Microwaveable wheat bag

[aliasname]

DH has a severe dental pain, and as well as the usual painkillers we’ve been using the wheat bag which does help a little.

we have a combi microwave/oven, which does not have a rotating turntable. I just tried to re-heat it & a hole burnt into the fabric. So I’ve had to throw it away.

now I’ve read that these can’t be heated without the turntable. Just bought the oven last year, and annoyed that we now can’t use these. They are so useful for muscle ache, period pains etc. And drug-free.

Has anyone heated these in a combi oven?

Yes, but you do need to be careful. I change the position of the bag every 20-30 seconds and i do it on less than full power (it’s 1000 watt max).
But i really dislike my combi microwave anyway, the lack of a turntable for one thing and a wide drop down door instead of a side opening one. Someone is going to brain themselves on it one if these days.

Thank you. I’m in 2 minds whether to buy a new wheat bag, I can risk ruining another bag but don’t want to ruin the microwave.

I bought a plug in heat pad its brilliant

This

That looks useful, thanks. I do wonder if it’s not as versatile as the wheat bag as it doesn’t really mould to the shape you want? And of course you need to be near a socket.

It might be worth having both, so there’s something to use while waiting for the bag to be re-heated (it’s possible we didn’t let it cool completely between uses as DH is in agony)

This is what i thought after a similar incident as you with a wheat bag but it's not to bad as you can kind of fold it into you and you can control the level of heat and it stays hot without having to keep microwaving

We have some things that can be frozen and heated in hot water as well

You can get gel packs that can either go in the freezer as an ice pack or be heated, you can heat those in a pan of water instead of the microwave.

https://amzn.eu/d/3iQcj6N

These

amzn.eu/d/ivAJCKP

I tried to heat up a wheat bag in my turnable microwave only last week and set the bag on fire! The microwave was absolutely stinking so I had to throw it out. I only had it in for about 30 seconds I think, god knows what happened

Take care using heat, my dentist advised ice packs rather than heat because they can make inflammation worse if there’s an infection present, and can speed up the spread of infection.

I swear by my good old-fashioned hot water bottle.

Oh really? 😮

Not cheap but I have a stoovie. It heats by rechargeable battery.

How about those hand warmers that you click to warm up?

I burnt the wheat inside my microwaveable slippers the other day, they take ages to heat up and I left them too long 🤦🏼‍♀️

has he tried clove oil
or an actual clove?

Gosh it thought it was just because we used a non-turntable one!

I like the look of the Stoov mentioned above, unfortunately it’s a bit expensive right now. DH is currently unemployed, in fact he’s just had to cancel a job interview tomorrow as there’s no way he could manage. But thanks to this thread, it occurred to me to buy some of those disposable heat things, Cura-heat, until we can afford the Stoov.

Worryingly, this is similar to what happened 5 years ago, he had a serious tooth infection, every time it was due for extraction we went into another lockdown; by the time the dentist had reopened the infection had returned and they couldn’t remove it so it was another round of antibiotics. Went on for weeks and after the 3rd lot of antibiotics…. he had a seizure. There were other stress factors involved, Covid etc. but a raging dental infection (could it have spread to the brain?!) repeated antibiotics was a big trigger. Never had another seizure since. So yes we are very concerned.

this is day 3 of the antibiotics and so far no improvement.

I use a hot water bottle.

Apparently you aren't supposed to buy it helped so much with the pain...

My kids had wheat bags and we have a turntable, they both had holes burnt into them. I think they're dangerous.

Wheat bags are really dangerous and can catch fire very easily. Much safer to use a hot water bottle

one of the old ladies i looked after heated a wheatbag in the microwave of her kitchen in the residential retirement living complex
queue sprinklers and fire engines galore
and she had to leave the home in shame, or so her son said

Wow, these stories. I always thought wheat bags were safer than hot water bottles (boiling water, leaking etc) but they do sound dangerous.

I learnt that when using anything in a turntable microwave, the trick is to place it along the border/ edge of the circle. That way it moves along as the plate turns and gets evenly heated. If you place it in the center the same spot gets heated and it can burn/catch fire. More so I think when it doesn't have sufficient moisture or liquid in it (like a wheat bag). I have been heating my wheat bag as above in an 800W microwave for 210 seconds (2.5 mins) with no issues.
Hope this helps someone who didn't know this trick.