FEELING OF CHILLINESS

Despite the fact that the faster maintains normal temperature on a fast, or even has a slight rise in temperature, there is commonly a feeling of chilliness in a moderate temperature in which he ordinarily feels comfortable. This feeling of chilliness may be experienced, even when the bodily temperature is above normal, that is, when there is slight fever. We attribute this feeling of chilliness in individuals of normal or above normal temperature to decreased cutaneous circulation. Let a man strip nude in a cold room and remain there until he feels warm. Then let him walk nude into a warm room. Immediately, shivering results and he will feel cold.

It is well-known that heavy eaters are always complaining of the heat. They may be said to be constantly "feverish." Carrington suggests that the feeling of chilliness may be, in part, due to the absence of this feverishness. He suggests, also, that what is now regarded as normal temperature is a degree too high. The faster, the person on a fruit diet, the moderate eater, comfortable in summer, is likely to feel cold to the touch of the heavy eater.

Carrington records the case of a man whose temperature, by thermometric reading, was regularly, while eating, 2° F. below normal, yet he never felt chilly; but who on the twenty-third day of his fast, his temperature having risen to 97.8° F. (only .6° below normal), felt cold. He gives it as his opinion that the feeling of chilliness in this instance was due, in part at least, to decreased peripheral circulation--an anemia of the skin. But he also thinks that sharpened senses which, as we have seen, are rendered more acute in every instance of fasting, possess a keener perception to changes in body temperature.

We experience a sense of chilliness only when blood has been withdrawn from the skin; when, in other words, there is anemia of the skin, and we may actually be so chilly as to shiver on the hottest summer day. We may feel chilly while the thermometer shows our bodily temperature to be normal or slightly above normal. Geo. S. Keith, M.D., LL.D., records a case of a patient in which, he says: "The great peculiarity in the case was a chilliness coming on when he took anything like a meal."--Fads of An Old Physician, p. 168. This is somewhat a reversal of the chilliness seen in fasting, but it shows that the sensation of chilliness is not due to fasting, per se.

As pointed out before, whatever the explanation of the feeling of chilliness, it has nothing to do with the actual temperature of the body, which may actually be above normal. Susanna W. Dodds says of it: "In this cold paroxysm there is a rise in temperature (which the fever thermometer will detect) sometime before the chilling stage begins."--The Liver and Kidneys, p. 44.

"FAMINE FEVER"

In many cases, particularly of overfed individuals, we have what is called "famine fever" when a fast is entered upon. It is a slight elevation of temperature which may last from one to several days. I agree with Carrington that "it is, as in the case of all other diseases, a curative crisis, and should be regarded as a favorable sign, in consequence." Dr. Rabagliatti also regarded it as curative and added: "If we cannot fast without fever, it is because we have been previously improperly fed."

SLEEP

It is the usual thing for the fasting person to sleep no more than three to four hours out of each twenty-four hours, and this frequently causes worry. Three general causes for this sleeplessness are recognized: (1) It may be due to general nervous tension. The faster cannot sufficiently relax. (2) Sleeplessness is often due to a deficient circulation. The feet become cold and the faster finds it difficult to maintain warmth. A hot water bottle or jug placed at the feet will usually remedy this. (3) The fasting person does not require the usual amount of sleep. In a general sense, the amount of sleep one requires is proportioned to the quality and quantity of one's food. If you are comfortable and relaxed, you may be quite certain that you will sleep as much as you require.

In his narrative, from which I have previously quoted, Mark Twain records the case of one man who went without sleep for twenty-one days at a stretch, noticing during this period of fasting, no desire for sleep and no ill effects from not sleeping. Horace Fletcher frequently pointed out that when he ate less food he required less sleep. The sleeplessness and sluggishness that follow a heavy meal are well-known to everyone. If we are to be mentally alert, we must eat lightly or not at all. Such facts would seem to indicate that the digestion of large quantities of food is an exhausting process.

The faster who does not sleep is likely to fret and fuss about how long the nights are, but he does not feel the loss of sleep. It is true, of course, that all fasters who complain of not sleeping, like all other patients who declare that they never closed their eyes all night, sleep much more than they think they do. I have visited the rooms of fasters who complained of not sleeping and found them fast asleep, only to have them tell me the following day that they "never slept a wink all night."

A few patients sleep more while fasting than when eating. Insomnia victims are especially likely to do this. Fasting is perhaps the quickest and most satisfactory means of remedying insomnia, although there are cases in which it requires six to ten days to secure the sleep. Sinclair says, of his first fast: "I slept well throughout the fast."

I cared for one young man who slept sixteen hours out of twenty-four almost every day of a thirty days fast. Another man, an asthmatic, slept almost day and night for days during and following the fast. But asthma cases, like insomnia cases, having lost much sleep, usually sleep much as soon as fasting brings relief from the dyspnea so that they can sleep.

Date: 2015-01-11; view: 756