HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Any side sleepers use a wedge pillow?

Support Forums
>
GERD & Acid Reflux
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 11/11/2009 4:06 PM (GMT 0)
I am hesitant to put blocks under our bed since we have a king-sized bed with a heavy wooden frame and headboard (not sure how stable blocks would be!) so I was considering starting out with a wedge pillow.

However, I have [b]never[/b] been comfortable sleeping on my back, I always sleep on my side.  Can you use a wedge pillow if you sleep on your side, or would your body bend at the waist too much?  I strongly suspect I have a hiatal hernia (I have an EGD scheduled next week to find out) so I wonder if this would be a bad idea...

I also saw a wedge pillow online just for side sleepers (can I post links to other sites here?  If not, the first Google result for "wedge pillow side sleeper" is one example).  I've also heard that you can put some wedge pillows under the mattress instead of on top of the mattress so I'm not sure which would work better.  What do the rest of you side sleepers do?

I never realized how expensive these pillows are so I thought I'd try to get some opinions first :)  Thanks!

(Hmm.... one of our kitties likes to sleep between our pillows at night, I wonder how he will like a wedge pillow? :) )

Posted 11/11/2009 4:21 PM (GMT 0)
I'm a side/partial stomach sleeper. The wedged pillow caused horrible back pains for me. I didn't sleep well at all on it.
Bath and Beyond does sell risers that are pretty strong. Just check the weight load.
My parents use 2X6s nailed together in a wide solid block to elevated their king size. They have a very heavy bed. So far no trouble and they've used it for nine years.
Good luck with your EDG.
If I can get over this pneumonia in time I'll be getting tested for the new Surgery EsophyX TIF in two weeks. Then the surgery is in December.

Joy
Posted 11/11/2009 8:36 PM (GMT 0)
I sleep either on my back or my side - can't do on my stomach due to neck problems. But I'm interested to read the suggestions here because I know I need to raise my bed up, and a wedge will never work for me with all my spine problems. I am looking at different kinds of risers - there's a lot of them advertised if you do a google search, but I've no idea which ones are good. I have a temurpedic mattress and it's heavy. Wish I could afford the adjustable frame they offer for $1600!!!!

My bed frame is metal with wheels and I see some of the risers support frames with wheels so I'll likely look for something like that.

Gosh this all gets so complicated!!!

PaLady
Posted 11/11/2009 11:17 PM (GMT 0)
I have 7 inch bed risers that we have not had a problem with. I was a little concerned about the bed actually staying on them but they work great. I sleep on my side but if the acid is too bad I still have to prop up but always wake up on my side.
Posted 11/12/2009 4:13 AM (GMT 0)
I have been sleeping on a bedwedge from Bed Bath and Beyond for about 5 yrs now. I fall asleep on my back but turn from side to side. I put my memory foam pillow (heavy duty and thick) on the top of the wedge and my feather pillow tucked under the bottom of the mem pillow... so I'm REALLY wedged... :) the mem foam pillow is very giving... this way of sleeping doesn't hurt my back at all.. my chiropractor was concerned.. wanted to know where I BENT... I scoot way up so my head is up at the top and seem to stay there even with the turning on ea side... the side sleeping has never been a problem for me. my husband does laugh and yell.. HELLO UP THERE from time to time.. HAHA I tried putting risers under the head of the bed but it made my legs ache for some reason... it was a little hard to get used to sleeping on the wedge but now I love it and even take it when we travel.
Posted 11/12/2009 4:17 AM (GMT 0)
It makes my head spin to think about ways to figure this out. I've had a double lumbar fusion, and also have neck problems. But I also wonder if putting the bed on risers is going to have other side effects. I wonder if it made your legs ache because it changes our circulation? Just a guess on my part.

Can't seem to win with these chronic illnesses!

PaLady
Posted 11/12/2009 4:39 AM (GMT 0)
That is what I thought PaLady... circulation troubles.. my legs really ached.. kinda cramped when I tried it... I have back problems but the wedge really is relaxing for me.. the bottom of the wedge is right below my waist... we also have the 3 inch mem foam topper from Costco.. LOVE THAT... wish I could sleep flat and enjoy it up top.. ;) but my mem foam pillow will do for now...

sorry you can't get comfy.. :( I have fibro...so they say.. and when I FLARE... nothing helps...
Posted 11/12/2009 5:27 AM (GMT 0)
I also read somewhere the same thing girlgeek said - about putting the wedge between your mattress and box spring. I've thought of that and wonder. Oh, I wonder about it all! LOL But I know I have to try something.

Was the wedge at Bed, Bath & Beyond expensive? I've seen some of the ones online for acid reflux and they go into a couple of hundred dollars and I'm sure you can't return them!

Thanks for sharing your experience.

PaLady
Posted 11/12/2009 4:30 PM (GMT 0)
I got mine a year ago at a local pharmacy for $26.

Joy
Posted 11/12/2009 5:37 PM (GMT 0)
My wedge at BB&B was 29.99 I believe and my hubby used the $5 off coupon thingy so 24.99 :) :) ... it's not a very firm wedge though and I know it would be a pancake if I put it under my big heavy mattress..LOL when I had my first attempted throat surgery last month.. I slept soooo good on the hospital bed.. kept the head up and the foot up... I SOOO want an adjustable bed now.. :-o :)
Posted 11/13/2009 3:36 AM (GMT 0)
An adjustable bed would make life so much easier now! My cousin got the top of the line adjustable tempurpedic, but it was all I could do to afford the basic one. Course, I never thought I'd need a raised head until this past year!

PaLady
Posted 11/20/2009 3:09 AM (GMT 0)
Just a thought, I was told never to sleep on my side because acid will dump out of your stomach into your esophagus. I have found this to be true especially when I lay on my right side. Laying on your side on a wedge hurts the back being bent like that. It's just not natural. Just some things to think about. You could go to a furniture store and get some higher quality risers for the head of your bed. Barb
Posted 11/20/2009 7:20 AM (GMT 0)
Well a few days ago I bought the 7" wedge from Bed, Bath & Beyond and after playing with it I knew I couldn't sleep right on it, even with my contour pillow on top. So I put it between the tempurpedic mattress and the box support (not really a spring on the tempurpedic) and I think it's actually helping! I put my contour neck pillow at the head of it and really don't even notice it too much as I'm still sleeping on my tempurpedic. I'm not waking up with the burning and acid I was before. My neck is a little kinked, but then it was getting worse on its own anyway. And I do notice I have slid down a bit by morning. But it actually seems to feel good to my back. At least so far!

Next week I have an appointment with my new GI doc. We'll see what's up next!

PaLady
Posted 11/20/2009 2:15 PM (GMT 0)
I'm a side-sleeper. I'd be a belly-sleeper, but it arches the back which hurts too much with my arthritis, scoliosis, kyphosis and lordosis. I get vaso-vagal syncope from sleeping on my back.

I tried sleeping propped up - as ordered by a nurse after fundoplication. It caused my sciatic leg pains and my back pains to come back. I hadn't been having problems with that since spinal injections, but the curving of the spine started compression of spinal nerves up again. A lift on the bed would probably be ok, but I share a really big, heavy king-size bed with hubby, so that is out. I am having no problems with lying flat anyway, so I'm ignoring the nurse's orders. Since surgery I have not needed PPIs, have no reflux, few burps.

In the hospital, the bending of the bed in the middle irritated my back too. Not good for a side-sleeper. I slid down all the time too. So I'm not going to waste my money on a wedge.

Now I need to go to my pain/rehab doc for another evaluation and probably another spinal injection.
Posted 11/20/2009 9:23 PM (GMT 0)
Alcie,
I do understand about the back issues. This all gets so complicated! I had a double lumbar fusion 2 years ago and bought the tempurpedic and I loved sleeping on it - was the one place I got some relief. And now all this. I know if I was sleeping on the wedge directly it would kill my back. So putting it under the mattress will have to do. And I also either sleep on my back or on my right side. Those are the only options I've got left with all the back and neck problems I have! In the morning I often find myself on my right side, slid down a bit on the wedge. It's the best I can do. I think that's all any of us can do.

PaLady
Posted 11/21/2009 4:03 AM (GMT 0)
It doesn't sound like you even need a wedge or the head raised at this point. That is awesome. I would just stick with whats working for now.

PA lady, so glad the wedge is working for you like that. I hope it continues to work for you. Barb
Posted 8/20/2011 9:43 PM (GMT 0)
i hate my wedge...but cant live without it

yes its true i slide down and then climb back up and slide down again...sleeping mostly on my left side, yep my back and hips hurt every morning, and half the day, ...when im lucky

i usually start out the night in the reclining chair...then when im sure dinner has moved down the line, around midnight, i go to bed...hello wedge. then around 3 am or 4 after a trip to the bathroom, i push the wedge aside and sleep on 3 pillows, two under my head and one under my torso... a modified wedge...and i sleep like a baby

up until recently the bed had blocks under the head board...but my wife couldnt stand it so i had to choose between sharing a bed with my beloved, or loosing her to the couch most nights
Posted 8/6/2012 11:11 AM (GMT 0)
Hello, I am wondering how you are getting on after a few years sleeping on a wedge pillow on you side. I have had a specialist recommend one for me and says I should sleep on my side. Went to look at them at a rubber store. Very expensive and not long enough - 1 metre was recommended for me.

Hope the kitty was not squased! sad

Posted 8/6/2012 4:00 PM (GMT 0)
I bought an inexpensive wedge pillow from amazon.com. It has helped me. I sleep both on my back and side on the pillow.
Posted 9/1/2013 2:09 PM (GMT 0)
I have used this full length wedge and I love it. http://www.travelwedge.com

I bought several other variations on this, mostly smaller short wedges and they all created more pain. I have been told that to tread GERD you need to have a full slope from head to toe and just bending your stomach at the waist will cause more harm
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply