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I'm getting addicted to a heating pad!

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Irritable Bowel Syndrome
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Posted 4/15/2007 3:29 PM (GMT 0)
LOL!

   Ever since I've developed this pain in my left side, I've been using a heating pad at night, and have discovered that I sleep better with it.  The pain isn't horrible, and I don't think it keeps me awake.  There's just something soooooo comforting about that heating pad!   I'll probably develop some cancer from using an electrical device so close all the time.  hahahaha    I just find it really curious that I sleep so much better with this (I have a sleep disorder).    Anyhow......I find it really curious!  It just makes me soooooo comfy!

Posted 4/16/2007 1:51 AM (GMT 0)
I know what you mean Cathy, I love mine too. Just make sure not to put it on too high especially at night because they can actually burn your skin if they are too hot too long, I usually adjust mine constantly. Its a wonderful thing. :-)
Posted 4/16/2007 4:22 AM (GMT 0)
oooh, i totally know what you mean. i have a microwavable tummy pillow - that way, it's warm for a good little while, but not long enough to cause any type of heat damage at all. it's more of a psychological comfort for me than anything, plus it eases cramps (period and abdominal, both) better than anything, ever. i loooove mine!
Posted 4/16/2007 5:41 AM (GMT 0)
I think the microwave pillow is a little safer though I don't know of a heating pad hurting anyone. I just don't like anything electric going like that for long periods of time. I love those rice bags you put in microwave. Also the Thera paks but they are too expensive to use every night. Heating pads are very soothing and they sure help with IBS discomfort.
Posted 4/16/2007 12:45 PM (GMT 0)

Here are some tips to avoid heating pad burns:

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=80242

Posted 4/16/2007 1:32 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks everyone!
I don't feel so weird now! I think its something like when they put a little stuffed animal in with a rescued baby animal.......it makes them think there is a mama with them. Maybe that's what a heating pad does for us too!
Posted 9/15/2007 5:22 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Everyone, I know no one has responded to this thread in a while, but goodness when I saw this topic I explained to my husband, "that's exactly what I do!"

I take my heating pad to work, to my sister's when I visit, and I sleep with it on.....I started using one when I was 18 years old when I was diagnosed. I haven't stopped using it since then and I'm 22 years old now. I would take more hot baths instead but we don't have a bathtub, just a stand up shower in our apt. I just wanted to warn you all though, my stomach is badly burned, it even had raw wounds a few times from it, and my scar from my bowel resection a few years ago started to peel and become raw too from using my heating pad so much. I just don't know what to do now because it's the only thing that can comfort me since I have no pain medicine. When I see the doctor and he sees my tummy and tells me to stop using my heating pad I feel embarassed. What to do...
Posted 9/15/2007 4:04 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Bobafett,
I've often wondered if I'm harming anything with all that heat......especially on high. Is there any way you could keep it on a lower setting and still feel comfort?
I honestly think that there's more to the comfort than just the heat making our muscles/intestines feel better. Its like a kitten curling up beside a fluffy stuffed animal.............it just feels comforting. Maybe for some of us it feels, subconsciously, like there's another person with us.
I'm not trying to make light of this at all, honestly......but as with anything we use too often, is it possible for you to slowly, over several months, cut back on how much you use it? You could maybe still have it on you, just not turned on. Start turning it down slowly.....from medium for a couple weeks, to low for a couple weeks.......and then just have it laying on you without the heat? Just a suggestion from someone who very easily gets "addicted" to vaious comfort things. When I had migraines, and used a blue ice bag every day, I started wanting it even with the slightest little headache. It had become my security blanket. It represents comfort to me.
On the short term though, try not to fall asleep with it on high. Do you have the kind that automatically shuts off after 2 hours?
Posted 9/16/2007 7:51 AM (GMT 0)
Use a hot water bottle. don't they still sell those? I don't really think it is a good thing to keep a heating pad on all night. They don't have the protection that electric blankets have as they are not made to be used that way. Have you tried the hot packs. That would get a little expensive but they do feel great and last a long time but even they say not to leave them on over a certain amount of hours. I think there must be something to this not leaving heat on too long.
Posted 9/16/2007 2:00 PM (GMT 0)
I'm not so strange after all!!!!!! Seeing this thread has brought me much relief ... I have been "addicted" to using a hot water bottle (Yes!!! They are alive and well still ... atleast here in England :-) ) for several years now and thought I was really weird. My family find it most amusing and at times that makes me feel really embarassed and I try to wean myself off it but it just brings me so much comfort from it ... physically & psychologically. I feel lost without it. It probably isn't the best or most normal addiction to have (or safest due to some quite bad burns but I tend to no longer feel the heat on my stomach so didn't realise the damage I had done till it was too late sad ) but I do feel somewhat better and less "ashamed" knowing I am far from alone now!
Posted 9/16/2007 3:00 PM (GMT 0)
How do hot water bottles work? Is it just a matter of putting hot water in them? Maybe there's some microwave rice/sock-type thing that would also work. My problem is that many times, I don't use it until the middle of the night, and I don't want to have to get up and fix a bunch of stuff, since I'd have trouble getting back to sleep.
Posted 9/16/2007 7:14 PM (GMT 0)

Hi Cathy

Yes, hot water bottles do work just by using hot water ... you can get them with covers to help minimise burning to the skin. I find mine keep warm enough for quite a while ... up to an hour or more. Ample time to help soothe me off to sleep at night.

There are many microwavable products, in many shapes and sizes, rice, herbal or wheat filled, which are much safer than hot water bottles (no possibility of bursting!) ... I have quite a collection although I do find they don't stay warm for as long as a hot water bottle does, and tend to be craving more heat after about half an hour.

Posted 9/18/2007 2:50 PM (GMT 0)
I used a hot water bottle while in college and took one with me to Ireland (heating pad wouldn't have plugged in over there anyways). I had two full-size ones and one small one and none of them ever leaked. In the British Isles they have these amazing electric kettles which can heat water up in no time (no wonder they drink so much tea; it takes them half the time or less to heat up water than it does when we put a pot on the stove). I used to heat water in my kettle to boiling, put it in my bottle, then put my bottle on the OUTSIDE of my sheet and pajamas. That was when I was having a gall bladder attack so bad that it was unbearable, and the scorching heat from the boiling water gave me something else to think about! But normally I just filled them up with water straight from my tap, which was plenty warm enough. You don't have to worry then about getting too hot (as they cool down over time), nor worry about leaving something electrical on for a long period of time.
Posted 9/22/2007 3:34 PM (GMT 0)
I just wanted to add that I use a microwavable rice pack and am planning on bringing it on the plane w/ me when I fly from the Northeast US to Singapore. Most planes have microwaves for tea and food and I figure in a bad crohns attack I could ask the flight attendant to put it in for 2 minutes. I thought I was crazy but just the thought of having it in my carryon gives me so much comfort. I also still sleep with a stuffed animal, even though I am married, and derive a lot of comfort from that when I am in pain.
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