How A Heating Pad Can Help With Diverticulitis

by Bill Lantz January 4, 2023

There are so many things that our bodies can be afflicted with.

One of these is diverticulitis.

Diverticulitis can be treated with a LavaBag to the belly and lots of rest and relaxation.

Read on to find out more.

What is diverticulitis

Diverticula are small bulges or sacks that form on the inner wall of the intestines.

Diverticulitis is when these bulges or sacks get inflamed and start to cause problem for the person with diverticula.

It seems to occur mostly in people over the age of 60, where half of people have it.

No one is one hundred percent sure what might cause the diverticula's to form.

Some reasons might include:

Low fiber diets based mostly in over processed foods.

According to Austin Gastroenterology:

"Processed foods are bad to eat for a number of reasons, including that they can contribute to GI disorders. The problems associated with processed foods include:

Low-fiber content that could unsettle digestion and aggravate existing GI symptoms

High levels of trans fats, which raises bad (LDL) cholesterol levels and increases gut inflammation

Additives like preservatives, sweeteners, bleaches or colorants, which can alter the balance of the microbiome of the gut, causing disease and dysfunction"

https://www.austingastro.com/2018/10/12/do-processed-foods-cause-gastrointestinal-disorders/#:~:text=The%20problems%20associated%20with%20processed,levels%20and%20increases%20gut%20inflammation

You may be able to avoid this if you include more fiber in your diet.

High fiber foods include broccoli, beans, berries, avocados, popcorn, whole grains, apples, dried fruits, potatoes, and nuts.

So if you can add these into your diet, while it might not necessarily help you completely avoid getting diverticulitis.

Constipation and hard stools

As you can imagine, any extra strain on your body might lead to pouches or sacks being formed in the intestines.

So eating high fiber foods will help with this.

It would also help if you don't strain so much when you are trying to go to the bathroom.

The way toilets are set up in the United States (and most of the world), isn't convenient for how our bodies are actually set up to go to the bathroom.

One thing that might help you pass stool easier is by having a footstool by your toilet.

When it comes time, put your feet up on the footstool and this might help you go to the bathroom much easier.

According to HealthLine:

"Squatting, or sitting with your knees raised and your legs slightly spread, may indeed be the most natural and most effective way to empty your bowels.

A 2019 study with a small sample size showed that a toilet modification device that elevated the hip flexors into a squatting position resulted in less straining and more complete bowel movements. Study participants also spent more time pooping when they used this type of device."

https://www.healthline.com/health/best-position-for-pooping#best-position

So getting yourself a device that could help you get into the squatting position might help you avoid getting diverticulitis.

Symptoms

Let me start off by saying that if you think you have diverticulitis, please see your local physician as soon as possible.

They should be able to run tests and confirm the diagnosis.

We aren't medical professionals here, so we can provide you with information, but if you think you have symptoms, you should definitely seek the help of others who have an expertise in this area.

For symptoms, people who have diverticulitis might not see any symptoms beforehand.

In very rate cases, people with diverticulitis will see blood in their stool.

But again, this is very rare cases.

A lot of times, diverticulitis will show up without an previous signs that you have it or that it is coming.

The signs of diverticulitis will often come suddenly and the pain can often be severe.

These signs will include:

Tenderness in the lower left side of the abdomen
Bloating or gas
Fever and chills
Nausea and vomiting
Not eating and not feeling hungry

Now these signs can present for a multitude of reasons.

So if you have these symptoms, don't automatically assume that you have diverticulitis.

Again, seek the help of a medical professional and they should be able to help run tests to see if you have diverticulitis.

Once you go to see a medical professional, they can run a blood test to see if you have an infection, or they will run a CT scan, x-ray or or ultrasound on your abdomen to identify diverticulitis.

Treatment

The treatment for diverticulitis depends on how serious your condition is.

If your condition is very serious, then you might need to spend some time in the hospital so the medical staff can make sure you will recover in the best way possible.

But most of the time, if you have diverticulitis, you can recover at home with a few at home remedies.

To help with pain, you might consider taking some pain medication.

This can help with the pain for some time.

But also depends on how long you actually want to take the pain medication.

As most people are opposed to taking pain medication for long periods of time.

But it is one option.

Another option is to only drink liquids for a day or two and no solid foods.

This will give your body a chance to recover from the diverticulitis.

Once you've finished the liquids only for a day or two, you can slowly work back into thicker liquids, like shakes, until you feed well enough to each solid foods again.

If you go to the hospital, they may give you antibiotics to help you recover, so keep that in mind as well.

Lastly, you can use a heating pad on your body to help with the recovery.

Heat up your heating pad in the microwave, then lay down on your bed and put the heating pad on your belly.

I would suggest putting something between your belly and the heating pad.

If you leave your shirt rolled down, then that might be enough.

Otherwise, get a hand towel and put this in between the heating pad and your belly.

This will give you a little protection from the direct heat.

Leave the heating pad there until you no longer feel the heat.

Then you can get up and move around.

In a few hours, you can heat up the heating pad again.

Then lay down on the bed again and put the heating pad on your belly.

Repeat this throughout the day about 4 or 5 times.

Do not do it more than 5 times, as that many times exposed could end up giving you a skin rash.

Why LavaBags are the best

So we've talked about how you can use a heating pad to help with your recovering from diverticulitis.

Let's take a few minutes to talk about why LavaBags would be the best for this.

First, LavaBags are great because you won't have to worry about whether or not they will get dirty.

For most heating pads, once you get them dirty, you either have to spot clean them or you throw them away (depending on how dirty they are).

This isn't true for LavaBags.

Once a LavaBag gets dirty, there are a few ways you can make them clean again.

The first is to spot clean them just like you would with normal heating pads.

Another way is to wash them with soap and water in your kitchen sink.

When you start, you can put some soap onto the LavaBag and then run the water on the heating pad.

Then you can scrub the LavaBag with itself or you can use a sponge to get the spots out of the LavaBag.

Third, you can put it in the dishwasher and run a cycle with it.

Make sure to put the dishwashing liquid in the dishwasher, otherwise your LavaBag is going to come out smelling and looking the same.

Lastly, you can throw the LavaBag into the washing machine with other dirty clothes and run it through a normal cycle.

You can put washing liquid directly onto the LavaBag before you start the cycle.

Once you have chosen the way you want to wash the LavaBag, the drying of the LavaBag is pretty easy.

To do this, turn your oven on to 200 degrees and then put your LavaBag on a cookie drying rack (we do this to make sure we don't get dirt on the LavaBag from other things we've cooked in the oven).

Then you place the LavaBag in the oven on the drying rack and leave it in the oven for about 2 or 3 hours.

After this time, the LavaBag should be like new.

Next, LavaBags are great because you can use them for both hot and cold treatment.

In the case of diverticulitis, you are going to use it for hot treatment.

So take the LavaBag and put it into the microwave for up to 3 minutes.

This should give you up to 45 minutes worth of heat.

And if you are in bed to recover, 45 minutes is a good amount of time.

Other heating pads can give you up to 30 minutes of heat and if you try to heat them up for longer in the microwave, you might end up burning the fillers of the heating pad.

You will never burn the fillers of your LavaBag, since they are filled with lava sand instead of a food filler.

You can do cold treatment with a LavaBag as well.

Just make sure you have the LavaBag in the freezer for a few hours before trying to use it for cold treatment.

Summary

Diverticulitis is something that afflicts a portion of people, but mostly those over a certain age.

You can help yourself to avoid diverticulitis by not trying to push too hard while going to the bathroom.

You can also get a footstool to put in your bathroom to help put your feet up.

When it comes to recovery, antibiotics can be prescribed by your local physician and pain killers can be purchased over the counter.

But one of the best things you can do for yourself it get a LavaBag and put it in the microwave for 3 minutes.

Than lay down on your bed and place the LavaBag over the area of diverticulitis until the pain has been relieved.