Home Based Care 1 - Fire and Ice Hot Bath

 

Baño de Fuego y Hielo (pdf)     Fire and Ice Hot Bath in Chinese 中文(pdf)

​

Disclaimer: The prevention and care methods provided here are not meant to be a replacement for actual medical treatment. Our goal is to reduce the probability of infection for healthy people and to treat symptoms when they are mild in order to lessen the chance of hospitalization.

 

This treatment is a family recipe: Fire and Ice Hot Bath. This is the Shen family's approach to the prevention and self-rescue of influenza in the past ten years, and it has gradually been improved in practice.

 

Description of the specific implementation method for adults. Children or people who cannot take care of themselves, including those who are ill, need help to complete the following steps.

 

Things you need:

​

• Bathtub with running hot and cold water.

• A basin of cold water, preferably with ice cubes or an ice pack.

• Ice water (with salt and sugar) or cold fruit juice. You can add ice cubes to the drink.

• Thick hand towels and bath towel.

• Pajamas/sleep clothes (more than one set)

​

1. Preparation step: Soak a hand towel in the basin with cold water.

2. When adding hot water to the bathtub in the beginning, the temperature should not be too hot for the person who is taking the bath, it should be reasonably hot but still tolerable. Only add two-thirds of the water needed for the hot bath in this step. 

3. After getting into the bathtub and becoming adjusted to the current water temperature, the person should start to add more hot water again. Turn only the left faucet completely on for maximum heat. Swirl the added hot water with the existing water to let them mix quickly. If it feels too unbearably hot, stop adding hot water. If the current water becomes colder, you can drain some of the current water before adding new hot water. This is the ‘fire’ part of the bath. The high temperatures help kill off the virus. You should start to sweat. Sweating helps the body get rid of waste.

4. When the person starts to sweat in the bathtub, take out the ice towel from the basin (prepared in step 1 - the first ‘ice’ part of the bath), twist off a little bit of excessive water, then apply it to the head, starting from the forehead, face and ear then the rest of the head to lower the temperature. As the bathtub’s water temperature rises, the head starts to sweat more. When the ice towel is not cold enough, squeeze it dry and soak it back in the basin with ice. Then take it out wet, and apply it to the head (including the forehead and face) again, or even wrap the cold towel around the entire head. The reason for doing this is to protect the head and prevent high temperatures from damaging brain organs. This step has to be repeated.

5. Drink cold water or juice throughout the bathing process to keep your body hydrated. This is the second ‘ice’ part of the bath.

6. Keep taking deep breaths in the hot water and inhaling the hot steam to make the upper airway clear, which helps cough up phlegm.

7. Soak in the bathtub for 20 to 40 minutes, depending on personal tolerance. Do not force yourself. Your skin should be sweaty and a pinkish color when coming out of the bathtub. 

8. Dry yourself, put on pajamas, avoid cold air flow blowing onto your body directly.

9. Go to bed. Lay a thick towel on top of the pillow to absorb sweat from your head. Prepare a few towels to wipe the sweat off your head and body. If it's too hot, cover your body with a thin blanket first. Wait until it's not so hot before changing to a thicker blanket or comforter. 

10. Prepare extra sets of pajamas and change them every 20-30 minutes if your body gets too sweaty. Normally the sweating should have stopped in less than one hour. Be sure to wear dry clothing when you finally go to sleep.

 

A few notes:

 

• This process all boils down to taking a really hot bath. However, this process is more effective than you think. This bath is NOT for pleasure. You NEED to sweat. Let the high heat and excessive humid environment kill the virus.

 

• The high temperature for bath water is to help kill the virus, the cold drink is to keep hydration and add electrolytes, and the ice towel is to protect the head from overheating. In addition, sweating is important because it’s a way for the body to excrete waste and toxins.

​​

• Avoid slipping and falling when getting out of the hot bathtub, because your arms and legs may feel numb and tired from the hot bath.

​

• Do it on an as-needed base. It doesn't hurt to take a hot bath daily.