If your have health issues, use Gardelle’s method, Hot Water Bottle and feet warm baths in simple way!

Gardelle’s method

This method is described in the book “L’Hydrotherapie chez soi” (“Therapies with water at home” can be a translation) by Michel Dogna and Anne François L’Hoste (French version only).

It has been defined and set up first by Pierre Gardelle (over 90 years old now), French engineer, same training like me, French high school Arts & Métiers. P. Gardelle moved very quickly out of engineering world, to work and develop soft medicine, Naturopathy, mainly for sportsmen&women. He set up methods to repair the simplest and softest possible the small life accidents.

Michel Dogna improved it and adapt it for a better use… and efficiency for self-curing. By the way, he calls it “Differential Aquathermo”. It is that method I used and I will describe.

The principle is to use cold and hot water at the same time. Cold water on the problematic area, hot water on the liver (not directly hopefully!).

I tried this method before modifying my Food according to Jean Seignalet recommendations, and it worked for me.

My issue at the time was a great difficulty for me to pay attention and to be concentrating. Great difficulties so that I need to read twice or three times again the same pages of a book, and even sometime I didn’t remember the story I have just read! I didn’t know that it was one of the symptoms associated to multiple sclerosis. For me, treatment was cold on the head (top front), hot water bottle on the liver.

I did courses of 2 hours treatment, after lunch (nice for afternoon nap as well), 5 days a week, during 3 weeks. Course after course, I noticed my brain fog went away.

How to proceed a “Gardelle” ?

It’s really simple. First, you must prepare one ice bag, one hot water bottle (rubber type), 2 piece of fabric (dimensions 20×20 cm (7.8 inches) for the ice bag, at the dimensions + 3/5 cm (+1.2 – 2 inches) of those of the hot water bottle ones). I use pieces of old Jeans, because its thick enough and soft … by the use! And a waterproof fabric piece (50×50 cm, 19.7×19.7 inches) to avoid water on the pillow.

Example of rubber hot water bottle:

For the cold:

• Choose not too big ice bag, 20 cm diameter (7.8 inches) is Ok, otherwise it will not be stable, the ice melting. Fill it with 300-400g of pieces of ice, big ones to avoid too fast melting (for example, 3x3x3 cm (1.2 inches) cubes are good). I produce my ice pieces at -20°C (-4°F), so that I get few time additional. Before closing, add few drops of water inside to start melting.
• Wet the fabric with cold water. Spin it by hands, not dropping.

For the hot:

• Prepare your hot water bottle as recommended below (next section),
• Wet the fabric with water, and place it on the hot water bottle to warm it up before to put in on the skin.

Now, you are ready! Go to bed now!

Place the warm fabric on your skin, on the liver area. Place the hot water bottle on, first the grid shape face turned to the skin to avoid burning. Recover you under a duvet (better) or warm blanket. After ½ or ¾ hour, switch the hot water bottle side.

Place the waterproof fabric on the pillow, the cold wet fabric on your head (or other painful area) and the ice bag on.

You are ready for 2 hours sleepiness, nice by the way! Pay attention not to sleep really to avoid ice bag sliding…

Do it as long as necessary, or twice (4 hour long). It is without risk.

How to use a hot water bottle, rubber type.

How to prepare hot water bottle (HWB)

You need a domestic weighing machine and pan to warm 1 litter of water minimum.

Choose the hot water bottle in rubber (see above), as simple as possible (without decoration or cover fabric), to enhance the thermal transfers and cleaning as well.

The HWB generally has 2 different sides: one with grid shape, the other without, flat. The “grid” side reduces the thermal transfer: it must be placed on the skin at first, as the hot water bottle is very warm. After ½, ¾ hour, switch the HWB to keep a good thermal effect the longest. If the HWB has 2 flat sides, don’t worry, you must use 2 fabric pieces at first, and remove one after ½, ¾ hour. The both fabric thickness will have approximately the same effect.

Weight the dry HWB. Write the weight on the collar of the HWB with permanent pen (not to forget).

Fill it completely with water and weight it again. Usually, HWB needs 1.5 litters.

Withdraw 0.9 litter (1l = 1 kg): put the pan on the weighing machine, allow for the tare and pour 0.9 kg in the pan. +10, +20 grams are not an issue.

Warm the water till boiling point. Then water temperature is about 95 – 97°C (203 – 206.6°F). Pour hot water back in the HWB, the average temperature is 64/65°C (147.2 – 149°F). Over that point you can be burnt, and it is not the target!

How to define the final temperature of HWB?

• V is the total volume (or weight) of the water you can fill in the HWB,
• Vc is the withdrawn water to be warmed,
• T is the targeted average temperature of the mix Vc and cold water remaining in the HWB, supposing the “cold” temperature to be 20°C (68°F), and that of the warmed water 95°C (203°F).

Then:

(1) T=((V-Vc)x20+Vcx95)/V= ((V-Vc)x68+Vcx203)/V

To get final targeted 65°C (149°F) in the HWB, you must warm:

Vc=Vx45/75= Vx 81/135 (for a full HWB 1.5 liter)

You can adapt to your HWB content modifying the equation (1) consequently.

Attention: During the warming and the water transfer, you will lose few waters. Refill your HWB regularly.

Warnings:

• As in the “Gardelle’s method”, always use a wet fabric piece in between HWB and the skin. Warm the fabric piece on the HWB one minute: to put a cold one directly on the skin is always very unpleasant.
• Always start using HWB with the “grid” face toward the skin. Then switch after ½, ¾ hour in order to keep warm flow as long as possible,or place 2 pieces of fabric if not,
• Wrap you up! When you put the HWB on the skin, wrap you up using a fleece jacket. Warmer you will be, better the treatment is.
• When we put hot HWB on the skin (on the fabric piece of course), skin can turn slightly pink. This is normal, because the skin capillaries are dilated. It will disappear a pair of hours later. It is necessary to bring to the liver area warm enough so that the liver internal temperature increase little: it will increase its efficiency.

Only to put the HWB on the liver is very efficient by itself (Dr. A. Salmanoff). It increases the blood circulation and free diaphragm movments increasing breathing efficiency.

Personally, I use to treat myself with HWB. Honestly, even if I feel better day after days, I have no mean to prove the efficiency of that treatment. But it’s simple to do after diner and it is safe.

Feet warm bath:

You have headache?

Often? Or sporadically?

Headache comes because a blood congestion in the brain. Brain needs 20% or more of the total blood flow. It’s a lot for a so small organ. If the flow (inlet/outlet) is not correctly tuned, you can have floating brain or headache.

Headaches are linked to a bad gut function, generally malfunction of intestinal permeability (leaking gut). The same for backaches. The best (and only) treatment is to change the Food, accordingly to Dr. Jean Seignalet recommendations.

Nevertheless, waiting for the effect of the Food changes, we need to do something, and the best ways are:

• Either to place a wet cold fabric on the head, or better an ice bag. Proceed in that case as for Gardelle,
• Or to have a feet warm bath!

Really.

Why? Because when we have a feet warm bath, we increase the blood flow in the feet dilating the capillaries. Then, the blood head flow decreases, stopping headache. It’s the same action like the hyperthermic bath, but limited to the feet.

But headache will occur again and again if you change anything in the Food. The only way to cancel the pain is really to improve the gut work.

We can practice as well front arms warm baths, it works too. But it is less comfortable, because you are completely blocked. Better to read or doing other thing during feet warm bath! Even sleeping!

How to proceed?

Here again, very simple.

Get 2 plastic vessels that fit one inside the other. Smallest must be 30 cm inside diameter, wide enough to place feet, but not so to avoid too much water to warm and to keep warm. Doing that, you get an insulated bowl, and your bath will lengthen warmer.

Pour warm water, just to have it little above the feet. Temperature should be about 36/37°C (96.6 – 98.6°F), because it’s easier to enter in. A finger check at this step is enough. Don’t pour above 38°C (100.4°F), because too hot water it’s not comfortable to enter into as well. You can add a soup spoon of bath or coarse salts if you wish.

Prepare a 1-1.5 litters (33.8 – 50.7 fl oz) kettle, boiling water.

You can now comfortably seat (don’t forget a hand towel for the outlet) and a cover to wrap your legs and keep warmth as long as possible.

Bath your feet and add (very) progressively the hot water, not to burn yourself, this is not the target. Add hot water time to time to keep your water bath as warm you can withstand. Targeted temperature for the bath is about 43°C (109.4°F), time more than 30 minutes.

After several minutes only, headache disappears.

This is efficient, reliable, cheap and don’t damage your health! This is physical action (temperature dilates the capillaries), no chemical.