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Newbie here. I have been using my device for about 5 weeks. I like the mask I'm using and it stays put most of the time. I am a side sleeper and wondering if my fellow side sleepers have one of the specialty pillows for side sleepers with CPAP and if it makes a difference at all.

lilou wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 09, 2018 9:31 am

Newbie here. I have been using my device for about 5 weeks. I like the mask I'm using and it stays put most of the time. I am a side sleeper and wondering if my fellow side sleepers have one of the specialty pillows for side sleepers with CPAP and if it makes a difference at all.

search.php?keywords=%22bed+pillows%22


Den

.

I too am a "side sleeper", and have tried two different versions of the side-sleeper pillows and did not find either of them any benefit. I have better experience with simply resting my head at the edge of an ordinary bed pillow.

TheDuke

Thank you for the search link and info. Holding off on the pillow for now.

TheDuke wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 09, 2018 2:55 pm

I too am a "side sleeper", and have tried two different versions of the side-sleeper pillows and did not find either of them any benefit. I have better experience with simply resting my head at the edge of an ordinary bed pillow.

TheDuke

That's what I finally decided after using a CPAPMax pillow for several months and waking up each morning with my head on the wrong part of the pillow and, consequently, a sore neck.

If I just use a regular pillow and use only the lower half of it (instead of burying my head up in the middle of the pillow),
I don't have to worry about turning over to an uncomfortable position in the middle of the night.

I'm a side sleeper who bought a full size buckwheat-hull filled pillow and found it too large and un-maneuverable. But some of its fill has been used to make a fine pillow for me.

My wife had a small pillow of the kind for air and car travel use, somewhat horse-shoe or U-shaped. It was filled with spongy foam material and had a zipper in a pillow case like enclosure.

I replaced the foam in that "neck" pillow with about 20-25% of the buckwheat taken from the other pillow. Now it is about 10 in. X 16 in. X 3 in when smoothed and lying flat on the bed and loose-filled (could hold about 15% more hulls). One long side has a mid point cut out about like a half of a 6 in diameter circle. It is very easily shaped with simple squeezes or pats to sculpt a comfortable shape for the side of my head (as I loosely lie on it) and make sure it doesn't tend to displace mask straps. My sense of it is that buckwheat hulls do a bit of interlocking and have, at least under a head's weight, a steeper angle of repose than other fills so you get and keep more of a drop off to keep the mask and its lower straps more free of shear and pulling forces of the pillow. My head rests on it with one of the legs of the U-shape extending under my ear to just beyond my cheekbone; the rest of the pillow extends toward the top of and then behind my head.

Before the buckwheat pillow I tried ordinary pillows and then part of a memory foam cushion from a wheel chair--first as the cushion was originally and then as I modified it. The idea of a pillow that created a drop off edge seemed great and it was better than a feather pillow, particularly in allowing the mask to hang free over the edge as my head was supported by the overly firm cushion. But it, as mentioned by others, gave me a stiff neck in several trials.

I also use a buckwheat pillow, which allows you to "punch" it into whatever shape you want - like thicker under your neck than under your head, and a "hole" where your mask lays while you're on your side. And it stays in the shape you create. But I also found the original pillow to be too big and too heavy - so I sewed a smaller pillow with a zipper and moved at 20% of the buckwheat/foam filling into it and it's perfect for me.

Though the buckwheat pillow is very popular... it is like sleeping on a rock.....just sayin'.... like Fred Fintstone would....

Sheriff

Sheriff Buford wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 10, 2018 7:56 am

Though the buckwheat pillow is very popular... it is like sleeping on a rock.....just sayin'.... like Fred Fintstone would....

It is a bit firm but some people like it that way and even need it.
Plus you can remove some of the hulls and it's not a solid rock but instead it becomes a softer more pliable rock.
That's what I did.

I purchased two different specialty pillows. Expensive. Neither worked for me; I'm a side sleeper. I then purchased a $49 down pillow from "Bed, Bath & Beyond". I just punch it into the shape that fits for the moment and it works just great for me. When I roll over to the other side, I just reshape it so it is comfortable and go back to sleep. YMMV.

Sheriff Buford wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 10, 2018 7:56 am

Though the buckwheat pillow is very popular... it is like sleeping on a rock.....just sayin'.... like Fred Fintstone would....

Sheriff

Been using it for over 5 years..Love it. I gave a second pillow to my grandson to try...he hated it.

I'm a newbie, but the thing that made my new cpap life acceptable was this pillow:

CPAP Pillow - Memory Foam Contour Design Reduces Face Mask Pressure & Air Leaks - 2 Head & Neck Rests For Max Comfort - https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01IJ87MZK/ ... 5Bb2MCDQH3

Once I had this I could sleep normally again. I love it so much I bought a second one.

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 10, 2018 8:33 am

Sheriff Buford wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 10, 2018 7:56 am

Though the buckwheat pillow is very popular... it is like sleeping on a rock.....just sayin'.... like Fred Fintstone would....

It is a bit firm but some people like it that way and even need it.
Plus you can remove some of the hulls and it's not a solid rock but instead it becomes a softer more pliable rock.
That's what I did.

Ok... Wilma!!

Sheriff

I have the large EnduriMed (it's a memory foam pillow) that I'm very happy with. I think it's comfortable and lets me sleep on my side easily with a FFM on.

Note: there is one buckwheat pillow that adds foam shreds in with the hulls.
It helps somewhat.