So about a month ago in November I tested the theory that I saw in this article about a man overseas who swam in the English channel to help his Crohn's disease. In order to test this theory a little before 10 P.M. last night I went outside and felt cold to begin with and then went into the cold water (the air temperature reading on the pool was 57 degrees). At first my reaction was aghh!! Too cold!! However gradually as I started to move around I began to feel "warmer". My stomach felt amazing though in the water as I started to swim. I didn't last as long as I expected (15 minutes). I suspect that over time I can build endurance and swim more. My ears felt a little cold afterword but other than that I felt great. I did notice that the cold seemed to "freeze" my symptoms for about 30 minutes or so. I didn't have very much pain to begin with but still felt better. The only issue really is that I live in a state that has very warm weather in general so really the only period of time I can do this is between now and probably February. I am curious to see how I would feel after going into the pool Christmas Day (I might give myself a true present with that).
At any rate this morning I woke up around 4:30 a.m. feeling a tad tired but not too bad (I plan to go back to sleep before work begins). Perhaps the cold water jump started my immune system. I usually tend to go to bed around 11:30 P.M. (so my body is in need of some more sleep). Perhaps this is the immune related response with the cold (not needing as much sleep).
I will continue to try swimming at night and report back my results. I might put together a spreadsheet showing air temperature, how I felt afterword, and how long it lasted for. If I start feeling really lucky maybe I can stop taking Asacol and Humira :-) (I would consult my GI first of course).
I did swim several times after the initial first time and every time I did swim continued to feel better right after. It seems as if the cold water does just freeze the symptoms. For about 30-40 minutes even after getting out of the water I still didn't feel pain which is quite amazing. The unfortunate thing is I lived in a state that is hot most of the year so I might as well get in these swims while I can!
I did swim several times after the initial first time and every time I did swim continued to feel better right after. It seems as if the cold water does just freeze the symptoms. For about 30-40 minutes even after getting out of the water I still didn't feel pain which is quite amazing. The unfortunate thing is I lived in a state that is hot most of the year so I might as well get in these swims while I can!