Your Bed?

Chrissy,

I have an adjustable bed and it was a god send during my GBS illness. I couldn’t sit up unassisted, so the bed helped greatly when I needed to eat or drink or take pills. Also it allowed me to change my position so my body didn’t get tired of one position. By raising the head and foot of the bed all the way, it put me in position to be able to get out of bed too.

Mine is an ElectroPedic that is made in California. Mine also has the massage feature available, but I didn’t get it. It has a normal mattress, so there is no problem with heating pads. One feature that I like is that it has a metal part of the frame that is vertical at the end of the bed, so the mattress doesn’t slide off when the bed is raised. I don’t know what other differences there are with the one you are considering.

Oh yes, I also bought (at Bed Bath and Beyond), a heated quilted mattress pad to go on the bed. This keeps you much warmer that just an electric blanket, and is more comfortable, because the heat is below you like a heating pad. The one I bought has dual temperature controls, so your partner can have his side a different temperature (or off).

My bed (queen size) cost approx. $2,000 6 years ago. If you are interested in the info. about this bed, I’ll send it to you, just let me know.

Hope this is usefull.

Suzanne

I have a waterbed that is heated. Love heat. Keeps me warm and toasty. Over the years, only had a conventional bed and always used a heating pad. Like the idea of the adjustable. If we ever spring a leak, I may look into that.
And we’ll add the heated pad, yum!

I sleep on a regular bed about 65% of the time. 25% of the time I sleep in our spare bedroom that has an old, worn mattress (when my tossing is keeping wife awake). 10% of the time I sleep on the floor in my toddler’s room.

Hi chrissy, i have a waterbed-don’t get one like mine! i have alot of problems getting out of it and naturally when ours sprung a leak at the fill hole it was a nightmare. it is nice to have the warmth for me, but my husband says differently-he has restlegs syndrome and hates the heat.
i think the sound of suzannes’ bed sounds more inviting to me-when we move i’m looking into one like hers. i have to use a couple of pillows to get out of my waterbed especially if my husband is already up. and no footrails to help with the footdrop issues with the waterbed either-just a hard 2 in wood frame and bookcase headboard-no good for me-very hard to clean. take care.

We just bought an 8 inch memory foam. It’s a Simmons. I LOVE that mattress. It’s firm enough that getting out of bed is easy, and when my husband rolls over, or the dogs jump on it, it doesn’t even shake my tea. The memory foam pillows are great, too. Spend about $1400 by the time we bought the pillows and pretective cover at Mattress World. Both of us were having problems nodding off at mid-morning. Now we are getting deeper sleep, and are much more rested.

Adjustable beds? Yuck… it was nice in the hospital when I was unable to situp but now that Im back home I am happy to be back in my normal mattress bed.

I have a $4000.00 King size Craftmatic bed with the massage feature and a heater, this thing has all the bells and whistles. Before that I spent a year and a half in my living room on a very comfortable recliner. I still log some hours on that recliner from time to time.

Ahhhh, the recliner, I’m getting drowsy, just thinking of my recliner in the living room with a puppy next to me and HGTV on. My hubby calls that the NAP Network. Still prefer the big ol waterbed for night time sleep though.

Do you have family that can help with changing the sheets? If it wasnt for me, my boyfriend would probably have left the same sheets on our bed from when we first moved in and that was 5 yrs ago 😀 He picks up but doesnt know what cleaning is… my mom and sisters rotate weekends to come and help me with cleaning that I am unable to do like sweeping, vaccuming, sheets, most bathroom cleaning, some dishes, etc.

If you dont have family around to help, check out your local newspaper. Not the major newspaper for your area but by local I mean the county newspaper… there are listings in there for people willing to clean your house and they have cheaper rates than those listed in the major newspaper for your area. My boyfriend and I have talked about hiring someone to come in every couple of weeks to help with cleaning if I am still uanble to do much of it after the first of the year. A friend of ours is pretty busy work 12hr shifts and his wife also has a job along with raising 2 kids so they have someone come in every 2 weeks to clean and it only costs them $40 each time for about a 1700 sq ft house

Chrissy,
I never gave the adjustable even a blink of a thought. We have a door, then a staircase going up to our bedroom, and a queen box spring won’t even fit through. My husband made our frame, and it can be disassembled for transport. We just have the mattress and the frame. Not even a box spring. We’re still loving the memory foam.

Love my sleep number bed! I can adjust it to how I am feeling with my body any time. We spent about $3000.00 2 years ago and it has been the best fit yet.
Schel

A few years before I got GBS I got a good deal on a very expensive recliner that has a lift put into it. I bought it and then put it in the livingroom to replace the Archy Bunker chair that my husband used. Eventually with the right blanket and pillow I could not get him out of that chair. I never liked it! While in the hospital in all their fancy beds that adjusted and floated me on air and massaged and gave me different adjustments to create ocean motion. I come home! I sat in the recliner that was electric and it made it very easy for me to lay back because I did not have any strenght in my arms to push a regular recliner back. I only used it when my husband was around incase the electric went out! I did not want to be stuck in that chair for the rest of the day. I was told by rehab to only take it up to the sit position and not to use the stand feature so I would continue to gain my strenght back and I have kept that promise. I have also been able to use the lower couch since my back and legs have got stronger. I will take a nap there but the best rest is in the bedroom in my regular bed. I can use several pillows and I do have a memory foam pillow which I really like. I got the extra deep mattress and/or box springs and that gives the whole bed some height. For a few nights I used my strap to get my feet in when I was tired. After that the height gave me an advantage I could sit on the edge to get dressed. That height also made it easy for me to slip in and out of bed during the night without too much movement. But it was all the grunting if I got turned in the covers and could not get free! I could not win! Now I don’t even want an adjustable bed and I throw the extra pillows over the edge most nights.

Any combinations that gives you the much needed rest is what we all need. Hope you all find a full night of restful, peaceful sleep! Dogs are not allowed in the bed they can lay on the covers and pin me down for the count till someone comes and gets them off. They know I am not capible of getting all of them off the bed! I don’t think any of you share your bed with 3 German Shepherd Dogs. If you do then get the King size! LOL:D

I have craftmatic adjustable beds and they are great, but about the heating pads, my husband has a bad back thats why we got them and they gave us a sheet that has a heating pad in it you place right on the mattress then your normal sheet underneath, maybe look into that or another brand of beds.

Colleen:D

Chrissy,
I pay a cleaning lady $30 every two weeks to come in & clean my 1658 sq ft rambler. She does everything, even changes my bedding, scrubs the floors on her hands & knees, dusts, vacuums, & scrubs my two bathrooms. Everything is done in two hours, so I never have to worry about housework. I do the wash, cook, & dishes, but otherwise I can save my energy for my husband. I can vacuum, but it takes so much out of me that it is not worth it.

I have a pillow top matress ($1000 king) and it works pretty good. I don’t know how those other beds work, but the important thing for me is to surface MUST breath. It’s like wearing a plastic rain coat on a hot day for me on some beds. I like my recliner too. My wife understands that if I fall asleep in front of the TV she is to leave me there and go to bed on her own. That happens once or twice a week.

[QUOTE=Chrissy]I am pleased to report that I got a decent night sleep – with the help of drugs. But I sure needed it. I moved myself to the middle of my new full size bed – it is strange downsizing. I am going to look into a mattress pad heating thing – I think I saw something like this at WalMart.

Thanks for the advice on getting help for cleaning. That is something that has lacked for the past years and I get so frustrated over not being able to do more than one thing a weekend. I’ve got my family coming to my house for Thanksgiving and plan to ask a friend who does house cleaning on the side to come over for $50 worth of cleaning.

Strange, how I am close to my family, but asking one of them to come over and help with something is just to hard emotionally to do. I am currently going to a therapist who thinks I should apply for disability – I really would be so much better off with working only part-time. Dreaming on…[/QUOTE]

Thats great that you have someone comming to help clean. I have problems asking for help as well and would never have asked my family to help. My 16yr old niece offered to stay with me for the first week I was out of the hospital to clean my house and help with anything I needed, so I took her up on the offer. It was really nice because as much as my boyfriend tried to make sure everything was accessable, it turned out there was a lot things I needed help getting. Having my niece there was a life saver because whenever I couldnt get something I had her get it for me and work on rearranging things.

My mom offered to help me out when I left the hospital as well as one of my sisters. They planned a date and I didnt even know that one of my sisters was comming up with my mom the first time. Then they planned on comming again a couple weeks later and it has continued now every 2 weeks (they rotate so each one gets a month off). I plan to hire someone probably after the first of the year even though they are still offering to because I feel bad having them spend a weekend day at my house cleaning, not to mention the 2 hrs of driving (one way each direction).

I know what you mean about working too… I had to go back to work full time and am really really not ready for it but I dont have a choice if I intend to keep my house. Luckily I work from home and my work is very flexable on my hours. I have several conference calls througout the week so I take them from the couch which gives me the relief from sitting at my desk. I have alarms set on my cell phone too which alerts me to the times to take breaks and lunches cause I get so caught up in my work that I often forget about them until I am really struggeling to make it any longer in my chair. So taking a 15 minute break every 2 hrs then a one hour lunch as worked the best but I know it is still too much.

On the lines of beds and pillows though…
I have two memory foam pillows on my office chair to help with comforte as I have found that my hips tilted back a bit helps a lot with my pain. I have one regular memory foam pillow on my chair and then a small neck size memory foam pillow under my thighs, just ahead of my hips. Or sometimes I prefer to sit in my wheelchair at my desk (I dont use memory foam for my cushion in that chair) but the wheelchair cushion is thicker in the front than the back and I also have the the back of the chair lower than the front so I am tiled back a bit on there also.

My son Nate has slept in ours since he got home Sept 30.
He tried sleeping in his regular bed but had so much back pain he couldn’t sleep.
Our doc says leave him in the recliner until he is ready to try getting used to his own bed.
Our doc says part of the problem is that Nate still has a bit of trouble getting a deep breath and that will make your upper back hurt.
I put a 4″ eggcrate in Nate’s but he still isn’t ready to try it.
One of these days.

The only way we found out that Nate is still having breathing issues is when our new doctor asked him to take a breath and blow it out as hard as he could.
He didn’t do too well getting a lot of air in his lungs.
He had Asthma when he was little as do I still and its hard to get the air back out when you do.
Nate had a hard time getting his lungs full and blowing out very hard.
The doc says that makes your upper back hurt.
I from experience know that when I have a problem breathing, my upper back goes into spasms.
It all makes sense to me.
Our doc has Nate taking Soma for the spasms.
He says it helps sometimes, not other times.

thanks for this thread- im going to be using my SS back pay to rescue my back from this cheap mattress

do any of you use message chairs? I saw a nice one at roomstogo’s website and saw the same brand in use at a spa and for sale at sharperimage.

Yes, I do use a massage chair. I’m not sure if it helps or not. Let us know if you get one, and if so, how you like it.

Suzanne

I have found that anything with a “vibration” sets my nerves singing and sometimes it really hurts alot! Infact, while riding in a vehicle the vibrations of the floor can send me crazy . . .

Will do Suzanne

Judi – that sucks. My neuralgia is more unexpected. I never know where or when it will hit or for how long. Cars dont bother me unless there’s no leg room. Im not a fan of vibration really, the chair [url]http://www.roomstogo.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=showItem&ipac_id=8625[/url]
looks like something I could really enjoy 😀 especially with an xbox360 controller glued to my palm
I will either get that or a large recliner rocker with the storage compartments in the arms. Kind of like the one I used to fall asleep in in the doc’s office getting IVIG.

hi guys,
I sleep on a pillow top mattress. My bed is extremely tall and I am extremely short so the therapist had to teach me how to get in and out of bed. I love it though because it is easier to get out of than the lower beds and easier to get into at times. I have insomnia alot so I lay in bed and read a lot which is great since it is comfortable.

I also can’t stand vibrations at times. It just drives me nuts. I love to have a massage but I want medium pressure. To much pressure hurts everything and vibrating pressure actually almost feels like pain.

Take care.

Sherry

[QUOTE=Chrissy]I am loving my new pillow top bed!!! Now I don’t want to get out of it. It is a lot taller than my old one, but I am 5’8″ so my new bed is just right for getting into and out of. I have one of those bed pillows (like a small arm chair) that really helps for support while I am sitting/laying in bed watching tv and enjoying my heating pads on my back and feet.

I was having a pedicure the other day and the girl was rubbing exfoliating stuff on my feet and it hurt so bad so I told her to stop, and she could see the grimace on my face.
[b]
I can’t wait to get home to my wonderful bed and watch some tv tonight[/b] :D[/QUOTE]

😡 😡 🙁

the angry sad faces mean im jealous 😀

Chrissy,

Ben and I just got one of those beds too! Aren’t they wonderful? You just sink into it, and it cuddles you. It’s even better with soft sheets and warm blankets!

Shannon

Okay just got a simmons pillow top from mattress expo and they delivered it sunday. Pretty nice but with the problems Ive had health wise Im still not sure. Got some latex pillows too which are nice. I slept 12+ hours the past few days and no back pain so that’s a plus.
I can return it within 90 days but it will cost me $150. I hate my wife, she can sleep on a pile of rocks and be fine. I used to be like that.

Th,
I hope that you are happy with it in the long run! If it doesnt work out, then maybe $150 is not too much to pay for returning it to get a better one. I tend to forget how bad things were ….. and get used to i.e. the new bed far too quickly not realizing how bad the old one was. Maybe its good that you dont have any back pain …… good riddance to the old bed – well I hope so – but let us know.

Thanks everyone,

My wife and I have decided that it is time to get a new bed. I have been following the posts on this thread. and decided to get a pillow top from Sears. It should be delivered next week. We are both looking forward to getting a good night’s sleep for a change 🙂

Hi Chrissy – Several years ago my husband and I got a king-size Sleep Number bed (he likes firm, I like soft) with dual controls. It is great! As mentioned before, on those days that I have difficulty getting out of bed, I just “pump” it up to 50 or so and no problem. Not sure about the heating pad on it, but it does have a really nice “pillow” top mattress pad so it may be possible. It was about $2,000 in 2001 and we still love it. I’m sure the company could tell you what other features are offered. Good luck and good health!

i’m pretty happy with a king size bells and whistles bed i bought a couple of years ago from:

Pam, email: [email]usaproshop@hotmail.com[/email]
USA Pro Shop
1-888-436-6185
[url]www.ebaystores.com/usaproshop[/url]

even though the one i wound up buying was not on ebay, they’ve been helpful with selection and warranty issues. a couple of issues she helped with – getting side padding so you don’t slide off. the only change would have been to buy a california (longer, narrower) king, which would keep the two inflatable mattresses in the same time zone.

unexpected was the elevator, step stool, or boarding ramp some may need to climb aboard, as it helps to be to be on the tall side and not afraid of heights.

enjoy, and let us know how things turn out!
ferenc