Exercise? It hurts too much! But maybe not. Many hospitals and Y's have a warm water pool for aquatic therapy or aquatic exercise class.

[JayCS]

Fibromyalgia is a thief. It robs us

I know what you mean. But I prefer not to demonize anything: it's not fibromyalgia, it was me myself. I tried for a long time to do more than my body was capable of. It seemed to be capable of it, I was good at doing a lot and got really fit in body and mind, so it seemed OK. But I was getting warned inside and outside that I was doing too much. And I couldn't listen to the warning signs, to my body. Blame people, things that happened, having an oversensitive body, myself, but not fibro. I was too "addicted" to feeling good about doing things for others plus for myself. Fibromyalgia is just the name given to the result of having overdone it all. Well no, not necessarily all. Just didn't stop in time when the Ache started & increased for 8 years before.
And now it's not that I can't enjoy any simple pleasures, I just have to enjoy them shorter and more intensely, no longer binging. I'd never been able to eat just a small bit of chocolate and hated dark chocolate. Now I prefer it and a small bit is just fine.... I spose it's a bit mind of a matter, but it was mind over matter that started it going wrong in the first place, so that's an appropriate consequence...
Dunno if you've read the other thread - due to the breath-holding helping me improve pain & energy a bit, I've been starting to look for new self-treatments and acupressure came up (cos I'd been using something similar for my increased esophagus blocks which was no longer helping). Just now I came out of a cold shower for more energy and after a few minutes my skin started itching & burning, so I quickly looked up itchiness and found something which worked pretty quickly, altho I don't believe in it at all, especially not for my skin of all things . Let's see if these are ... 5... one offs today. (Sciatica comes up a lot too as I said on that thread. let's see...)

 

[Lemon]

That’s so interesting. Sometimes I only feel better in the water, and have to keep putting hot water on top to stay well

 

[NY Farmwife]

Check it out. Here in the US, we have to pay co-pays when we do physical therapy--depending on our insurance. The co-pay for aquatic therapy is the same as land based therapy. For some of us those co-pays are more than we can afford. That's why I suggested classes at the Y. A lot of them are less than $5--even for non-members. But be sure it's a warm water pool. The lap pools could trigger a nasty flare up. You know that flinch you make when you stick your big toe into too-cold water? Sometimes those muscles decide not to unclench. Warm water soothes. Save cold water for when you really need an ice pack on a new injury.

 

[sunkacola]

Do I ever agree with you, NY farmwife! Cold water is dreadful to me.
Mind you, I am a completely land person, not aquatic whatever, and have no interest in getting into water for any reason, not even a jacuzzi the majority of the time, although I will make an exception in rare cases. But if I get cold/wet for some reason my muscles don't relax for a long time.

Some people actually benefit from cold water. JayCS has written about that.
to each their own, as always.

 

[JayCS]

Some people actually benefit from cold water. JayCS has written about that.

- yep, but only short and sharp!! My cold showers do help a lot, but are 2x1' (=minute) at the very longest.
So I'm very much with y'all there, or even further: even ice packs don't help me, I have to keep them under 3' too!

10 years ago I was pretty fine swimming 1km in 35 minutes in a lap pool - however even then with cramps quite often.
Fibro quickly decreased my cold - and esp. wind - tolerance, anything above 20' could be deadly.
Whole body cryotherapy I first had to get used to, "medium" temperature for 3' was too cold, altho I was still fairly fit, but going up helped, finally I could go right back down. Certain acupressure points also suddenly helped my hot-/cold regulation improve, I started sweating again like I used to, had to change my T-shirts at least once a day again.
Now my severe jab side effects esp. first took their toll on all showering, however warm or short, just any water. Adapting my supps to my histamine suspicion again allowed me to tolerate alternate showering again, and even sometimes keep it really cold. But aside from always forcing me to go under for 2', even if I have to yowl, I do it how I feel my body can cope and benefit best. When I tried to force it, I got pain after.
Generally, it helps me reset, keep any thoughts under control and prevent my lower back unrest/pain at night, so helps me sleep.
Again: 3 or 4 minutes would always cause pain.
(I've also stopped cryotherapy after 1.5 years as it had stopped working after 1y, but it had its time.)

According to several studies, a series of whole body cryotherapy reduces pro-inflammatory cytokines and increases anti-inflammatory ones. I'm pretty sure that Wim Hof's claim that cold sure showering also does this fits with that and with my reaction.