Bed Pillows

What Dreams May Come

by Mile High Sleeper

If you are overly relying on a soft or hard pillow to keep your mask in place, you have a poorly fitted mask or poor choice of mask. Try adjusting the fit or getting a different mask. If your mask is properly fitted and your mask and pillow are fighting, try a smaller firm pillow, so the mask can hang off the side; or a buckwheat pillow, neck pillow, or memory foam pillow which gives the mask some support. Make sure the pillow doesn’t interfere with your mask if you are a side sleeper. When you are pillow shopping, if you don’t mind acting strangely in a store, try out the pillow, imagining what your mask would do.

Consider the PAPillow, described at http://www.PAPillow.com, in a low wedge pillow or higher double edge pillow, available at http://shop.talkaboutsleep.com/?action=info.display&category=papillow-difference Similar pillows are available at https://www.cpap.com/simple-find-cpap-products/misc There are also orthopedic, memory foam pillows. Discussion thread on cervical neck pillows: http://www.cpaptalk.com/viewtopic/t16851/Cervical-Positional-Effects-on-Snoring-and-Apneas.html and http://www.targetwoman.com/articles/neck-pillow.html

Some CPAP users report a lower AHI (apnea hypopnea index of events per hour) if they use a bed wedge pillow. Linen stores may sell lower bed wedges; medical supply stores and online stores sell slightly higher bed wedges and memory foam bed wedges, which can be used in combination with a PAPillow. See the discussion thread on silent acid reflux at http://www.cpaptalk.com/viewtopic/t14288/Strange-treatment-question.html

For most people, masks are the most difficult part of CPAP therapy. With much prolonged problem-solving, patience, and persistence, you can achieve mask success for a good night’s sleep. See the articles on CPAP Mask Choices, CPAP Adaptation and Recovery and Seven Stages of CPAP and What Is Feeling Good? at http://smart-sleep-apnea.blogspot.com