"What's the best pillow for symptomatic hypermobility?"
It's one of our most frequently asked questions (see also mattresses, but we'll do that one separately), and given that everyone is individually affected by their hypermobility, in addition to naturally preferring different sleeping positions, resistance and so on, there's no real 'one size fits all' answer. Having had the question come in again just recently we thought we'd throw it out to the hive mind. After all, there's a new design every five minutes if the adverts on our timeline and telly are anything to go by (Has anyone tried Squishmallows?) so it makes sense to have one place we can collate your collective wisdom. Our Jo (Southall - OT, catch her tomorrow, complete with her famous pit-pllow 18/7 @19:00 - register for free here) and many of the team are almost always down for pillows. We firmly believe you can never have enough (and that maternity pillows aren't just for pregnancy), but it's important that the pillows you do have serve a purpose well, or you end up with a pile of unloved and discarded items in a corner somewhere making a very comfortable pillow-fort for the cat, while you toss and turn, unsupported in bed at night. So, we want to hear from you - whether you're a soft seeking side sleeper with slippy shoulders, a firm favouring face down fidgeter flopping from one position to another every five minutes, or one of those mythical marvels who is asleep the moment your head hits the pillow and wakes up in exactly the same position hours later, which are your favourite pillows, cushions and other body supports for sleep and rest?
We suspect most have a selection like us - a compond memory foam pillow with neck support, a wedge (for the reflux and hiatus hernia), a bolster to keep us from rolling onto the 'wrong' side and any number of smaller cushions that can be pressed into service as and when required. Bedtime is a lot like a game of soft furnishing Jenga! There's just enough room in the bed for us! What's your solution? Have you found the perfect 'between the knees' pillow? Do you have a favourite neck pillow that goes everywhere you do? Is there any truth to the rumours that somewhere, out there is a pillow that stays cool to the touch all night? We want to know how you sleep, and what you find works for you - because while we are all different there's almost certainly someone out there who hasn't found their perfect pillow yet and you may just be able to save someone considerable time and money by narrowing things down a bit!
It is really interesting to see the different things that work for people. I have to point out that we didn’t get the mattress as a money no object, trust me we scrimped for the finance each month. But when we tried it, we just couldn’t resist, the tempur mattress is the best mattress I’ve ever had the privilege to sleep on.
Dreams advised that the mattress would need changing in 8 years, but we’ve had it for 8 years now and it is still as good as the day we got it and we’re going to get every day that we can out of it 🤩
I'm in a furnished rental so have limited options for changing up bed-related things, but the best decision I ever made was to get a good quality memory foam topper. Overnight difference in pain levels! Otherwise for pillows if always gone for the Ikea ROSENSKÄRM ergonomic one. My current one has gone a bit soft now, so I might look around for alternatives, but I do really love that one.
If TLDR: hard surface, tiny, inexpensive pillow.
It's fascinating to see that of the couple of answers so far, a couple of us are on the cheapest of surfaces--sensible when chronic pain can so greatly impact finances, and one is on the most fabulous of extravagant mattresses--sensible when money doesn't limit the ability to spend to relieve chronic pain!
I'm borderline hypermobile by my own account only. I have no hypermobility diagnoses but joint and skin laxity runs in my family. One brother is quite a contortionist. I do have diagnoses of the often related histamine intolerance and PoTS, which are largely resolved through diet and various related strategies. Signs of a broader MCAS issue are present and I tend…
I am so sorry for the spamming posts but I kept getting error notifications that the post was nt getting publish due to a glitch in the system that they were trying to fix 🫤
lso I am quite skinny and light in comparison to my husband, but we don’t get that roll together dip due to hubby being twice my weight.
sorry for the essay, but getting a good mattress is really important to us due to the nature of our illnesses, and I just wanted to share my experience as if I’d just seen the price of it all, I would have walked away, I am so glad we didn’t.