Yesterday while I was at the springs I was talking to a regular and got on the topic of a something I had experienced in about the last 2 months after long soaks in the Womb. If I was in the hotpool for many hours, like 6 to 8 or more then I first experienced one night about 2 months ago little red bumps on my legs and abdomen like a rash. It was so itchy that I could not sleep that night. It was much better by the morning and went away completely about 24 hours later. I have experienced this on every long soak since. The more hours in the hotpools the worse it is. The regular I talked to said he was experiencing the exact same syptoms. Then another guy overheard our conversation and said he had also experienced this problem too. The regular I was talking to also said that DCR and her husband had discussed having the same problem. The regular and the other guy also said that after a long soak they also had a sleepless itchy night I'm releived that this situation is not something specific to me and am wondering how many other people are having this happen to them after long soaks at DCHS. Some people say it may be a heat rash but it doesn't seem to me that the Womb ( which I usually soak in ) is that hot. When it first happened I thought maybe some poisen oak might have got in the water but after talking with the other affected people this seems very unlikely. I've soaked in the pools for many hours over many years and I've never had any problem with this kind of thing before a couple of months ago. We all wondered if perhaps some thing differant is in the water. It doesn't seem likely to me that the source water composition would have changed in recent months to cause this problem. We also thought could it be that someone has put something in the water like clorine or something else but since the water circulates fairly rapidly it seems that this would also be unlikely. Someone also suggested that the hotwater on long soaks may be drying out the skin and causing irritation but it makes me wonder why it now shows up in these last 2 months after I've soaked with no problem for years at DCHS. I'm glad its something that goes away completely after a day or so but I'm finding that I have to limit to some extent my longer soaks to prevent these itchy bumps form showing up. I sit many times during the day with my upper body out of the water for most of the time I'm soaking. These bumps only show up on the part of my body thats been in the water for a long time, basically from the waist down. It is the same with the other affected people. Yesterday I sat out in the sunshine for a good part of the day to limit my exposure to the water. I did soak for about 5 hours and found last night that I had just a slight itchyness and no red bumps. With summer coming my time in the hotpools decreases as the days get hotter so fortunatly I'll only have to watch myself in the cooler months on long soaks. Anybody else heard of or had these syptoms in recent months. If the first time I mention this down at the springs I find two people sitting next to me experiencing the same thing then I would say its something that a good number of other people are experiencing to. I've never been affected by long soaks before this at DCHS or at any other hotsprings I've soaked in. Anybody have any ideas as to what would be causing this problem?
