Waking up with a stiff neck

[cpax]

I seem to wake up every day with a stiff neck. A quick application of liniment takes care of it but I was wondering if others have had this issue and who they felt with it.

[LSAT]

Try a different pillow

[BlackSpinner]

I seem to wake up every day with a stiff neck. A quick application of liniment takes care of it but I was wondering if others have had this issue and who they felt with it.

Because you are sleeping deeper you are not moving around. That means better mattress and pillows are required.

[GumbyCT]

I seem to wake up every day with a stiff neck. A quick application of liniment takes care of it but I was wondering if others have had this issue and who they felt with it.

Spine is not straight. Need someone to look when you lay down to see how straight your spine is.

ALL this w/o you giving one clue which position you sleep in.
My SWAG is you are sleeping on your side? In any case, you are cranking your neck (swag) too high?

[cpax]

My mattress and pillow are only a couple of months old. I've tried sleeping w/o a pillow, two pillows, one pillow, doesn't seem to make a difference. I sleep mostly on my side. Before CPAP I was a tummy sleeper but I can't seem to do this w/o mask leaks. I try sleeping on my back but that is, as we all know, the worst position for apneas. So I switch from side to side but so far nothing seems to make much of a difference.

[BlackSpinner]

My mattress and pillow are only a couple of months old. I've tried sleeping w/o a pillow, two pillows, one pillow, doesn't seem to make a difference. I sleep mostly on my side. Before CPAP I was a tummy sleeper but I can't seem to do this w/o mask leaks. I try sleeping on my back but that is, as we all know, the worst position for apneas. So I switch from side to side but so far nothing seems to make much of a difference.

Have you tried one of those neck roll pillows?

When I visited my daughter I got to sleep on her brand new soft expensive mattress. I ended up with an incredible sore stiff neck. I rolled up a towel and put it in the pillow case. No more sore neck.

[GumbyCT]

My mattress and pillow are only a couple of months old.

Doesn't matter. Mattress age is NOT the problem.

See this...

Spine is not straight. Need someone to look when you lay down to see how straight your spine is.

I can sleep on my stomach with the Aeoimed Headrest. Or try the new Aloha.

[Sheriff Buford]

A new/better pillow may help. But know that when the cpap therapy starts to "kick in" that you will probably start getting a deeper sleep than prior to cpap therapy. You will also start to sleep in a certain position longer than you are used to. Give it time. My neck was sore early on, but I eventually got used to it. Some folks have sore necks, backs or legs. I consider this normal, and even though you ache... it is a subtle sign that cpap therapy is working for you. I look at it as a "nice" problem to have. Hang in there... it'll go away and your body will get used to it.

Sheriff

[Drowsy Dancer]

What the Sheriff said.

I really struggled with this one from the get-go when I started CPAP.

(1) I tried using a buckwheat neck roll. It shifted around too much.

(2) Next, I bought a memory foam "CPAP pillow." It has a high "lip" by your shoulders, with a notch for the neck, an indentation for your head, and indentations cut for the mask (the latter not really necessary for me as a nasal pillow user, but they were harmless). The pillow definitely helped, but didn't get me all the way.

(3) For a long time, maybe six months, I did sleep flat on my back with the pressure turned up more (I had my sleep doc's blessing on this one). Eventually the side effects of a higher pressure than I really needed, most notably aerophagia, drove me to other sleeping positions so I could lower my pressure a little.

(4) For the first time in my life I went to a chiropractor. The fact that I went for the first time at the age of 53 after being a lifelong skeptic showed the depth of my desperation. The adjustments were pretty useless but the handout with the neck exercises he gave me was slightly helpful.

(5) Keying off the exercises the chiro gave me, I started paying more attention to stretching my neck during yoga class (chiropractic strikes me as a passive form of yoga in many ways), having better posture during the day in general (not peering at my computer screen, not lugging a heavy purse with too much sh#t in it, ditching the high heels except for special occasions), having the occasional neck and shoulder massage (ahhhhh).

(6) Heating pad during the day when necessary. I have a little shoulder wrap at the office with rice or something in it that can be microwaved for a minute or two to warm my shoulders during the day. It helped my neck as well.

(7) Occasional OTC painkillers (another desperation measure).

I think part of it for me was tensing up because (1) it takes a while to get used to sleeping with the mask generally; (2) I was really worried about the mask slipping and getting leaks. When I switched to pillows I was really concerned I would knock them out of my nose.

[portiemom]

Ditto Drowsy Dancer, Great Post!