Damn...... I misspelled a bunch of stuff. Sorry. :-) Posted before I check my typing.
Don't worry about the misspellings. You asked some great questions!
Sweating on it's own during w/d's is the body's attempt to rid itself of toxins.
Extra sweating through a sauna (if you're healthy!) will speed this. The best would be a 'near infra-red' sauna. Very healing and not as harsh.
Exercise DEFINITELY helps with a) accelerated cell turnover. b) jump starting endorphin production c) increased sweating to excrete further toxins.
Hot salt baths also help to draw the poisons from the body.
Rub downs and reflexology help with sleep and anxiety/depression.
I would add a Good Plant based B-Complex into the mix. Amino Acids as well.One of the very best healers and detoxifiers is freshly juiced green drinks. (Wheatgrass and sprouts being the most potent.) Also, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate to flush your system (2 to 3 liters of plain water a day!) Fresh unprocessed food will help. Liquid plant-based Melatonin helps with sleep (but not during the day.) Hope this helps a little.
Hello hydro - first off; congrats on your hard fought and MUCH deserved clean time! I think that you got some excellent information above for sure. I can only tell you from personal experience about the exercise, the protein shakes and the water intake. Exercise is HUGE! I in fact did not realize how much so until a few weeks ago when I sort of 'fell off the wagon' for a week or so. Had a few life events occur (nothing serious, just a series of things all at once :), and really slacked off on the exercise (which I had been pretty good about doing at least 5 - 6 days per week for the last 4 or 5 months). Unbelievable how much difference it made. My anxiety started to rise, my sleep was affected and my pain levels shot up. It was like a vicious circle. I have since gotten back into the routine and am starting to feel much better again (though it took like 3 times as long to get it back as it did to lose it - figures!). Also the protein shakes - I do drink them occasionally, but have found when I do them every day or especially if more than one in a day, I too, seem to experience more anxiety and hot/cold sweaty feelings and tummy troubles as well (cant be 100% sure they are related, but I do suspect it - just a theory). And finally the hydration thing - absolutely makes a difference for me. If I don't drink tons of water (or Vitamin Water, "Revive" of course :), I can tell. I feel more bloated and swollen. I just fill one of those big thermal cups with ice water and keep it with me; refilling it all day.
So - hope this helps you out. I'm really not able to give any technical information; this is all based simply on my experience since my c/t from massively high doses of Tramadol about 6 months ago. Congrats to you again - keep it up.....:)
hmm, idk if i can answer the questions you asked directly and technically but i can just give you a layman's .02 ... exercise helped me tremendously in my withdrawals. from the beginning it has helped, with anxiety, with being able to sleep more (although in the beginning it required a huge amount of exercise to wear myself out and that's hard to do when your in initial recovery), and with my general mood (endorphins). exercise helped me to push out of a lot of the horrible emotions that came with w/ds and i just felt a helluva lot better all around. i had almost unbearable lethargy long into my recovery and gnarly was the one who told me to drink those protein shakes. i hated them, but they helped an awful lot ...
I'm not sure if I can answer your specific question about sweating speeding up withdrawals. But in general, I think that exercise will give you a nice endorphin rush as well as a way to pass the time during detox. I don't think that sitting in a sauna will do anything more than drinking adequate amounts of water (2-3 liters) and letting your kidneys do the work. Good luck!
Thank you everyone. I will keep up the exercise, sweating, lots of fluids and vitamins. I know it will be a very long time till my body returns to 100%, but anything that will get me there quicker is worth the effort. Thanks again.