Side sleeping - what is your strategy?

[roster]

Let's discuss this again please. I need to force myself to sleep 100% on my sides. My side 90% pressure is 9 cm or less and back is 19 or 20 cm.

What do you do to prevent sleeping on your back?

If you could design a product for forcing side sleeping what would it be like?

Let's have all the old ideas, some new ideas, some unique ideas and some funny ideas (oops, that last one may get this thread out of line).

[Guest]

I've always been a side sleeper, so I'm not much help. I like to sleep on my side.

Here's how I make it more comfortable. I'm built like a middle aged man - all my weight is in my gut. So attractive... Okay, think 9 months pregnant female. Oh wait, even MORE attractive....

Anyway, this can make it uncomfortable to side sleep. I've found if I sleep with two body pillows, one on either side, I can make myself pretty comfortable. I throw a leg over the pillow, and stretch it out and down, and then stretch the underneath leg out and down and work the angle until I find something I like. Then I wedge the pillow a little underneath the beer gut to support it, and then find a happy place for the boobs, and then one arm over the pillow and one arm under. My head goes on a regular pillow, and I keep the body pillow just under my chin.

When I roll over, I repeat the process with the other pillow.

If you share your bed, you MIGHT be able to forgo one of the pillows, and use your partner as a bed pillow. Reports from my parental abode suggest this is not always appreciated by the partner being used as a body pillow... And yes, I have mentioned separate beds to my parents VERY OFTEN with no results... sigh... I think old people just like to bitch and moan....

Me, I get my big old bed all to myself, so I can flail about to my heart's content.

I suggest you search on "RosemaryB" and faithfully replicate her "Rosemary's Secret" lingerie. I believe it involved silk pajamas and a backpack stuff with something to keep her from rolling on her back.

What's funny for me is when I'm FORCED to sleep on my back - like at my sleep study. I have the opposite problem. It's hard for me to sleep in that position, and I need suggestions and "tricks" to do that.

Good luck!
Babs

[roster]

http://www.campmor.com/webapp/wcs/store ... d=12500226

Anybody tried something like this with a couple of water bottles in the sides?

[roster]

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product. ... id=2128727

What about a body pillow like this?

[DreamStalker]

You need to attach one of these onto your back ...

[roster]

http://www.target.com/Back-N-Belly/dp/B ... 80-5029431

Here's one from Target.

@#$%, my big house is getting full of wedges and pillows and masks and hoses and xpap machines and fanny packs.

[kteague]

Pain is the answer - add something to the bed to cause pain when rolling onto back. Not discomfort - full fledged holler-out-loud pain. Or to startle the dickens out of you. For those who are beyond using conventional methods...

Buy one of those bed-wetter shockers. Place a zip-lock bag of water on it, not zipped quite all the way, so that it will spill when you roll over on it. Getting zapped a few times should train ya.

Precariously balance something noisy (metal pan containing a couple pieces of silverware, etc.) with a string tied to it that is taut and pinned at the other end to a pillow in the middle of your bed. If you roll over, it falls.

Mount a small collapsible shelf over the middle of your headboard with a prop stick under it. Again, run string from prop stick to pillow in middle of bed where you would roll on it if rolling onto back. A bowl of ice sitting on the shelf will do nicely.

Buy the little magnetic alarms that go off when the two pieces are separated. Mount the main piece to your headboard. Glue string to bottom of second piece, again attach to pillow so that sections will separate if you roll onto the string.

WARNING: MAKE SURE YOUR HEART CAN TAKE IT TO TRY BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION TECHNIQUES ABOVE. Otherwise, a row of bricks behind you in the bed should be uncomfortable enough to deter you from sleeping on your back.

[glfredrick]

I've found that a very cuddly wife helps...

Otherwise, just turn over on your side and go to sleep. Get a CPAP pillow to allow room for your shoulder and mask.

I roll from side to side and rarely, if ever, on my back. I guess it just isn't a problem for me. Too many years of trying to avoid the snore.

[Babette]

I've contemplated the "full body pillow" like those, but I think I like having my head pillow and my body pillow separate. I have different needs at different spots. I like a certain height and firmness to my head pillow, and a different height and firmness on my body pillow.

I like the shark fin! I'm sure that would hurt if rolled over on...

You could also try importing cats and dogs to your bed, if you seem to have too much room to roll over on your back. Wedge a cat or two behind you when you roll on you side, and I guarantee pain if you try to roll back.

LOL,
Babs

[roster]

Rooster.... I have done the backpack with a pillow stuffed in it, the wedge pillow with a dumbell on it that pins me against the edge of the bed, a tennis ball, a large Kong ball, a soccer ball under the shirt held in place by a belt below it and a regulation softball duct taped to the back of a fairly tight fitting russell heavy duty tee shirt. The last I have found to be the most comfortable and yet still successul in keeping me off my back. I can turn from one side to the other without great difficulty...unlike the soccer ball.... and it doesn't get overly hot and uncomfortable like the backpack did.
With the regulation softball I can keep the pressure around 10 which contols the aerophagia so it is moderate and keeps the AI under 1 and the AHI between 3-6.

Should I use the standard issue softball or the women's softball or the Chicago softball? .

Seriously, how high up do you place the softball? Seems like maybe between the shoulder blades will be best?

[RosemaryB]

What I've used is a small backpack stuffed with a pillow. It's somewhat uncomfortable at first, but once you get used to it, not so bad. It's difficult to wear it on bare skin in the summer, which is why I tried the satin Victoria's secret nightie. It had cap sleeves, not too hot in the summer. In winter I just bundle up anyway.

One advantage of using the backpack when you travel is that all you have to carry with you is the backpack. If it's a small one made of lightweight nylon (not the heavy bookbag type), it packs up very small. Then you can stuff it with whatever pillow you find.

I like the soccer ball idea, though I haven't tried it. The advantage would be that you wouldn't have to wear it. I can't envision how to attach it to the shirt, though.

[JeffH]

After years on cpap, I just taught myself to sleep on my side.

[Goofproof]

I put a old bag besides me, and when I try to roll over, she kicks me and wakes me up!

Not really, I make the bag, sleep in another room. I take up the whole bed, rolling from side to side. Some time is spent on my back, I can tell by the snoring numbers, and my pressure going to my top set limit. Most of the time I'm on my left side. Jim

[DreamStalker]

kteague is right ... have you tried getting your old punk rock belt out and attaching it to your back some how?

[RipVW]

I guess I'm just lucky here, I've never been able to sleep on my back, have to be on my side.