PurSleep Regenesis Buckwheat Pillow Trial

FatiguedMe, I was tempted to ask for colors when I suggested flannel. And in particular I was thinking of purple! I've lost count of the nights I spent with the Regenesis pillow. All I know is that I've had one more very comfortable night.

Questions for reviewers:

I've been working on the pillow case.

The pillow seems to work great with and is sized for standard pillow cases.

Would people please experiment with that and give me feedback?

If this holds true I would like to drop the custom case from the product package and offer it as a separate item. Similar products on the market do not offer cases--the product is the pillow only, so it would make the product more in line with the competition.

Thanks much for feedback received so far!

Hi Bret, I have my pillow in a standard case right now and it fits fine, I put it in my case the day I received it. The pillow is a little short for the case but I just slide the extra amount of case under the pillow. I also use flannel sheets and cases in the winter and since we have a king sized bed the cases are always too big for my standard sized pillows. Even with them I slide the extra amount of case under the pillow. That is what I will be doing with my new Regenesis pillow this winter too. I dont see a problem with not offering a case with the pillow, I cant think of any place offhand that includes the case too.. I also wanted to add that I havent had any problems with hulls leaking. I slid the pillow into the case it arrived with zipper firrst, then slid that case into my own pillow case again open end first.

SleepGuy wrote: The pillow seems to work great with and is sized for standard pillow cases...
If this holds true I would like to drop the custom case from the product package and offer it as a separate item.

I agree completely, Bret. Might be good to make a note in your literature shipped with the product and online, that a standard pillowcase will suffice, though oversized. I'd be one of those who would want to pay a little extra for the custom case anyway, and would be really happy if you had a few colors to choose from.

Would be fine with me if the custom case was dropped. I have this thing about 600 thread count sheets. I rather like them. While your custom case was and is quite comfortable, I just prefer the really high thread count against my skin. I have king size pillow cases and I just fold the excess under. No big deal. I had to do it for the wonder foam cervical neck pillow also.

The amount of hulls that was shipped with the trial suits my needs just fine. I had just enough flexibility to adjust it just right for supporting my neck and still give me the movement I needed to make a spot for the mask when I am on my side.

Side note, this pillow is great for my neck. I would love it even if I wasn't doing the CPAP thing. All those cervical pillows out in the market assume that everyone's neck fits comfortably over that little hump and the head goes right into the trough. Not true. I am small, neck is shorter and I have a metal plate fixed on my cervical spine. I have limited movement in all directions. The buckwheat hulls enable me to really customize the neck support area and fix my own trough area for my head.

So Bret, you got a two for one here.
A+ for mask use comfort
A+ from old arthritic neck

now if you can just give me a miracle for my old arthritic pelvis....I would feel half my age.

I do have a thought though. I know weight would be a huge consideration but how about something in the line of a body pillow with the buckwheat hulls? Something linear that we could position behind our backs and pelvis for support and keep those of us who want to stay on our sides, from rolling over onto our backs? Rolling back onto this head pillow is almost enough to do the trick. It is so very supporting and comfortable on my lower back and pelvis. It doesn't slide out from under me so it keeps me on my side more. Not sure just how long it would need to be, I am short, maybe offer different lengths due to increased weight? Maybe the length of king size pillow? I don't think it needs to be as wide as the neck pillow is. maybe 2/3? Not sure, I would have to play with it a bit.
Would sure beat the hell out of putting tennis balls on your back. Why try to re-train to stay on our side with pain when we could just get stopped by a comfortable pillow?????

Oh my, Pugsy, that buckwheat body pillow idea sounds like pure heaven! I have arthritic hips and my lower back isn't in great shape and I'll bet that would make a difference.

Mindy

Pugsy wrote:Would be fine with me if the custom case was dropped. I have this thing about 600 thread count sheets. I rather like them. While your custom case was and is quite comfortable, I just prefer the really high thread count against my skin. I have king size pillow cases and I just fold the excess under. No big deal. I had to do it for the wonder foam cervical neck pillow also.

The amount of hulls that was shipped with the trial suits my needs just fine. I had just enough flexibility to adjust it just right for supporting my neck and still give me the movement I needed to make a spot for the mask when I am on my side.

Side note, this pillow is great for my neck. I would love it even if I wasn't doing the CPAP thing. All those cervical pillows out in the market assume that everyone's neck fits comfortably over that little hump and the head goes right into the trough. Not true. I am small, neck is shorter and I have a metal plate fixed on my cervical spine. I have limited movement in all directions. The buckwheat hulls enable me to really customize the neck support area and fix my own trough area for my head.

So Bret, you got a two for one here.
A+ for mask use comfort
A+ from old arthritic neck

Second night for me on a standard case and I like it quite a bit more than the one I tried to make. That way people can just use their favorite cases, colors, materials, etc.

Pugsy wrote:now if you can just give me a miracle for my old arthritic pelvis....I would feel half my age.

I do have a thought though. I know weight would be a huge consideration but how about something in the line of a body pillow with the buckwheat hulls? Something linear that we could position behind our backs and pelvis for support and keep those of us who want to stay on our sides, from rolling over onto our backs? Rolling back onto this head pillow is almost enough to do the trick. It is so very supporting and comfortable on my lower back and pelvis. It doesn't slide out from under me so it keeps me on my side more. Not sure just how long it would need to be, I am short, maybe offer different lengths due to increased weight? Maybe the length of king size pillow? I don't think it needs to be as wide as the neck pillow is. maybe 2/3? Not sure, I would have to play with it a bit.
Would sure beat the hell out of putting tennis balls on your back. Why try to re-train to stay on our side with pain when we could just get stopped by a comfortable pillow?????

Actually I was thinking about making a buckwheat hull "pillowtop" mattress cover of sorts using the quilted material on top and probably a plain muslin on the bottom. On the good side it might allow you to position hulls exactly where you want them, to support the lower back. And they should stay in place once manipulated into position. The other good point is that they would help absorb and conduct body heat and moisture. On the other hand hulls are kind of rough and stiff and given the number of yards of material plus pounds of hulls, this would be a very expensive product to manufacture and ship....but I'm going to make a prototype and see what happens.

Bret

I'm a newbie to CPAP... in fact, I just had my titration sleep study last night...

Anyway, I used to have a Buckwheat pillow quite a few years ago. It was great, but eventually the husks get old and brittle, start to stink since they're slowly deteriorating, and soaking up sweat from the back of your neck. I admit I loved it while I had it, but washing the case was problematic, as I had to dump all the hulls out to do so. I don't know if you've ever tried that, but they always seem to take up more space outside the pillow than inside.
Eventually, the pillow became hard to live with. Stunk, wasn't nearly as comfy as it used to be, and I had to throw it away. I suppose all pillows must eventually by replaced, but it only lasted about 3 years, and I feel a good pillow, especially one that isn't exactly cheap, should last at least 5 years, if not longer.

Just started trying my regenesis pillow. Very nice build quality with the shaped pillowcase. Filled it all the way, and it's maybe a tiny bit too full for side sleeping, so I might need to empty some of the hulls. To deal with the zipper, I simply taped over the zipper with the same paper tape I use on my mouth. That will prevent leakage.

I like the pillowcase it shipped with, but wouldn't really care if I needed to use my own case.

I'm comparing it to my main side sleeping pillow which is a fairly thick Down pillow for Bed Bath and Beyond. Getting used to the harder surface of the buckwheat is not so easy. But it works much better with my cpap, as the down pillow sometimes blocks the exhaust port. The Regenesis pillow allows for custom shaping of the pilllow to fit both my head and the cpap.

I'll post more after a few more days of use.

Very nice product though. I don't think the buckwheat will get stinky, as the quilted cover is thick enough to absorb sweat and protect the buckwheat. But then again, I haven't really used a buckwheat pillow before.

Thanks Brett.

I got my Regenesis Pillow on 6/30. The quality of the pillow is excellent! The quilted shell is well made, but I used a diaper pin to be sure the zipper would stay closed. I used the enclosed pillow case, which of course worked beautifully. I then tried a standard pillow case which worked just as well. The first night I had removed some of the buckwheat hulls as per the instructions. I woke with a stiff neck. For the following nights I had refilled the case with all the hulls. This seems to have solved the stiff neck problem. When I first placed my head on the pillow the sound of the hulls was louder than I had expected and I thought that it might be a problem. Once asleep I didn't notice any sound at all and don't think the sound caused any arousal's.
The problem I had was that each time I changed position I had to reshape the pillow. I usually use a papillow and the little arms seem to make all the difference. I can roll from side to side without moving the pillow. The little arms support my chin while the mask sort of hangs off the edge of the pillow. With the regenesis pillow I had to wake enough to pull the edge of the pillow under my chin while allowing the mask to hang off the side. At this point the hulls seemed very loud and it took me a couple of minutes to get back to sleep.
While I think the Regenesis pillow is an excellent pillow and I had high hopes for it, I don't think it is the best xpap pillow. I will be using my papillow from now on.
I thank Bret for including me in this trial.

Brenda

You get used to the noise. You also learn to do the reshaping very quickly and efficiently. Actually, I got to the point with mine that I was reshaping it when I changed positions without consciously arrousing. Of course, it's not like I wasn't rousing from the Apnea that I didn't know I had at the time...

I really like this pillow. The noise is not the issue. I need a pillow to keep my head in a position where my sinuses drain. So, I have used this pillow on top of another pillow (I usually use 2) Also I have dust allergies, so this pillow (like all others) needs to be in an Aller-ease pillow case. It offers good neck support.