Learned in rehab that electric blankets are bad so never used one, a down comforter work best. Sometimes after coming home in the winter was never able to get my lower body to warm up for hours. To negate this would nuke a towel and put it between my knees. The towel wouldn't be too hot to burn me but would generate heat where it was needed.
Have now found the best and most efficient way to stay warm is to wear a wool cap when wanting to stay warm.
May look funny, don't care, keeps me warm.
I have not thought much about keeping a space heater going in my room just because I didn't want it fighting the air conditioner. The others in my house wouldn't appreciate keeping things as warm as I like it :-). I did try the BedJet. I love the concept and it seems to be well built. My only challenge with it is that I like to have a tablet or whatever on my lap. I also have pillows under my legs. This seemed to kill most of the airflow.Originally Posted by SCI-Nurse
I gave the idea of looking cool up a long time ago. Comfort and functionality (well, for the most part).
Thank you so much everyone for the feedback! It always amazes me how even after 25 years of being in the chair I miss simple things (like trying a wool cap). I'll give a couple of these a try.
Jason
C5/6 Complete - water skiing accident 1994.
I use a hair dryer blowing on my face and neck till I warm up .
This moving the posts is getting ridiculous by the plain fact there arbitrarily categorized by someone.
If I was looking to try and stay warm, would never occur to me to look in equipment. Would go to the Care forum were this thread originally started.
We are not reviewing space heaters or electric blankets were talking about staying warm and that is caring for your spinal cord injury.
I have Progressive MS, but I am cold year round especially living on the NW coast. I use a large electric heating pad on my legs that turns itself off. I also wear a stocking hat, and I sleep in a fleece jacket because my spine and core are also cold. I also sometimes use down booties on my feet. And my 70 lb lab service dog sleeps with me (I just recently started caving in to his big eyes, waiting for an invitation). Aside from sleeping, I always wear knee high boots during the day too.
Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis, Epilepsy, Head Injury, Chronic Pain Disorder
For my husband's hospital bed, we got a low-voltage mattress pad made by Electrowarmth-- they come in many sizes-- that we put under his mattress topper with a mattress pad cover on top of it to protect it from the other layers. We duck-taped the cord to the bottom of the mattress, so it would not interfere with bed movement or the Hoyer.
He was very cold all the time and it really helped him sleep. He was also sensitive to pressure so this enabled the use of a lighter blanket. We used a flannel top sheet to help retain the warmth the mattress pad sent upward.
I have not thought about whether this would work with a powered air cell mattress, but it might.
The same company makes a low-voltage throw that can be used in a power or other chair.
Two hot water bottles does it for me. I made cloth covers for them, so that they can be a little hotter, and thus last longer into the night. I also leave my socks and let warmers on for extra protection sometimes. I got burned a couple times early on, but I've enough experience now to know exactly how hot to get the water to avoid burns. This could with a thick hat or sweater over my head at night keeps me warm when I'm sleeping in sub-freezing temperatures, which is often during the winter. And Yes! to the animal fats before bed when I need the extra great body (chicken fat and lard are good ones)- that spoonful of medicine helps the sleepy boy go down.
I thought I was on only one who uses an electric blanket to keep warm at night. I have been using electric blanket for decades now. I do not sleep with it directly next to my body.
I sleep with a cotton flat sheet then the electric blanket, a stadium blanket that is thick, comforter and a heavy quilt on top. The heat and weight of the blankets help my legs from jumping at night with klonopin. I sleep with an electric blanket for years and never been burned.
During the winter seasons when I have to drive home from work, a 33 miles drive my legs I called are "popsicles." I just wrap my legs with the blankets and in about an hour they are warmed up.
I stock up on electric blankets. I watch the price of them that are on clearance for $29.99 twin size after the Christmas season; February/March. I get mine at JC Penney's. My wife does not like the electric blanket. For me it's a God's send! So the electric blanket is on my side of the bed.
Several of them have failed over the years and they were replaced under the 5-year warranty. Last year I pre-warmed the bed before I was getting ready for sleep and the control box started to shoot out 2 foot sparks! The wires broken from constant bending. The unit was replaced again free under warranty.
I am not safe with heating pads they can burn you. When I had shoulder pain several years ago I wrapped a heating pad around my arm pit and shoulder a got an nickel size burn blister. That was the last time I ever used a heating pad.
Please do not use a hair dryer to warm you up. I burned my leg in '89 with one huge blister about 3" x 5" and ended me up in the ER. The doctor popped it put silvadene on it and sent me home and told me to see my primary care doctor ASAP to get the dressing changed. It took three months to heal close, no infections.
I even use the electric blanket during the summer months too.
Just be careful using an electric blanket.
Ti
"We must overcome difficulties rather than being overcome by difficulties."
Yep, I've used electric blankets for years. I'm a hunter and I'm often out in the teens and 20s for hours. When I get home my legs are blocks of ice. I pre-warm the bed, then turn it off when I turn off the TV an hour or so after I get in bed. Never had a problem. The bottom-line is I can't get to sleep with ice cold legs. Once they warm up, I'm good.
"It is every man's obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it. Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value." - Albert Einstein
I do the same thing, heat the bed well before I get in. My legs are also like blocks of ice in winter.
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