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Immunity and Heavy Play - 11/27/2011 1:00:53 PM   
sheisreeds


Posts: 578
Joined: 7/8/2008
Status: offline 		I got to thinking about this in the past month.

After a few months of fairly light play the partner and I went all out with our most grueling bat fight to date. A week later we both came down with a terrible cold, and seemed to take forever to get well. I ended up with a bacterial infection on top of the virus, and my voice and lungs still ain't quite right. I don't necessarily think our play had anything to do with how sick we got, as plenty of vanilla folks around us got equally sick.

Though it got me thinking:

To what extent does heavy play impact immunity?

Do our bodies adapt to heavy play?

What are good aftercare practices to stay well after, and potentially even before heavy play?

Heavy play for the purposes of this thread: deep extensive tissue bruising, lacerations, the kinda stuff that hurts for days on end, and usually takes a few weeks to heal from.

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~ s.

Oh my darling, give me reason
give me something to believe in


You need a spankin' baby!
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RE: Immunity and Heavy Play - 11/27/2011 1:11:56 PM   
LillyBoPeep


Posts: 6873
Joined: 12/29/2010
Status: offline 		I got sick once after a really intense scene with M; ultimately I think it's a matter of stress. Stress is knownn to reduce your body's ability to fight off invaders. More than likely, you'd already been exposed, and the stress gave the infection a leg-up over your immune system that was keeping it in check.

Vitamin C, zinnc, and echinicea can be great for rebuilding the immune system. It's good to take them during cold/flu season.

I think the body can get used to playing hard, like it can get used to training, or weight lifting.

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RE: Immunity and Heavy Play - 11/27/2011 9:36:59 PM   
littlewonder


Posts: 15659
Status: offline 		I've noticed that when we indulge in heavy play that it takes me about a week to really fully recover. I usually feel kinda down and just out of it and yes I think my immunity is a little lower than usual during that time. I've noticed that I do get more ill during or around that time.

I figure it's due to the levels of endorphins or seratonin or something dropping hard after heavy play.



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RE: Immunity and Heavy Play - 11/28/2011 6:12:22 AM   
bemyslut


Posts: 62
Joined: 6/3/2009
Status: offline 		The reason stress weakens the immune system has to do with the rise in cortisol levels (corticosteroids are given to transplant patients to suppress their immune system). The average person produces about 25mg of cortisol in a day. This number can easily double, triple and quadruple under duress--either emotional or physical. However, having elevated cortisol for one or two days isnt sufficient to suppress the immune system to a point to make us sick (bacterial, fungal, viral infections). Patients who have been on steroids chronically, are typically given a bolus of 100 mg in a 24 hour period during surgical procedure (to prevent adrenal insufficiency which could present with life threatening symptoms). None of these patients' immune systems are suppressed sufficiently to facilitate infection

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RE: Immunity and Heavy Play - 11/28/2011 6:13:10 PM   
sheisreeds


Posts: 578
Joined: 7/8/2008
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: littlewonder]
I've noticed that when we indulge in heavy play that it takes me about a week to really fully recover. I usually feel kinda down and just out of it and yes I think my immunity is a little lower than usual during that time. I've noticed that I do get more ill during or around that time.

I figure it's due to the levels of endorphins or seratonin or something dropping hard after heavy play.


That's about where it is for me.

The deeper and more pervasive the contusions the longer and harder it is going to be for me to recover. Swollen inflamed bruises and I ain't walking or doing much of anything right for half a week at least. Also, a lot of pulled/strained/sprained muscles equally knock the crap out of me.

Other kinds of heavy play I recover well from.

After play though it's almost the complete exhaustion of a stressed state as all the chemicals have been burned up.

I wonder if it is more the massive amount of resources the body needs to heal from that kind of play.

Stress also feels different during a recovery week, I'm either blissfully braindead or completely paniced and scattered.

What I always try to remember about this kind of play is when I wake up the next morning and I'm like:

"Oh, shit! What happened I feel like I got hit by a bus"

I have to sit back and remember that I kinda was.

When I was in a car wreck, and got slammed with an airbag I was offered days off of work. When I fell down the stairs and got all kinds of crazy injuries I was offered time off.

I remember during both of these incidents I was floored by the sympathy because I had come back from far worse in play and no one knew.

I bring it up to remember that we allow some insane stuff to happen to our bodies. It's easy to normalize it in the play context, and completely forget that our bodies don't tend to care whether or not we liked it when it happened.

We have our little aftercare routine:
- greasy/buttery breakfast
- protein packed lunch
- and nutrient loaded dinner
- take the entire day (usually a Sunday) to be slow moving morons with lots of cuddles
- I do not take a bath, and at most a lukewarm shower for the first day (to contain the bruising)
- try to stay semi active, maybe a zombie trip to walmart or going out to dinner

I try to eat healthy and regularly through the first few days, and take as slow as possible.

For the most part I haven't gotten sick, or gotten particularly run down.

_____________________________

~ s.

Oh my darling, give me reason
give me something to believe in


You need a spankin' baby!

(in reply to littlewonder)
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RE: Immunity and Heavy Play - 11/28/2011 7:31:55 PM   
littlewonder


Posts: 15659
Status: offline 		You sound very similar to what I go through after a heavy playing. We usually do a lot of cuddling right afterward, we talk and then usually fall asleep for awhile. Afterwards I'm usually starving but I usually want fresh fruit or something light or pasta. I think it's a sign of things that need replenished.

I take a long warm shower after to soothe the sores on my body and to relax me in general and I'm usually in a zombie like state for about three days...hard to put things together or to concentrate and my mind is just scattered as well and my emotions are well...a mess lol. I usually get a little moody and my depression can take a nose dive even further if I'm not careful. So I try to get out and do something I enjoy.

There have been a few times where I got really ill and started to vomit. It was usually when the play was extremely stressful for me or I was on such an exhilirating high that coming down from it felt like withdrawal symptoms.

But it's all worth it....most of the time lol


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RE: Immunity and Heavy Play - 11/29/2011 12:04:10 PM   
kalikshama


Posts: 14805
Joined: 8/8/2010
Status: offline
quote:

The reason stress weakens the immune system has to do with the rise in cortisol levels


This is where I was going to go to. I tried to find a good article on cortisol in BDSM but came up empty. Anyone got anything?

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RE: Immunity and Heavy Play - 12/6/2011 5:03:27 PM   
sheisreeds


Posts: 578
Joined: 7/8/2008
Status: offline 		@smallwonder - Yes, very similar, and not surprised.

So Saturday I was stabbed in the hand (accidentally awesomely), spent a half hour with my hair being pulled, half an hour fighting in metal cuffs, my nipple got bit so hard you could see through it, got punched hard in the stomach, kicked numerous times, among many other things things.

Sunday I woke up a train wreck. Could barely move my fingers, my stab wound was opening up all morning, my shoulders and arms hurt (still not sure why?), my scalp was sore, my tummy, as well as all the bruises on my legs.

Could barely move all day, slept and ate like crazy. Made sure we drank juice smoothies before bed, pancakes and vegan sausage for breakfast, had a healthy lunch and dinner, slept as much as possible.

I was still pretty sore on and a zombie on Monday, and unless a bruise gets bumped I'm normal today.

This was on the lighter side of play for us.

Probably because I bled a lot and we were having fun with that. I also was the one who was hurt less this time.

Writing it all out it sounds so much more insane.

_____________________________

~ s.

Oh my darling, give me reason
give me something to believe in


You need a spankin' baby!

(in reply to kalikshama)
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RE: Immunity and Heavy Play - 12/6/2011 5:28:34 PM   
tazzygirl


Posts: 37833
Joined: 10/12/2007
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: kalikshama

quote:

The reason stress weakens the immune system has to do with the rise in cortisol levels


This is where I was going to go to. I tried to find a good article on cortisol in BDSM but came up empty. Anyone got anything?


http://friskybusinessboutique.com/news/blog/the-sting-is-the-thing-pleasure-from-pain-in-bdsm-play

http://www.rosecoloredasses.com/SirReal/BDSMScience.htm

http://www.niu.edu/user/tj0bjs1/papers/scclm09.pdf

The last one is a research study.... quite interesting.

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Telling me to take Midol wont help your butthurt.
RIP, my demon-child 5-16-11
Duchess of Dissent 1
Dont judge me because I sin differently than you.
If you want it sugar coated, dont ask me what i think! It would violate TOS.

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RE: Immunity and Heavy Play - 12/6/2011 5:32:01 PM   
LillyBoPeep


Posts: 6873
Joined: 12/29/2010
Status: offline 		Those are interesting links, tazzy. ^_^
Will have to check them out further...

I've vomited from stress during play before, and become very withdrawn. I didn't talk to him for a day or so.
I did get some kind of sniffly thing, and I do think it was stress related.
Sometimes I feel hungry, like I've blown off all my energy reserves and need to stock up.
That time, I didn't feel hungry, though.

_____________________________

Midwestern Girl

"Obey your Master." Metallica


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RE: Immunity and Heavy Play - 12/6/2011 5:33:57 PM   
tazzygirl


Posts: 37833
Joined: 10/12/2007
Status: offline 		Stress can hit people differently each time. And remember, stress can be good stress or bad... the body doesnt know the difference,

_____________________________

Telling me to take Midol wont help your butthurt.
RIP, my demon-child 5-16-11
Duchess of Dissent 1
Dont judge me because I sin differently than you.
If you want it sugar coated, dont ask me what i think! It would violate TOS.

(in reply to LillyBoPeep)
Profile   Post #: 11
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