Easy(er) Way to Do Chest Fomentations

When I've done fomentations (hot and cold contrast hydrotherapy) in the past, I used proper fomentation pads that I sewed from flannel receiving blankets and sheets and the results were great albeit quite labor intensive. This was, however, back in the day when we actually owned a microwave.

A year or two (or three) ago, our microwave up and quit and we never did bother to replace it. We felt that it really wasn't the best way to reheat our food and didn't want to spend the money for something we'd just use for fomentation pads or heating up rice packs.

Recently DH got the flu which has turned into bronchitis. He had a really bad case of bronchitis two years ago and had it again last year so we have learned to take it seriously. This time, as soon as he felt it going into his lungs, we started hot and cold therapy. This time I tweaked it a bit. Here's what I did.

1. Spread a blanket or sheet on the floor.
2. Have patient lie down on the sheet/blanket.
3. Cover patient with enough warm blankets to keep them toasty warm during the treatment and put a pillow under their head (keep them comfy).
4. Get your supplies together:
1. Plate (to hold cold washcloth & ice)
2. Bag of ice (I use a gallon freezer bag)
3. 1 washcloth (for cold contrast, wet, mostly wrung out)
4. 1 hand towel (for moist heat, wet, wrung out)
5. 1 bath towel (for added layers, without it the heat would be too hot!)
6. 2 hot water bottles + hot water
7. A chair or comfortable place to sit next to patient (optional, but nice).
5. Fold warm, wet hand towel in half and place over chest.
6. Place bath towel folded in half and half again over wet towel.
7. Place hot water bottles over chest area.
8. Cover patient up to the neck.
9. Now I sit and wait to see if it's too hot or not hot enough. If your patient can't talk or communicate in any way, you would have to monitor them carefully to make sure they didn't get too hot. I thankfully don't have this problem and DH just tells me when he's hot enough, if it's getting too hot (needs more layers) or it's not hot enough (remove bath towel layers one at a time).
10. When patient has had enough hot, it's time for the cold contrast. Peel the layers back, move hot water bottles to the side, then place cold, wet washcloth on chest. While he's in the heat phase, I have the washcloth on the plate underneath the bag of ice to keep it good and cold.
11. When the washcloth starts to get lukewarm, switch back to heat mode. Do this 6 or so times or till patient starts to notice an improvement in breathing or pain or whatever you are treating for.
12. I have also seen the recommendation of doing at least 6 reps of 6 minutes hot followed by 60 seconds of cold, but when I tried to stick to the clock, he wasn't getting hot enough and the cold didn't have time to have much of an impact so I started leaving up to him which better results.
13. My husband has found that several reps on the front of his chest followed by a few on his back really help.

DH says he really can tell a difference after the treatment and he can breathe better. He says he knows it's working. That's enough for me to keep doing therapy every evening until he's all better.

Be prepared for it to take about an hour each time.

Maybe someday we'll pick up a used or free microwave just for doing fomentations, but at least for now I have a way to treat lung things that isn't too difficult to implement.