Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion Helpful Tips Cushion? Mattress? What do you do?

I'm wondering what you folks sleep on...bed wise?

How do you cope with standing in line?

Any particular style of furniture helpful?

I can't stand hard beds. Used to sleep on a reasonably soft mattress with a pillow under knees, but a few months ago was given a bed-sized thick memory foam pad as a gift. Now I don't need any pillows, and sleep nice and stretched out on my back. Moving around on the foam when sore is challenging though, and sometimes I have to literally roll out of bed to get up.

Hard chairs are very bad too. I sit a lot in computer chairs, which tend to be decent.

Hi Bleecker - Welcome to the KA family. Good to have you on board, though not for the reason of suffering from the AS monster!

Beds. I have a king sized bed, medium thick, medium soft to sort of firm mattress - that is impossible to lift or turn... On top of it I have a thick padded quilt.

Use 7 goose down pillows and a neck pillow. 'When' shoulders or spine particularly bothersome, then I sleep on the sofa, which has high sides and back, making for excellent lumbar and shoulder support. Use a footstall/pouffe for feet.

As for chairs. I have a good office/computer chair and also have an office/computer 'ball' chair. Can alternate.

Find it almost imposs to sit in a hard chair, can totally sieze up in em. Going to the doctor is murder, as one invariably has to wait anythng upto an hour and a half, by which time my hips have siezed and diff to walk... Oh well. C'est la vie.

I tried just about everything to get a good nights sleep. What works best for me was to put my box spring on the floor, put my firm "orthopedic" mattress on top of the box springs and then put on an air mattress that I bought in the sporting goods dept at Walmart. I top that with a 2" slab of foam rubber. My air mattress has a pump built in to the foot. I can turn the pump on and change the firmness/softness to suit my needs. I use a heating mattress pad on top of everything to keep me comfy. In the summertime, I use no blankets and turn on the ceiling fan that is over my bed to keep cool while keeping the spine happy with the heat. I realize this is not for everyone, my hubby sleeps in another bed (we visit a lot). When I had my knees replaced, the hospital sent therapists to my home, they loved my bed.
Donna

Interesting how text book knowledge and real life differ. Standard text book recommendation for SpA patients is "hard bed". A plywood board under the mattress is described in more than one source.

I too have done best with down featherbeds and tempur-pedic. It may be that everybody's different (well, we already know that!). I think there's also the idea out there that people curl up and ossify in that position. My thought is that with adequate pain relief and physical therapy during the day we can do ok posture wise.

I read the story of the seventy some year old woman (here in the sidebar somewhere), who "never had backpain". Well I never had back pain, I just couldn't stand straight or walk. I was in total denial. I did not feel pain but my back muscles were so irritated I had scoliosis secondary to pain. After my severe lumbar spinal stenosis was relieved by an endoscopic laminectomy, my pain was relieved - and only then did I realize I had it.

bed, standard not too firm, not too soft, flat on my back, with pillows under knees, ok, so long as husband doesn't sleep next to me. when he was away a lot one month, my upper back and neck started feeling a lot better, realized that his weight was causing the bed (new and expensive) to sag just barely toward the middle and my body was subconsciously fighting that and the upper back/neck on the left side that is all messed up was in constant spasm because of it. i miss sleeping with him, and thus, one of these days, we may try a temperpedic bed.

very thin feather pillow essential for the neck!

don't stand in line. go to grocery store when no one else is there. husband does most of the other errands.

most essential piece of "furniture", my swopper chair, worth every penny!

Hi Bleecker,

I have an adjustable bed. The top end is always raised, and even though I normally wake every hour or so, by the fifth hour I'm in so much pain I have to raise the bottom half (if I do this to begin with my hips sieze up).

I can only lay on my back with my arms by my side - if I raise them my hands go numb.

Sitting - I use a recliner rocker.

I don't stand in lines!

James

I've got to wonder, have you been evaluated by a pain specialist? NSAID do nothing much for me, except ibuprophen raises my blood pressure. Although medical textbooks repeatedly state that NSAID are effective in SpA, if you read the original patient studies, that is not true for about 20% of patients - who do not get relief. For me, naprosyn etc work as well as aspirin - which is only minimally effective. The textbook story is that aspirin helps RA but not SpA.

I know that narcotics are addictive, but ever since I had my laminectomy I stand straight with vicodin and live a life. I take it before daily walks and swims. My doctor says better to move.

I can see that doesn't include standing in lines. I'm complaining I guess because I hate to give up social events which some how always seem to include that (reception lines, buffets, "just wait here a minute"). I keep trying and having to leave. Especially when sitting down means a folding chair. Can't do it.

But I'm sleeping at night and should shut up. Wishing a better future for you!

Too adorable!

I think you may have the prototype of a perfect bed!

"most essential piece of "furniture", my swopper chair, worth every penny!"

Hey, Sue22 - what is a swopper chair?