I'm getting addicted to a heating pad!

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.

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.

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!

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?

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 ) but I do feel somewhat better and less "ashamed" knowing I am far from alone now!

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.

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.