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Jay Aitchsee wrote:viewtopic.php?f=1&t=72333&p=665406&hili ... de#p665406

MaxDarkside wrote:Rather than shell out some bucks for an official "CPAP Pillow", I decided to improvise. Works pretty well for me...

1 each firm cheap pillow... $5
1 each men's unused old tie from the closet... $0
A good night's rest on my tummy... priceless

Cinch and tie the tie around the pillow about 2/3rds of the way down.
Picture:


Works for me! Cheap solution that might work for you too...

Great Idea - I'm gonna see if hubby wants to try this, he's having pillow issues, he's a stomach sleeper.

Thanks,
Jen

I am like Heavylids--a mouth breather, side sleeping , Mirage Quattro FF mask sleeper. I am using the Pappillow brand pillow Double Edge. Last night I tried placing it on top of my regular pillow and I love it.

Pre-CPAP I used a Temper-pedic contour pillow. I continued to use that pillow for about 6 weeks after getting my mask, but found that unless I held the mask in place on my face for 10 seconds whenever I rolled from side to side, the pillow would push the mask and cause a leak. I went to a hotel in late September, and their pillows did not push my mask around! Upon returning home, I went to Sam's Club and bought two firm, tall, poly fill pillows. They are working well. The main trouble with the poly pillows is that they will start to lose their loft after a few months. I just ordered a latex pillow from Amazon. This is a "zoned" pillow that will work somewhat like a contoured pillow. Latex should last much longer than the polyfill. It is also quite "bouncy, but fine when you settle down.

Z by Malouf 100% Natural Talalay Latex Zoned Pillow:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007U5 ... 00_s00_i00

John

Hubby had a natural latex pillow. It stank horribly! The smell burned my eyes.
I kept hiding it. He kept finding it.
After a couple of years, it finally stopped stinking, started turning yellowish and hard, and began to crumble.
This time HE hid it; and I'm not looking.

John, Just read some of the reviews, I'm really interested. Which size and firmness did you order? Are you a big guy? My hubby is only 5'8" tall and not very muscular. Hope you'll write a review when you receive it. Thanks.

chunkyfrog wrote:Hubby had a natural latex pillow. It stank horribly! The smell burned my eyes.
I kept hiding it. He kept finding it.
After a couple of years, it finally stopped stinking, started turning yellowish and hard, and began to crumble.

They had these pillows at the local mattress store. They didn't smell. The guy at the store said that they will likely smell for a couple of days. He suggested opening the package and setting the pillow aside for a day to let it air out. He did say that sunlight was their enemy, and that exposure to light would cause them to yellow. He said he and his wife have been using their pillows for about 4 years now.

We shall see how it goes.

DoriC wrote:John, Just read some of the reviews, I'm really interested. Which size and firmness did you order? Are you a big guy? My hubby is only 5'8" tall and not very muscular. Hope you'll write a review when you receive it. Thanks.

I ordered a queen, high-loft firm pillow. They recommend the higher loft pillows for side sleepers. I was going back and forth between the firm and the plush. I'm 5' 11". Average build - about 185 pounds. We shall see how it goes. I will certainly report back in a few weeks on the pillow.

John

DoriC wrote: Hope you'll write a review when you receive it.

Just following up. I've had my queen, Z by Malouf 100% Natural Talalay Latex Zoned Pillow:high-loft firm pillow for two nights now.

So far, I'm very pleased with it. It is just a bit taller than the inexpensive Serta extra-tall pillows I have from Sam's Club. The feel of the pillow is much better for me, though. There -is- a bit of a smell, but not too bad. After receiving the pillow, I opened the package, and let it air out for 5 hours, but decided to put a pillow case on it and use it that first evening. Since I have nasal pillows jammed into my face, I could not smell a thing during the night! I expect the smell to diminish over a few days time. If a person was more sensitive to the smell, they might want to air it out for a few days, but especially for a CPAP user, I can't imagine the smell being too much of an issue. Unlike the memory foam pillow, the latex pillow has enough "give" so that it does not press my mask around and cause leaks.

John

Just got a new buckwheat hull pillow, and used it last night for the first time. I think that it will take some getting used to, but felt okay, and my AHI came out low enough. I'll look at the leak data on Saturday when I download my week's data from the machine, but I haven't fallen in love with it yet. Maybe I'll fall in love with it over time, we'll see. After all, I am sleeping with it *smile*.

Hi John, thanks for the update. I'm glad it's working out for you. So do you think you made the right decision going with the firm? I'm a bit leery because Mike isn't as tall as you so I'm wondering if the firm would be too high for his head and shoulders and maybe the plush would have more give? Right now we alternate between a memory foam contour pillow and the Sobakawa Full Size. Neither is perfect nor any of the others we've tried. He's a restless sleeper due to his hip problem.

DoriC wrote:Hi John, thanks for the update. I'm glad it's working out for you. So do you think you made the right decision going with the firm? I'm a bit leery because Mike isn't as tall as you so I'm wondering if the firm would be too high for his head and shoulders and maybe the plush would have more give?

The plush would definitely have more give. The main purveyor at http://www.themattressunderground.com, a fellow who goes by the name Phoenix on the site mentioned that he is 6.5, but he owns the plush as he likes to "sink into" the pillow a bit more. So, based on Mike's height, and Phoenix's comments, I'd guess the plush might be a better fit. Worst case, Amazon is pretty good with returns.

John

UPDATE! Mike has been sleeping on the Z by Maloof, Queen High Loft Plush for about a week and it's been great! It's so comfortable, he's been sleeping much better and best of all, almost ZERO leaks every night so far! As for the smell when you first open it up, it's there but no big deal, sprayed it with Febreeze, left it out for a few hours and by bedtime the smell was completely gone. Bed pillows are such a personal item but I think I can recommend this one. Thanks John!

The contour multi mask pillow arrived and after 3-4 nights, it got tossed in the corner.... it was fine when I laid down, but I could not find a spot where it was comfortable when I rolled over.

Foam type pillows just pushed on my quattro mask too much... Next I checked out the shell filled pillows and something about their weight turned me off on trying one.

I'm back to my PaPillow and have changed my mind on it... It now works great after some additional breaking in. Some nights, I wish it was a little bit wider, but most nights it's great. I just ordered a 2nd cover for it.

When I got my sleep study I fell in love with the pillows they had there in the sleep center. I actually called them to find out what brand they were - unfortunately, they didn't know. (dernit). I literally bought several pillows and tried them all for two weeks to see which helped with my air way. What I found is that if the pillow helped with my airway, my neck really was incredibly stiff the next morning. If I had a pillow that supported my neck well, then my AHI was higher. Bleh. I now switch between the two. I can sleep on a down pillow for a couple of nights before my neck really starts screaming at me, then I switch to a space foam and give my neck a break for a couple of nights. I figure at (when my pressure is right, it's not right right now) least I can get an ahi of 1 or less on at least three nights a week. The other time, it stays at about 2 to 2.5. (Heh. . .those WERE the days. . .lol. I so want to get this fixed.)

So I guess what I'm going to tell you is that before you think about the mask on the side (though I know it's a real concern) you might want to think about how the pillow supports your airway being open and/or your neck. THEN get a similar type of pillow with the sides cut out. If you can't sleep on a feather pillow, but you can sleep on a space foam pillow, then that's what you should look at. There are less expensive options to play around with before you spend fifty bucks on the cpap pillow.

Denial Dave wrote:The contour multi mask pillow arrived and after 3-4 nights, it got tossed in the corner.... it was fine when I laid down, but I could not find a spot where it was comfortable when I rolled over.

Foam type pillows just pushed on my quattro mask too much

Contour pillow worked fine for me with the Quattro. You probably needed the thicker version they sell.

They have a newer version now. I'll probably try this out when I'm due up for another pillow or buy this and use my current one for a travel pillow.

http://www.contourliving.com/p-253-cpapmax-pillow.aspx