I suffer from Fibromyalgia, and it not only slows down my quilting, but everything! I had a rice sock, and wore it out.
I am going to make another one. It was warm here, but has cooled off rather quickly.
For anyone that has arthritis or fibromyalgia, etc. or low blood pressure...gets cold easy...you know how the weather can make your stuff act up.
I was sitting here freezing and my neck was hurting, so I took a small dish towel, wet it, put it in a gallon zip loc bag and nuked it. That's microwaved for some of you :wink:
Working great for a temporary fix.
I will be making another one with baked raw rice (to kill bugs), put it in a sock and tie or sew end closed. You just put them in the microwave for 30 seconds. You might have to experiment, you don't want to get burned.
It's put in dry, by the way. Helps a lot with the stiff muscles.
Amma says she even uses straps to hold hers on her back. I've got to try that too. Have a lot of problems with neck and between shoulder blades. Try it. You can put it on cold feet, tummies, under your robe to warm up.
Lots of uses. Make them in different colors, long and thin for drapeage, and give as gifts. I baked my rice on a cookie sheet at 350 for 30 minutes. Enjoy! :D

I have a couple I made and filled with whole buckwheat. It gives a very nice moist heat after microwaving for about 2 minutes. Sometimes I just toss it in the bed before I climb in. Also make covers for them so the covers can be washed.

thanks, misstreated. I didn't think about covers, that's a great idea. Think I'll make one for the foot of my bed too. My paws get cold at night.
My hubby thinks fibromyalgia was invented to torture him :lol:

I thought it was meant as torture to those of us who have it!

I make them in squares to fit my lower back, sew channels in them, fill them 1/2 way with rice using a funnel and then sew the top side up. I attatch straps to the top of it so that I can tie it around my waist and hold it in place from my waist to where it rests on a chair. I make tubes to wear around my neck making them long enough that they will stay in place while I walk around. I have them without straps that I sit in my lap or on my lower legs and feet while watching tv. I place these in my bed if it is really chilly to warm it up before I crawl in.
I have some smaller ones I heat and put in my pockets to keep my hands warm when I go to get my mail, etc.... I also use these before I sew or type etc, to warm my hands before my stretching exercises.
I have even taken one of the big ones to the car on really cold mornings and have it inside my jacket or on my lap until my heater warms up LOL

It can torture us AND everyone all around us :lol: :roll: :lol: :roll:

I made several rice bags a few years ago for family and friends. All really loved them, however, everyone complained about the odor of the rice. Does buckwheat make an odor? Where does one buy buckwheat? I think some bags that are fragrant like with lavendar or something would also be nice....how do you suppose one would do that? Thanks for any and all suggestions!

I have been online and found: Buckwheat hulls, also known as sobakawa hulls or sobagara husks have been used in pillows, also known as "makura" for over 600 years. In many European Countries young children are given Buckwheat Hull pillows to promote sound sleep without feeling too hot or too cold whilst sleeping. In the UK even today people are turning to buckwheat pillows to promote a good nights sleep and adopt correct sleeping positions for the back and neck.

I also found a UK company that didn't recommend heating these hulls, but they sold wheat grains and lavendar buds for heat pillows. So you can mix lavendar in with the grains - I should think that would go for rice too, if you didn't like the smell. Not sure what Buckwheat hulls smell like!

My sister has made these filling them with field corn! Smells like pop corn when heated! I use them all the time. She has shaped them like a large heart to fit and stay on my shoulder, and the longer ones to go around my neck. They are WONDERFUL!

Oh, I tell hubs, you be me tomorrow, and i'll be you...but I get me back, day after.
I couldn't go around thinking like him! :roll:

wow, Amma, these are great ideas...hang, I wear socks almost all winter long, I could make some to size to put in them.
Woo hoo...Im'a gonna thaw out soon! :D
And your idea about pockets and car...fantastic!

hmmm, lavendar...great questions, Pam! :D

I think our health food store might have buckwheat, but I need the hulls right?
LL, do you have a link for this company online?
You said they don't reccommend heating them. Is that just for children?

the idea of popcorn sounds great, but I have an intolerance to corn. I wonder if this would bother me? I sure wish I could eat popcorn every time hubby makes it.
The hulls and such don't go with 2 of my tummy conditions, and the ascorbic acid, doesn't go with my m.c.s. drat!
heart shaped for the shoulder is another good idea. I like for my pillow to be tucked between my cheek and my shoulder, if I am in recliner.

This would be a great idea to keep DH's feet warm at night when I am not home!! and maybe some for his pockets when he is at work out in the cold :-) how long do they stay warm for??

oh yeah for got to ask do you use only socks?? or can you use something else?

Does baking the rice help get rid of the smell? I didn't bake mine before making it; it smells like cooked rice when I heat it in the microwave. I like rice, but I don't particularly care for the smell, especially when it's wrapped around my neck. Sure feels good, though!

The heart king of shape kind of looks like a soft sculpture V with a deep cut in the center. It hugs your shoulder and stays in place. Good luck.

Those would be great. Put them on my aching joints in the winter.

My last and only one was a tube sock...new of course :wink:
but I actually reccommend using some good fabric...cotton, denim or even upholstery fabric.
It needs to be well woven so you don't get worn places after a while. This is what happened to my sock.
I had gotten the idea from my mother and that is what she had used.
I'm not sure I would use fleece or flannel, since they are man made fabrics and these will be heated often.

It didn't take away the smell completely, but greatly reduced it. I wasn't bothered at all by it. You could always add a little potpourri in their before sewing closed.
I really like the idea of a cover too. Your gonna want to wash it, and you don't want to wet your contents.

I can't wait to make this one. :D

The hand ones stay warm for about 20 minutes...short term but long enough for me to walk to the mail box and back.
I use flannel for mine, it is soft against the bare skin. It can be the cheap stuff, just make sure that all of the fabric is prewashed and dried to get all of the junk out of it first :wink: Cotton fabric is breathable and would be better to keep the rice inside dried out inbetween uses.

I am going to try the heart shaped one too!! I think that would be nice when kicked back in my recliner :D :D :D

Thanx! I think I will make a few this weekend!

I'll try baking the rice when I make another. I was going to put lavender or some potpourri in it, but I was hesitant as some scents bother me. I'll try something though.

I used a very long tube sock, but never thought of a cover. Good idea. I had to buy an entire pack of socks, so I've got several left. And the really nice thing about these, besides that they work so well, is that they're very inexpensive to make!

He must be related to my husband rofl

When I made my rice bags a few years ago...I made the bag itself out of muslin and then I made a slip-on pillow case out of pretty flannel prints. It is very easy to slip out of the flannel, if one wishes to prior to microwaving. It is also easy to toss the flannel case into the laundry. Got the idea from somebody...it seemed like a good thing to me! Also, thank you to the person who suggested baking the rice. I will try that. We keep our house (over 110 years old and very drafty) cool in the winter. It is not unusual for me to curl up in my recliner with a quilt and rice bag while I'm watching TV.

so if I used flannel could that go in the microwave also? or just the regular cotton?

A friend made me one for Christmas. She got her rice at inexpensive grocery store actually Aldi's and a hand towel at a low cost store, DE Jones...now out of business here, but it's been used well and shows no sign of wear. I'll have to take you up on the wasable cover though

Hi Mousie,
There is a wonderful shop here in the truckee meadows that sells all types of aroma therapy items. It is called Lavendar Ridge. They sell the bags filled with flax seed instead of the normal rice. The rice can burn and smell terrible.

I made sets of these and mailed them to my in laws a couple years ago. I bought the flax seed at a store that sold it in bulk, and the lavendar oil from the lavendar ridge store. (pricey but, wonderful) What I did was to draft a pattern for the eye pads and a larger one for the neck and other areas of the body. I used a very nice micro fleece in a floral print for the front and matching solid for the back. I then made a muslin bag to insert into that held the flax sewn into it. The scent is created by the drops of the oil. (Very little is needed) and then I included a small vial of it to refresh the scent when they needed to.

They were a big hit. They only take thirty seconds in the microwave and stay warm for about an hour. My sister in law used it on her knee and it fixed her knee problem enough that she didn't have to have surgery on it. Crazy ... huh? I bought a small colorful matching plastic basket to hold the sets and the other little bath salts and things that made up the "spa" sets.

I think I might still have my old pattern I made, I am not sure. But they were kind of a bone shape with rayon cord circle attached at the sides. I added a nice plastic bead to adjust it to your head and hold it on from the back of your head for the eye pillow. And the other was just a rounded off rectangle. I did use a corded seam on everything, More for the looks than anything.

Anyway try and find the flax seed. It works much better and stays warm longer and doesn't stink.

Thanks Red, for all the info. I am gonna look for flax seed tomorrow. :D

Yes, I never bother to take the flannel case off my rice bags before I microwave them. It never occurred to me that maybe I should.

Yes, my flannel is 100% cotton and I have been microwaving some of them for almost 5 years now :wink:
I would not use fleece or other synthetics unless they were for the covers and you removed them while heating and inbetween uses.

You know, in thinking about this....the ones used on your laps, to warm beds/feet or against your back... If you made a quilted "pillowcase" for them, I bet that they would stay warm a lot longer!!! Hmmm I may have to try this :wink:

My hubby thinks fibromyalgia was invented to torture him :lol: [/quote]

He REALLY doesn't want to go there....He will meet up with my husband and sons thou....
Fibro Stinks....I have it too! I have a tube too, it is filled with cherry pits. It does help a little, but somedays, like today, I can't stand to even touch the areas that are flared up.....

He REALLY doesn't want to go there....He will meet up with my husband and sons thou....
Fibro Stinks....I have it too! I have a tube too, it is filled with cherry pits. It does help a little, but somedays, like today, I can't stand to even touch the areas that are flared up.....[/quote]

I know! I am trying to get a project done, and my neck is giving me a fit, like a pinched nerve, but it's not. It's fibro.
I tell my hubby, that all men go to monthly men's meetings, so they can share tips and pointers, to keep us women frustrated and wondering how they can be so alike in their thinking :?
He has never denied it :roll:

I made rice bags with removable, washable covers last year for Christmas presents. I use muslin for the basic bag and made covers out of flannel or fleece. They were well received by those who got them.

I heat one in the evening as a nice gesture for my DH when he's had a stressful day. Besides aching shoulders and neck from sewing or computer, I use them across my sinuses to relieve colds and headaches or wrap around my feet on a bitter cold day if my feet feel frozen. I even keep one in my desk at work to use on days when I have to huddle for hours on the computer to meet a deadline. That and a stretch while it is heating in the microwave are very helpful.

Your welcome sweetie. :D

DD has one filled with corn and some cloves. It smells wonderful when heated. I'm going to try the cloves with my next rice heating pad. Lavendar doesn't do it for me.

Have you tried any camping stores? They have heater inserts for you shoes, hands, or vest to warm up your chest and back. You plug them in, charge them up and they are good for 12 hours, then re-charge them and start all over again. L. L.Bean, R.E.O. or some Target Stores.