baths twice a day for 4 years, even when it’s freezing outside .These ice baths have been brilliant for me, life changing, I feel it has stopped me having Relapses.


No comments:

Post a Comment

I had a great time at Revitalise Southampton

Nothing really changes for me if I can stay away from chest infections, I can stay pretty healthy. It was my first day back at the Gym...