Cold feet, cold hands and hot head

[Kojiro]

Reading higyenist literature I have come across a definition of disease quite interesting. They said that in disease feet and hands are too cold, due to obstruction of capillaries which don't let the blood flow well, and this causes the internal organs and the brain to get too much blood (the blood that doesn't go to the extremities). Their usual advice was to put the feet on hot water in order to dilate the blood vessels and draw the blood there, although some advised cold water, in order for the body to react against its influence.

 

Many people today have this problem, cold hands and feet, and too much blood in the brain (fever). Ringing in the ears, dizzyness or veins too full in the forehead/temples are symptoms of too much blood in the head. This is similar to what @Gerardhas been saying in this forum. It is just that the solution given by the hygienists doesn't happen to really attract me a lot. I am sure there must be more ways to draw the excess of blood away from the brain and internal organs and make it go to the feet and hands. Any ideas?

[mcoolio]

From the tcm point of view:

 

* cold hand and feet

* problems in head

 

Ringing, dizziness, feeling of fullness in head can all point to different things, so to come to some correct diagnosis probably need to be more specific then 'problems in head'.

 

All in all, probably very difficult to come to a correct diagnosis from these 2 very general symptoms. Can even ask yourself if these symptoms have the same cause. Studying a little bit of tcm from books on your own can be interesting (if you haven't already). Could give you some more ideas about what organ(s) are causing this. Still probably very difficult to find out on your own (our through forums on internet) and going to a (good!) (tcm) practitioner is probably your best bet.

 

I'm no TCM practitioner by the way, but I studied a little bit on my own and that gives me some indications of how it all works (but mostly shows how complex it all is).

 

So yea, lot's of organs could be at the root of your problem.

Heart and lungs are very much involved in the circulation of qi and blood in the channels and vessels.

Blood deficiency can give cold hands and feet and can also cause dizziness in the head. This can come from lot's of different organs...

 

 

On the other hand if you want a simple solution ...

Practicing a good qigong system consistently for a significant amount of time will increase the qi circulation in your system and this will always help at least a little bit.

 

Edited August 14, 2022 by mcoolio

[Gerard]

17 hours ago, Kojiro said:

I am sure there must be more ways to draw the excess of blood away from the brain and internal organs and make it go to the feet and hands. Any ideas?

 

Sure there is and this one is the jewel in the crown:

 

 

 

 Culture, chairs, heels in our shoes, etc.

 

We all live in an ungrounded world.

 

That position will turn you into a normal human again.

 

Do it EVERY DAY as often as you like and remain in that position as long as you like it too.

 

Cold feet & hands, hot head, liver Yang rising, weak spleen, poor digestion, etc. It fixes all of them plus a lot more.

[exorcist_1699]

Typical symptoms of  deficiency in yang qi * , which occupies the upper part ( chest and head)  of  our body and its surface , are cold feet, cold hands , dizziness...etc . Wei qi ('衛氣')  , the safeguarding qi  that flows above our skin ,  comes from our lung and it  makes us  warm .  The Heart  qi , if it is strong enough , should enable  the heart to pump blood to tips of our body . So weakness of them always give rise to symptoms of cold feet, cold hands , laziness to move and speak , lose of appetite ..  . The conventional TCM treatment for such a deficiency in yang qi  is the Four Gentlemen decoction which composes of Ginseng, Gan Cao, Bai Zhu,  Fu Ling for replenishing  qi of spleen, lung  and heart .

 

Hot head symptom is a little complicate to judge , I will leave it to others to comments .

 

 

* From the perspective of Taoist alchemy , all qi inside of our body are yin , only  the  yang jing ('陽精 ')   , a key to our qi cultivation and hidden somewhere in our body , is yang . So please do not mix up the TCM  system  with the Taoist alchemical system .

 

Edited August 15, 2022 by exorcist_1699

[Kojiro]

I am doing some research on this topic and I see some authors recommend cold water, while others recommend hot water for warming the feet. Still others recommend first hot water and finally cold water on the feet, plenty of options to choose!

[searcher7977]

I can only speak from personal experience with my body as the only data point, but cold hands and feet were primarily from inactivity. Ultimately it could be from imbalances or deficient organs, I don't know, but in my case it was solved by more walking and raw movement similar to what Gerard has been advocating in some of his posts. I also practice the resting squat throughout the day, aiming for 30min+ per day. I type or watch videos in the resting squat often. Heels need not be on the floor in the beginning.

 

Secondary source is diet. When I eat high sugar meals, even if its just fruit or veggies juice, I feel my feet get colder within minutes. My diet is very good as it is, plenty of veggies and only whole foods, no dairy, no gluten, etc. Although, the more I walk the less this happens. 

 

If you are unable to walk, which could be the case with some people and was for a long time for me as well, any activity still helps. Roll from side to side on the bed. Practice breathing exercises or lengthen your breath. Detox from dopamine stimulants. No tv no videogames, dopamine is a neuromodulator that also governs physical movement. 

 

Other things that have helped: Legs on the wall, torso on a slanted board or inversions if you are able to, back bends to get your spine back in alignment from poor posture, especially your lumbar, stretching, particularly adductors and thoracic spine, again to improve posture while sitting, use a heated pad or raise the room temperature. 

 

Most optimal is just walking, in my experience. 

 

 

[Gerard]

 Certainly:

 

1. You were born with LEGS. Use them!

2. Taoism was born in the mountains.

 

Putting the two together:

 

 

 

This routine will cure many, many ailments; for sure.

 

NATURE is the greatest healer!

[mcoolio]

On 8/15/2022 at 5:12 PM, Kojiro said:

I am doing some research on this topic and I see some authors recommend cold water, while others recommend hot water for warming the feet. Still others recommend first hot water and finally cold water on the feet, plenty of options to choose!

 

What style of (medicine) books is this you are studying, because these methods you mention seem a little bit random 

 

Cold hand and feet is also something I suffer from a lot. When I was still playing soccer, one time in winter , my big toe was completely white and as hard as a rock.

 

Starting a practice (qigong, meditation, ...) improved the problem a lot. I remember one period where I felt particularly in the flow of the practice, where I used to train outside in the cold for hours. When I met people afterwards and shook hands with them they were shocked at how cold my hands were. But to me it felt like a cold summer breeze.

 

I'm not there yet, but am convinced that with a good practice eventually, I will no longer suffer from this problem.

[Kojiro]

29 minutes ago, mcoolio said:

 

What style of (medicine) books is this you are studying, because these methods you mention seem a little bit random 

 

Cold hand and feet is also something I suffer from a lot. When I was still playing soccer, one time in winter , my big toe was completely white and as hard as a rock.

 

Starting a practice (qigong, meditation, ...) improved the problem a lot. I remember one period where I felt particularly in the flow of the practice, where I used to train outside in the cold for hours. When I met people afterwards and shook hands with them they were shocked at how cold my hands were. But to me it felt like a cold summer breeze.

 

I'm not there yet, but am convinced that with a good practice eventually, I will no longer suffer from this problem.

I am reading books from the hygienist tradition: Herbert Shelton, John Tilden, Henry Lindlhar, etc. I highly recommend these books, you can learn a lot

[Cobie]

Raynaud's phenomenon

https://www.rheumatology.org/I-Am-A/Patient-Caregiver/Diseases-Conditions/Raynauds-Phenomenon 

 

[Kojiro]

4 hours ago, Cobie said:

Raynaud's phenomenon

https://www.rheumatology.org/I-Am-A/Patient-Caregiver/Diseases-Conditions/Raynauds-Phenomenon 

 

"Raynaud’s phenomenon is caused by overly-sensitive blood vessels within the fingers and toes. They are more affected by cold and stress. The blood vessels narrow substantially, causing a decrease in blood flow and associated color change. The lack of blood flow often results in a pale, or white, discoloration. Subsequently, the digits can turn blue and eventually red as there is a sudden influx of blood into the digits after the episode is over."

[Kojiro]

4 hours ago, Cobie said:

Raynaud's phenomenon

https://www.rheumatology.org/I-Am-A/Patient-Caregiver/Diseases-Conditions/Raynauds-Phenomenon 

 

At the end of this website you can find good info too on Raynaud's:

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20150322151428/http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0201hyglibcat/020117tildenpt2/020117.ch9.html

[Nungali]

Isnt that what a 'Sitz bath' does ?  - its a small bath for the body with the limbs out of the hot water .... body gets hot in the hot water and sends blood out to the limbs to cool it . I often do it as I have an outside fire heated bath and it often gets very hot so I hang my arms and legs over the side to cool off .  I feel very energised afterwards ... the effect of constant  heat in ( a normal bath doesnt do that .... you heat the water, get in and from then its a gradual cooling process  ) and possibly the 'heat exchange' through me , has very different results ( in feeling ) afterwards than a 'normal' bath . 

 

 

 

[mcoolio]

6 hours ago, Nungali said:

 

 

You look ridiculous

[Nungali]

I have reported you to the RSPCH ! 

 

 

Spoiler

Royal Society for the Protection of Hipsters.

 

[Kojiro]

It is a little ridiculous, but it may work! I will decide if it is more efficient than ridiculous to give it a try

[Lairg]

Many years ago in northern Scotland I used to meditate early in the morning in the middle of winter with no heating.  I found that when inevitably I got cold I could go into my heart and generate heat that would keep me warm for 10 minutes and then I would have to repeat.

 

After an hour the heating would come on in the meditation room and then I would not need to bother

 

 

[mcoolio]

Now that you mention it, there was a period where I also used to meditate (breathing) in the cold frequently. Although perhaps a little bit unpleasant in the beginning, I remember it being one of the things that lead me to a (short) period of being very cold resistant (which I already spoke about above).

 

I went from always having cold hand and feet to being able to take cold showers without any discomfort. I could not believe it at that time.

 

Practicing a lot of other stuff and the energy circulation that brings in the body is probably one of the reasons, but I think this breathing meditation in the cold was also very important. That really pushes you to relax and calm down and perhaps this allows the body to open up more instead of close.

 

Gonna experiment more with this next winter.

[Kojiro]

3 hours ago, mcoolio said:

Now that you mention it, there was a period where I also used to meditate (breathing) in the cold frequently. Although perhaps a little bit unpleasant in the beginning, I remember it being one of the things that lead me to a (short) period of being very cold resistant (which I already spoke about above).

 

I went from always having cold hand and feet to being able to take cold showers without any discomfort. I could not believe it at that time.

 

Practicing a lot of other stuff and the energy circulation that brings in the body is probably one of the reasons, but I think this breathing meditation in the cold was also very important. That really pushes you to relax and calm down and perhaps this allows the body to open up more instead of close.

 

Gonna experiment more with this next winter.

But in your message above you said that you hands were still cold

[mcoolio]

Yup, still relatively cold, but no longer bothered by that cold and seemed as if blood was still circulating correctly everywhere.

 

But this extreme cold resistance didn't last long, 2 weeks or so.

 

Nowadays it comes and goes depending on how my training is going, never as extreme as then though.

[Kojiro]

The ugly thing about all that is not just the cold hands and feet. When they are cold it is because the blood is congested in the internal organs, which happens to be overheated. The heat and the blood that don't go to the extremities go to the internal organs, and this excess of blood and heat is quite damaging for them and impairs their proper functioning

 

A good massage may help to improve blood flow to the capillaries and skin.

Edited August 19, 2022 by Kojiro

[Kojiro]

@thelerner what is your advice as a wim hof practitioner regarding cold hands and feet?

[Kojiro]

Now I think cold hands are related to rheumatism or arthritis, as the same problem can bring both cold hands (Raynaud) and inflammation of the joints of the fingers

[awaken]

當歸四逆湯