Waterbeds and Apnea

quietmorning wrote:
Medication for bursitis in your hip? Could you please pm me and tell me what you take? I'd like to talk to my doctor about it - maybe there's help for my hips that I didn't know about.

Concerning your waterbed - this sounds encouraging as far as apnea is concerned. I was afraid that my neck and shoulders would bow in. . . I suppose that has a lot to do with how it is set up?

My primary doctor ignored me when I told her at two separate appointments that my leg was hurting. By the second time, two months later, I was waking up several times a night as it hurt to roll over or even slide over, especially since I am on a water bed and have to push off rather than just slide. My mom looked it up in a sports medicine book, and my symptoms fit the description for bursitis in the hip. I can walk just fine, but it would hurt to get in and out of the car, roll over in bed, and go up stairs. I could pick up my leg and swing it to the side or forward, but lift up my knee, and it hurt in my upper thigh on the front. And it was hurting very badly. I was groaning when I got in and out of the car, and I would use my hands to try and help left my leg so that it was less work for my leg.

The sports medicine book said to take aspirin 3 times a day, so I started taking it twice a day, and it helped. But my pharmacist said I shouldn't be taking aspirin every day. I had an appointment with my sleep doctor, and it was disturbing my sleep, so I asked for his opinion. He recommended Aleve, twice a day. It works great. If I take it every day, twice a day, I don't even think about it anymore. It doesn't wake me up, and it doesn't hurt to get in and out of the car. If I only take one a day, there is a little bit of ache, but not too bad. If I miss a couple in a row, it starts hurting more noticeably. The longest I have gone without is a day and a half, and it has never gotten really bad like it did for those two bad months.

zoocrewphoto wrote:Have you considered getting a frame that will hold a king size bed and then having two separate mattresses inside? One can be his waterbed and one can be your bed of choice.

Lots of people put normal mattresses inside a frame intended for a waterbed, so you should be able to fit two smaller mattresses in side by side.

Yep, that's my desire - that way we can control each side. He's a lot heavier than I am - and when I need to lie down with out him in a waterbed, I'd hit bottom in a hurry.

We have a king size bed that would do very well with the softside waterbeds - the frame is even correct. But the price of the softside waterbeds cause super sticker shock for my husband - who paid $200 for his original waterbed mattress - and can buy a pretty nice one for less than $500, today. The softsides run about a thousand.

It will be a wash in the long run, though, because the FURNITURE for the hard side will make up or exceed the cost of just just getting a softside with two separate bladders. That and the US hasn't gotten out of the 70's with their factory made. I'd have to buy from Europe or have the piece custom made. Cha ching.

(Well, I wouldn't HAVE TO. . .but gah. . .I so don't want a piece of 70's retro in this antebellum home.)

quietmorning wrote:

zoocrewphoto wrote:Have you considered getting a frame that will hold a king size bed and then having two separate mattresses inside? One can be his waterbed and one can be your bed of choice.

Lots of people put normal mattresses inside a frame intended for a waterbed, so you should be able to fit two smaller mattresses in side by side.

Yep, that's my desire - that way we can control each side. He's a lot heavier than I am - and when I need to lie down with out him in a waterbed, I'd hit bottom in a hurry.

We have a king size bed that would do very well with the softside waterbeds - the frame is even correct. But the price of the softside waterbeds cause super sticker shock for my husband - who paid $200 for his original waterbed mattress - and can buy a pretty nice one for less than $500, today. The softsides run about a thousand.

It will be a wash in the long run, though, because the FURNITURE for the hard side will make up or exceed the cost of just just getting a softside with two separate bladders. That and the US hasn't gotten out of the 70's with their factory made. I'd have to buy from Europe or have the piece custom made. Cha ching.

(Well, I wouldn't HAVE TO. . .but gah. . .I so don't want a piece of 70's retro in this antebellum home.)

Try craigslist in your area and nearby areas. Also local classified, and ebay. Sometimes, you can find a pretty good deal that way.

I've found that a waterbed mattress generally last about 6 years. I've never paid anything close to $500, or even $200 for a replacement. Maybe you are looking at the ones with some sort of wave dampening. We've never had a problem with waves, and have been using the basic "water bag" since '73. You can get a free flow mattress here for $55 - http://www.my-waterbed-shop.com/store/products25.html

Maybe something like this:
http://www.thewaterbeddoctor.com/newwor ... frame.aspx

Can you browbeat him into compliance if necessary?

If so, try the ancient waterbed he has in storage, with the understanding that it goes away if you can't adjust to it.

Try it for a week before going for any kind of split mattress thing.

Use the full motion mattress if at all possible. The reduced motion things are all more of a pain with filling, draining, maintenance, and cost. After a week of sleeping on it, you won't notice any difference in the two types.

None of that stuff will matter if your leg or back can't take it.

If you decide to stay on the waterbed, look into a softside if you can't stand the looks. Side rails can make getting in and out much easier. There's also a technique to getting in and out of the bed. To get out, start on your back near the edge, and roll yourself over so that you end up basically face down right on the edge as you swing your leg over onto the floor and hold on to the edge with your hands. This can be a lifesaver if you ever hurt your back and need to get out.

archangle wrote:Can you browbeat him into compliance if necessary?

If so, try the ancient waterbed he has in storage, with the understanding that it goes away if you can't adjust to it.

Try it for a week before going for any kind of split mattress thing.

Use the full motion mattress if at all possible. The reduced motion things are all more of a pain with filling, draining, maintenance, and cost. After a week of sleeping on it, you won't notice any difference in the two types.

None of that stuff will matter if your leg or back can't take it.

If you decide to stay on the waterbed, look into a softside if you can't stand the looks. Side rails can make getting in and out much easier. There's also a technique to getting in and out of the bed. To get out, start on your back near the edge, and roll yourself over so that you end up basically face down right on the edge as you swing your leg over onto the floor and hold on to the edge with your hands. This can be a lifesaver if you ever hurt your back and need to get out.

I know archangle is right on the extra work & cost of waveless (reduced motion) mattresses, but they make the difference for me & my hubby being able to keep a waterbed. His back cannot take a full wave mattress & this was OUR solution to keep a waterbed, which I dearly love. After getting the waveless with the bed sack around it (that also allows you to use regular sheets), I realized our bed actually cost less than Tempurpedic or Sleep Number. I can, with careful shopping on the internet, replace our mattress & sensa sack for about $900, vs the other beds running around $2,500 to $5,000 (we priced them in local stores). I am partial to the Strobel, since it is designed for bad backs.

If you think you can handle the full wave, I'm not so sure it would be right for your back, that's why I posted about my set-up for my waterbed. The full wave can let you 'bottom-out' (hit the bottom) which is very uncomfortable and bad for your back.

Just wanted to let you know my experience.
Jen

Use what works best for you. It's probably worth starting with the full motion mattress. They're enough cheaper and less work than the other types that it's worth trying it even if you throw it way later and get one of the fancier types.

I actually burned myself from bottoming out over the heater pad. Laying for several hours in contact with the heater under the bed gave me a thumb sized blister on my backside. The solution was to put the right amount of water into the mattress.

Thank you everyone for your input I can't even begin to tell you how helpful you've been!

Hubby got his old waterbed out of storage and is in the very slow process of setting it up. We will sleep on it - I'll test my battery in the process - as we are setting the bed up in a different room other than our bedroom.

Tomorrow morning we are going to visit a waterbed store - and compare the differences between the soft-side waterbeds and the hard-side waterbeds.

This is our current bed:



After looking at it very carefully and doing some measuring, it appears that it will allow room for either a softside OR a hardside waterbed. . .so I don't have to get rid of the bed. This was a relief to both of us! So, after some more looking around we'll eventually decide what we're going to do. At the very least, I'm assured that it won't effect my apnea - making it worse.

Heh.. .and when all is said and done, I will still be very thankful that I don't have to sleep on the floor.

Thank you everyone!!

zoocrewphoto wrote:

quietmorning wrote:
Medication for bursitis in your hip? Could you please pm me and tell me what you take? I'd like to talk to my doctor about it - maybe there's help for my hips that I didn't know about.

Concerning your waterbed - this sounds encouraging as far as apnea is concerned. I was afraid that my neck and shoulders would bow in. . . I suppose that has a lot to do with how it is set up?

My primary doctor ignored me when I told her at two separate appointments that my leg was hurting. By the second time, two months later, I was waking up several times a night as it hurt to roll over or even slide over, especially since I am on a water bed and have to push off rather than just slide. My mom looked it up in a sports medicine book, and my symptoms fit the description for bursitis in the hip. I can walk just fine, but it would hurt to get in and out of the car, roll over in bed, and go up stairs. I could pick up my leg and swing it to the side or forward, but lift up my knee, and it hurt in my upper thigh on the front. And it was hurting very badly. I was groaning when I got in and out of the car, and I would use my hands to try and help left my leg so that it was less work for my leg.

The sports medicine book said to take aspirin 3 times a day, so I started taking it twice a day, and it helped. But my pharmacist said I shouldn't be taking aspirin every day. I had an appointment with my sleep doctor, and it was disturbing my sleep, so I asked for his opinion. He recommended Aleve, twice a day. It works great. If I take it every day, twice a day, I don't even think about it anymore. It doesn't wake me up, and it doesn't hurt to get in and out of the car. If I only take one a day, there is a little bit of ache, but not too bad. If I miss a couple in a row, it starts hurting more noticeably. The longest I have gone without is a day and a half, and it has never gotten really bad like it did for those two bad months.

Oh dang, I can't take Aleve. I'm one of those precious few that swell badly from it.

But I will start to look for an anti-inflammatory to see if it helps my nights go a little beter.

archangle wrote:

I actually burned myself from bottoming out over the heater pad. Laying for several hours in contact with the heater under the bed gave me a thumb sized blister on my backside. The solution was to put the right amount of water into the mattress.

**Winces**

Ow. oh so Ow.

jencat824 wrote:

archangle wrote:Can you browbeat him into compliance if necessary?

If so, try the ancient waterbed he has in storage, with the understanding that it goes away if you can't adjust to it.

Try it for a week before going for any kind of split mattress thing.

Use the full motion mattress if at all possible. The reduced motion things are all more of a pain with filling, draining, maintenance, and cost. After a week of sleeping on it, you won't notice any difference in the two types.

None of that stuff will matter if your leg or back can't take it.

If you decide to stay on the waterbed, look into a softside if you can't stand the looks. Side rails can make getting in and out much easier. There's also a technique to getting in and out of the bed. To get out, start on your back near the edge, and roll yourself over so that you end up basically face down right on the edge as you swing your leg over onto the floor and hold on to the edge with your hands. This can be a lifesaver if you ever hurt your back and need to get out.

I know archangle is right on the extra work & cost of waveless (reduced motion) mattresses, but they make the difference for me & my hubby being able to keep a waterbed. His back cannot take a full wave mattress & this was OUR solution to keep a waterbed, which I dearly love. After getting the waveless with the bed sack around it (that also allows you to use regular sheets), I realized our bed actually cost less than Tempurpedic or Sleep Number. I can, with careful shopping on the internet, replace our mattress & sensa sack for about $900, vs the other beds running around $2,500 to $5,000 (we priced them in local stores). I am partial to the Strobel, since it is designed for bad backs.

If you think you can handle the full wave, I'm not so sure it would be right for your back, that's why I posted about my set-up for my waterbed. The full wave can let you 'bottom-out' (hit the bottom) which is very uncomfortable and bad for your back.

Just wanted to let you know my experience.
Jen

It looks like we are going to get dual mattresses, just haven't decided yet whether they are going to be hard or soft sided. I need significantly more support for my back than he does - so I will probably get a bladder with a lumbar support. His old waterbed is 95% waveless - there's just no lumbar support. So, it's worth trying. We have way different temperature needs and support needs - so I think the dual mattresses are the way to go - and he agrees. We'll compare the hard and soft sides tomorrow at the waterbed store and see what the differences are.

My husband's old waterbed is a 95% waveless - so that will give me a little support - though there is no lumbar support in it. . . so I'm a little wary. Because our bodies are SO different, we will probably get dual mattresses. So he will probably get the type he already has, and I'll get a bladder with lumbar support so that my mid section is sup

zoocrewphoto wrote:

quietmorning wrote:

zoocrewphoto wrote:Have you considered getting a frame that will hold a king size bed and then having two separate mattresses inside? One can be his waterbed and one can be your bed of choice.

Lots of people put normal mattresses inside a frame intended for a waterbed, so you should be able to fit two smaller mattresses in side by side.

Yep, that's my desire - that way we can control each side. He's a lot heavier than I am - and when I need to lie down with out him in a waterbed, I'd hit bottom in a hurry.

We have a king size bed that would do very well with the softside waterbeds - the frame is even correct. But the price of the softside waterbeds cause super sticker shock for my husband - who paid $200 for his original waterbed mattress - and can buy a pretty nice one for less than $500, today. The softsides run about a thousand.

It will be a wash in the long run, though, because the FURNITURE for the hard side will make up or exceed the cost of just just getting a softside with two separate bladders. That and the US hasn't gotten out of the 70's with their factory made. I'd have to buy from Europe or have the piece custom made. Cha ching.

(Well, I wouldn't HAVE TO. . .but gah. . .I so don't want a piece of 70's retro in this antebellum home.)

Try craigslist in your area and nearby areas. Also local classified, and ebay. Sometimes, you can find a pretty good deal that way.

Yep, I've got my eyes peeled.

You realize that a water bed mattress is significantly heavier then a regular mattress, don't you? Will your old bed be able to handle that?

BlackSpinner wrote:You realize that a water bed mattress is significantly heavier then a regular mattress, don't you? Will your old bed be able to handle that?

The bed is strange - I can take everything out of the middle and it will still stand on its own. (My husband calls it our 'new waterbed skin'. ) If we get the soft sided mattress, the frame that holds the mattresses is already the heavy duty frame needed for the softside waterbed. If we choose to go with the hardside, we will just take that frame out and put the correct pedestal down with the frame which will fit right above the rails of the bed. The bed is large enough to go completely around the waterbed without any issue. It will end up with two inches spare at the foot of the bed, that's about it. So, we'll try it and see how it works. I'll post pics if we decide for a hardside - 'cause that'll be interesting. . . to say the least.