I have been so sore the past few days. Noticed tonight at Costco (after walking for about an hour) that I could barely get my right leg into the car...lots of stiffness in my thigh. (crap...spasticity monsters are after me!)

I've also got a bad Lhermitte's sign going on this week. Depending on how I bend my neck, I either get warm hot sensations going thru my left thigh, or I get a very painful "pull" sensation on my left arm. (lifting my arms to wash my hair has been interesting lately...I may be using our Indulgeabath walk-in tub tomorrow and sit under the shower head with the jets running in the tub)

I sat with my 'lectric blankie for a bit tonight, relaxed me enough to sleep for an hour. I've had some nasty nasty NASTY insomnia for about 3 weeks now. I think I've been getting 3 or 4 hours a night (well, mornings, I cant manage to sleep before 6am sometimes)

I'm going to bed in a little bit. (it's midnight now) because I've been so tired yesterday and today. I hope I can sleep.

I think some of my problems are being caused by an "almost" UTI. (went to the doctor today to pee in a cup, they said it wasnt a UTI yet, not enough white cells showing up, but to call them if I feel worse and they'll toss me some abx's)

I wouldn't doubt this. You have to be very careful with electric blankets/pads.

I'm sure they've come a bit in technology, however I had a cousin that left their electric blanket on while sleeping, and it short circuited and caught fire.

Thankfully he woke up (smoke detectors save lives) and got it out of the house in time (the bed was burning as well, how he didn't end up with burns on his body is beyond me). Beyond scary. We used to use them ourselves, until that incident. Then my mother got paranoid about them.

As I say though, from 25 years ago to now, I'm sure they make very safe models, and like mentioned, with a shut off.

I hope you'll feel better soon Erin! Insomnia is awful.

I know. Insomnia sucks! I was so tired friday night, I tried to go to bed at 9pm...only slept about an hour and then was awake till 3am. Went to bed at 3am, and woke up at 4am, was awake for awhile then, and then slept till nearly 1pm.

I'm hoping that I can sleep earlier tonight. I'd like to get back to a more normal sleeping schedule before Christmas so that my parents wont have to wait till 3 in the afternoon to open presents.

Just got this today in an e-mail.
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/TIP03142...se-Cancer.html

Well, now I'm wondering if I should continue to let my cats sleep on the electric blanket.......

I turned it on and let it heat up and then turned it off, unplugged it and let them get on it. It stays warm for a little while and they don't seem to mind. I would feel jut awful if I was doing something that inadvertently caused them to develop cancer!

So don't use the heating pad that you plug in, but DO use the microwave to warm microwavable heating pads... that's MUCH safer than the electric heating pad...

LOLWHUT?

I know,Laura..lol Who knows what to believe?!

I'm sticking by the cold McDonald's theory coined by Ewizabeth.

I think that one's solid!

Plus I LOL every time I think of McDonald's (the restaurant) and the McDonald criteria. Coincidence?

HAHAHA... furthermore, instead of the 'hot bath test' they could test patients by feeding them cold Big Macs and seeing if they have a flare up.

Being the wife of a firefighter,I can tell you...this still happens - and more often than you'd think. Almost as often as people who don't defrost the turkey before deep frying it.

They do have safety features now that usually prevent the fire safety issues, but you still have a burn risk for folks with decreased sensation. The blanket bunches up ,creates a hot spot and the person rolls onto it or what ever. They can't feel the increased heat and end up with a nasty burn.

I'd be more worried about that than a cancer risk.