Detox foot bath (not ionic) question.

Pat, the purpose of a foot bath is to help your body get rid of toxins. Whenever pathogens are killed in your body, their debris is left for the body to clean up (toxins). If there is too much to clean up at one time, your body becomes overwhelmed and toxins backup in your blood, brain, and organs.

If your bug load is small, your body will do a great job on its own to detox. However, if you are heavily infected, if your organs are impacted, and/or if you have multiple infections, then a detox bath is very helpful.

As for the foot bath itself, a full body detoxing bath can be overwhelming for some people so it is best to start with a foot bath. If they do OK, then they can move up to a full body bath for a short period of time and with tepid water. As they become accustomed to it they can increase the amount of salts, water temperature and the time spent in the water. Slow and easy is key here. Some people have fainted after a bath so it can be overwhelming. Again, for those who are heavily infected.

As for a herx or Lyme; yup that is the million dollar question. Even veterans with years of dealing with this still cannot tell for sure if it is Lyme, a herx or a side effect to the medicine. One thing for sure is that if the "herx" or symptoms becomes to severe, it is recommended to back off of everything to give your body time to recover. Then when you feel better you start again but slower. Lyme treatment is a long, long process so it makes no sense to overdo it and be miserable while doing it.

I hope my explanations helped a little?

Pat, there is no exact science to a detox bath because there are so many variables to consider. The person's weight, their health, their bacterial load, how much toxins they have, the water temperature, the type of water, etc, etc. It is wise to not overthink this.

I recommend to start with a few (one or two) tablespoons of Epsom Salts and warm water. Water that you use to bathe/shower is fine. Soaking your feet for five minutes is fine. My suggestions are on the low end because people react differently depending on the criteria that I mentioned above. If you don't feel anything, then it is OK the next day or later in the day to go higher with the ingredients and time in the water. If you don't get a reaction then you may then consider moving up to a bath. Again, start slow and enjoy it.

Here is the answer to your questions:

Q: .how does it help when only the feet- ankles are in the water? Wouldn't that be only having an effect on my feet. How can that be system wide?
A: The body absorbs what you put on it anywhere in the body and once it enters the body it gets into the blood system. It then travels throughout the whole body. An example are nicotine patches, sublingual supplements, etc. Well, the ingredients in the Epsom salts are absorbed by the feet and ankles and then travels throughout the whole body. At the same time, the body will push out the toxins via the skin pores. Exposing the feet to a salt bath is safer than a whole body bath in the beginning because you are exposing a smaller area to the salts so not as much is absorbed in a short amount of time. Once your body is used to the salt soaking, then you can do the whole body.

Q. I understand that the feet have large pores in them. Is there anything coming out into the water itself (please not the colored water in an ionic system) ?
A: Yes, the body pushes the toxins out of your body. The body uses the feces, the urine, sweat, and whatever else it can to cleanse itself.


Q. We have seen all the recipes and formulas and different amounts of each ingredient. The size of feet, the amount of water, the size of the foot tub-- makes it impossible to determine a helpful formula. Even should one use chlorine free water, filtered water or 'softened' water. It's really frustrating to get help with this Lyme.
A. Yes, there are so many formulas out there because what works for one person doesn't work as well for another so as people post what works for them, that will be different than what someone else will post. I work in IT and I strongly believe in KISS (Keep It Simple Sweetheart) so I say to just get plain water, throw a few tablespoons of Epsom Salt baths in there with some warm, comfortable water and enjoy! It is true that some people prefer distilled water, soft water, spring water, etc. I think that plain water works just as well or even better than filtered/soft water because the body needs its minerals, electrolytes, and all else that your body can use. That is why Himalayan salt and sea salt is so much better for you than plain white salt, because they have all of their trace ingredients in them that your body is starving for.

So again, don't over think it, just enjoy it and take it slow. One thing that I forgot to mention is to do dry brushing along with the salt soaking. It feels sooo good and it opens/cleanses the pores so you can detox better.

Let me know if you have any questions. I am sure others will also chime in on what they have found that works for them.

Post Edited (Healing98) : 5/11/2015 7:23:40 AM (GMT-6)

1. What symptoms of herxing is normally expected after the Footbath. What do you 'feel'.
A. You should feel better and not worse because the toxins are leaving your body. The exposure to the salts and water in a foot bath are minimum.

2. Does the herxing start right away or In what period of time, or does it take a while.
A. Herxing happens with die off of bugs. Salt baths don't kill bugs, they release their toxins.

3. Is it possible to herx all day long after one of these foot baths.
A. Yes, but not because of the bath. If the die off due to your treatment is severe and overwhelms the body then you can herx all day. Not long ago I herxed for two weeks straight.

4. It is soooo hard to determine what is true herxing vs not feeling good before the foot bath.
A. Yes it is. Wish I had an answer for that.

5. It seems that the LLMD's agree to its existence due to the awful symptoms that Lyme patients experience. Words can't describe it and yet many docs give it other diagnoses. They must do something more in the research area. ( my neighbor said her dog gets checked for lyme at annual exam--I just never knew that about dogs-- it seems that they should automatically do it for humans just like taking blood pressure and temp.)
A. Herxing happens with cancer patients as well due to cancel cell die off. You may want to check into that as well.

Bump

First, thanks. I got a lot out of this discussion.

I'm new to this with an official diagnosis of Fibromyalgia. A doctor (my eye doctor LOL) suggested I get tested for Lyme and I'm working through that process (taking Olive Leaf Extract to promote die off before getting the blood test).

Healing98, you already answered some questions for me and unfortunately I'm sure there will be many more as Traveler has already found out.

As I said, this discussion has been helpful but I wanted to share a couple things that might be helpful.

If I test positive, which seems very likely given the research I've done and my reactions to the very limited "treatment" I have under taken (only 10 days so far), I would have been exposed probably about 35 years ago. My "disease" has progressed from severe headaches to pain in every single part of my body, every minute of every day. With a weird constellation of symptoms that seem to cycle through your body coming and going away at shorter and shorter intervals.

My backdrop is as an Engineer with a solid background in Science. This explains the many questions I will ask as I try to put all the puzzle pieces together. What I did for the majority of my career, was to test the companies products, so I constantly ask questions (usually of myself), do research, test ideas, look and the results and start all over again until you get a real answer.

The difference between that process and this is just that I could (almost) always come up with an answer that was provable. So that's the same approach I'm using here.

One of my "symptoms" is that I have very frequent allergic reactions. Sometimes the reaction is a skin contact reaction. Others times it was something internal, usually medication but I've no found that i also have food sensitivities. With my skin contact reactions, I could pull weeds in the garden for less than 30 minutes, take a shower immediately and the next day have a skin rash. The rash would spread everywhere but it almost never spread from the original rash. I talked to doctor after doctor who did not believe me when I said the reaction ended up being systemic. The only thing that stopped it was prednisone.

One time, I went to my primary and he put me on Prednisone for two weeks but every time I dropped my dose it came raging back. Eventually, he sent me to a dermatologist who told me that he sees the top ten percent of worst reactions and amount the top ten percent I was in the top five percent of those people.

Eventually, I was on Prednisone for 7 weeks at an extremely high dose. The dermatologist told me that I need to tell any doctor treating me, that I needed high doses and had to be on it for a long time.

So before anyone yells at me. Steroids are very bad for you if you have something like Lyme. The steroid suppresses the immune system and when you stop the steroids everything can come raging back. It is generally not advised.

The point is that the skin is the largest organ in the body. If you take in anything (skin lotions, makeup, body wash, shampoo, etc) through the skin it is more easily absorbed and enters the blood stream. If its an allergen, it doesn't stay local. The immune system works over time and ends up causing a reactions anywhere.

The reverse is true toxins are released from the body through sweat. I have also has localized skin reactions when the only thing on my skin has been sweat. My skin in that area is reacting to the toxins in the sweat. The toxins are already in my blood stream so the reaction is localized. The mast cells (one of the cell types that fight cells that don't belong like bacteria that is bad for you) react to the toxin by releasing histamine (along with other hormones and antibodies) which causes the itchy rash.

So it works both ways as Healing98 said, you absorb things from the water and expel things at the same time.

The other thing is the herxing. The dead bacteria travel through the blood stream until it gets filtered out. Your body can get overloaded and there is no where for the dead bacteria go. If your kidneys and liver are overloaded and can't filter everything, it could end up back in other parts of the body. Your immune system will keep trying to get rid of it. So you end up with an increase in symptoms and feel worse.

The reason to start slow is you build up to a level that allows the body to handle the die off without there being too much. It doesn't matter what the treatment is. This discussion is about the foot bathes but it's true about many medications as well. At times I start a new medication at a quarter dose and work up until it does what it is intended to do. If the dose ends up being too much.

You may also see that symptoms seem to cycle and you have symptoms that have been gone for a long time and then they show up. You body can only react to so many things at a time and one symptom may take over, so as the Lyme gets driven out of one place it allows Lyme (or other bacteria and viruses) that is hanging out somewhere else to resurge and cause those symptoms.

An example of that is I get kidney stones and when I do, the kidney stones overload the nerve sensors and take over all the brains ability to feel pain. During that time, I only feel kidney pain and the normal muscle pain goes away. As sone as they gave me the pain medications used to treat kidney pain, the other pain comes back.

Healing98, I apologize if I overstepped. I hope I contributed instead of confusing anyone.

Lastly, can someone tell me what it means when you say "bump"? I'm completely clueless.

Thanks, have a great day.
Kim

gkamom Kim I read your comments with great interest. I'm always looking for a better understanding and we are science related too. Please continue to add to this topic and include what you are doing, successful or not. That helps others so much and we all learn from it. Welcome to our forum.

If this topic moves off the page, just type your Member name in the search engine above and click on the Topic by your name so you can continue this topic. There are lots of topics and they easily
drop away.
from the page

gkamom
Yes, things move to the top when you add a comment or a new thread topic. You will see moderators "bump" a topic when someone hasn't responded and it falls off the page as then it is out of sight. You yourself can bump a topic but it's nice to have a reason for it. The forum has a great group of moderators that are knowledgeable, kind and volunteer their time to help others. There are many different opinions and one must be selective by discussing with their medical care professionals. I've received many a new way of looking or approaching things because this is new to me and don't even know there "is" another way of looking at things. So new, so much to learn!

We hope you find help and feel well soon. Kindly, Pat

suzy. Sorry to read about your concerns. Someone will be joining in with suggestions--we aren't doctors-- so after reading your post , you should see a dermatologist. I suggest that when the problem shows up that you take a picture of it to show the physician. Often these things come and go. Also, I've found that if you go to Google and type in a description (horseshoe shaped skin lesion) and click on images-- Many ,many pictures come up that have links to the picture. This might help you or relieve you of some worry. Hope this is helpful.

You can type in and see many pictures of Lyme lesions too.

A diagnosis from a physician would be most helpful . Pat

Hi Pat Tall,

As Healing98 said as well as others, the purpose is to rid the body of toxins. I still continue to take detox baths even though I have been well for years simply because I believe we live in a toxic world. I also believe by detoxing daily I am keeping my immune system strong. Toxins can cause so much havoc! Just look on Amazon and type in detox under books, it amazes me how many book are written about toxins alone...

Getting back to the foot baths, I used to do the mustard/cayenne pepper foot baths for aches and pains and I felt a huge difference as far as less aches and pains, etc. I personally like the full detox bath better (mixed with Epsom salts and hydrogen peroxide), dry skin brushing the body first.

As far as your doctor recommending aloe in the bath, I don't get that, did your doctor state why? I used to drink good quality aloe to help me when I had problems with constipation.

Also, most people who are sick feel cold and have a low temperature. It is suggested to take your temperature upon waking and that is known as your "core" body temperature.

The mustard/pepper foot baths are one of the tools to raise the core body temperature. A cold body is a very sick one indeed. So if one is cold all the time it is recommended to do a mustard/pepper foot bath 3 times a day.

Being the curious person I am, I once took salt and poured some on paper in my kitchen and then walked on it barefooted, duh! I was amazed that it only took seconds for me to taste that salt in my mouth. Wow, I didn't realize what entered the pores of my feet could travel that fast!

I have not tried it with dry mustard powder yet because I don't feel like having a mustard taste in my mouth as I do not eat hot dogs!

Anyway, the feet have the most pores compared to any other part of our body and as you probably know our skin is our largest living organ. It has been said if you won't eat it, don't put it on your skin...

Don't know if all this info helps or not,
Denise

People do apply EOs to the bottom of their feet, but I believe they mix them in some oil and apply it that way. I don't have much experience with them, so hopefully someone with experience will chime in on that.

Hi again Pat Tall,

I believe in essential oils but the problem is I can not afford them right now thus I can't talk from experience. Hopefully one day I can as from what I have read about EO's they sound fascinating to me and each EO has a different purpose. I heard that Young Living Oils are supposed to be the top of the line, someone please correct me if I am wrong.

Bellyfull, I never thought about that phrase KISS, yes, I agree with you, Keep It Simple Sweetheart is soooo much better!! Golly when I first started going to AA meetings they had posters on the walls with all the AA sayings and I guess Keep It Simple Stupid stuck in my brain... I will retrain my brain now thanks to you!! Keep on giving your 2 cents okay?

Denise

Doing my first foot bath and trying this detox thing. I put 2 cups of epsom salts in some pretty warm water. Will this be enough?