OT: My lastest change for more sleep: new pillows

[tetragon]

I've just made a new change that I hope will help improve my sleep. I replaced my pillows.

The old pillows:

• A down and feather pillow, six years old, somewhat nasty looking, with patches dyed by me drooling on a dark, not-so-colourfast pillowcase. My main pillow, it lost its ability to stay in the desired shape ages ago.
• A generic, synthetic-fill pillow, indeterminate age, over fifteen years old. A slab of secondary pillow, it makes concrete feel comfortable.

With the old pillows, I would typically use the down one on its own when on my back, and I would stack the down on top of the other one for sleeping on my side. On some occasions in the night, I would wake up, smush the down one back into shape, and quickly get back to sleep. I would stack, unstack, and switch pillows for my desired position as needed during the night.

The new pillows:

• A gel fibre pillow, somewhat comfortable when on my back, too thin for on my side.
• A latex foam and wool pillow, very comfortable on my side, too thick and bouncy for sleeping on my back.
• A flax neck rest, when used with the gel pillow, the combination is quite comfortable. This small, narrow pillow comes with instructions on how to use it as a hot or cold pack.

I haven't slept with any of the new pillows yet, just tested them while awake for a few minutes. Based off of those tests, I should be a bit more comfortable at night.

[Kairosgrammy]

Sounds like a lot of work to me. Hopefully, it will all go well.

I've just made a new change that I hope will help improve my sleep. I replaced my pillows.

The old pillows:

• A down and feather pillow, six years old, somewhat nasty looking, with patches dyed by me drooling on a dark, not-so-colourfast pillowcase. My main pillow, it lost its ability to stay in the desired shape ages ago.
• A generic, synthetic-fill pillow, indeterminate age, over fifteen years old. A slab of secondary pillow, it makes concrete feel comfortable.

With the old pillows, I would typically use the down one on its own when on my back, and I would stack the down on top of the other one for sleeping on my side. On some occasions in the night, I would wake up, smush the down one back into shape, and quickly get back to sleep. I would stack, unstack, and switch pillows for my desired position as needed during the night.

The new pillows:

• A gel fibre pillow, somewhat comfortable when on my back, too thin for on my side.
• A latex foam and wool pillow, very comfortable on my side, too thick and bouncy for sleeping on my back.
• A flax neck rest, when used with the gel pillow, the combination is quite comfortable. This small, narrow pillow comes with instructions on how to use it as a hot or cold pack.

I haven't slept with any of the new pillows yet, just tested them while awake for a few minutes. Based off of those tests, I should be a bit more comfortable at night.

[tetragon]

What an awful night it was. I think I grew a bit too used to my old, squished-out pillows. I had a hard time staying asleep with the new ones. Although, my Zeo seems to be doing its usual confused thing, and claims that I only woke up six times. That number is considerably lower than what I remember. As someone withou a Windows computer, I can't use the easy, pretty graphing tool, but I did log the data and convert it to images using their colour scheme. What an assortment of tangled, coloured lines.

[Snuffle-nose]

Hello ,

I use Nose pillows for some years with my CPAP and I find them a lot better then nasal mask as I broke a few of them and it was a expensive experience as it always brakes at it's weakest point where the pins are that connect the straps to your head.As replacing it meant getting new nasal mask which was costing the earth!!!!!size]

[Elle]

What a weird thread.

Wouldn't it be easier to have one pillow that fit all positions? It sounds like a much too busy night to have to be aware of switching back and forth. I have a memory foam pillow that molds to the shape of my neck either on my back or side. I find it enough of a bother rolling over with the hose let alone trying to manipulate the pillows. I hope you find something that works.

[tetragon]

I wasn't expecting that mask comment.

As to why I have more than one pillow, my preferences are too different between positions. With the pillows that I've tried, if I have only one thickness, I end up either having to toss them aside when on my back or stack them on my side. I tried some memory foam pillows, but the ones I encountered were far too thick for my tastes, even when I was on my side.

[Elle]

It's really hard to get everything right in this cpaping business.

I am beginning to think there is no such thing as a perfect mask so I am happy to at least have the pillow thing solved. Even when you feel great after a perfect night of sleep with everything seeming to fit right the next night something will be 'off'.

This is a good place to vent about it. At least we all 'get it'.

[tetragon]

If only the place where I had my studies done would get it. Their pillows were so thick and uncomfortable that on my first trip there, my attempts to get comfortable with them unintentionally moved the bed twenty to thirty centimetres away from the wall, with the pillows falling into that gap (in titration I shoved them off to the side and used a corner of one).

[NateS]

I wasn't expecting that mask comment.

As to why I have more than one pillow, my preferences are too different between positions. With the pillows that I've tried, if I have only one thickness, I end up either having to toss them aside when on my back or stack them on my side. I tried some memory foam pillows, but the ones I encountered were far too thick for my tastes, even when I was on my side.

I guess I'm lucky when it comes to pillows. I've tried all kinds of pillows just out of curiosity and have never found a pillow I couldn't sleep on. I tend to fall asleep quickly and once I'm asleep they're all the same to me.

I sleep mainly on my back but when I turn over on my side to give my back a little break, I find that if I place my cheek on the edge of the pillow and let the mask hang over the edge I am less lightly to displace the mask. If I'm using a pillow with a tapered edge, I give the edge a quick punch with my fist to square it off before I put my cheek down on it.

Nate

[NateS]

What a weird thread.

Wouldn't it be easier to have one pillow that fit all positions? It sounds like a much too busy night to have to be aware of switching back and forth. I have a memory foam pillow that molds to the shape of my neck either on my back or side. I find it enough of a bother rolling over with the hose let alone trying to manipulate the pillows. I hope you find something that works.

One of the things I have always been curious about with memory pillows and memory mattresses is - If a sleeper keeps changing positions during the night, like I do, what are they supposed to remember and how long are they supposed to remember it? A few minutes, all night, from night to night?

Nate

[Elle]

My pillow has a very good memory...or my hand muscles to because I don't really wake up to adjust it during the night. Memory foam reacts to heat so unless the room is very cold I just mush it up (fluff it up) at bedtime and it sinks right into the space between head and shoulder. I give it a punch to make room for the mask (I start out on my side) and it is fine. If I roll back and forth it is either very warm and responsive by then or my muscle memory does the adjusting without me really being aware.

[portiemom]

Wow, I feel so not alone now with the pillow thing, I make my own. I have a fully latex mattress, not memory foam as my spine needs a no pressure point mattress. Pillows however are another thing. I wish someone would invent a zero gravity sleep chamber for cpap users, all we would need then is an RX.

[Corkster52]

I hope you don't mind me throwing in a question. I am still waiting for my doc to write my script for an S9 autoset, but, in hoping that he will write it tomorrow, what pillow works best for stomach sleepers? I have slept on my stomach all of my life and am trying to envision a pillow that will make room for my new contraption. Thanks.

[Elle]

Hi and welcome, Getting the right mask is more important than getting the right pillow. Everyone has very specific needs as far as pillows go so work on getting a good mask fit first. You might get lucky and the pillow you have will be fine.

Memory foam works best for me.

Good luck with a smooth adaptation.

[tetragon]

My pillow has a very good memory...or my hand muscles to because I don't really wake up to adjust it during the night. Memory foam reacts to heat so unless the room is very cold I just mush it up (fluff it up) at bedtime and it sinks right into the space between head and shoulder. I give it a punch to make room for the mask (I start out on my side) and it is fine. If I roll back and forth it is either very warm and responsive by then or my muscle memory does the adjusting without me really being aware.

Perhaps that aspect of "reacts to heat" is why I couldn't get the memory foam pillows I tried to squish well. I've had issues with insufficient heat in the past (curse you, capacitive touchscreens and pulse oxes) and I like a cold bedroom.