Question about bed pillows

[Quark]

I have been through several masks in my 7 mos. on APAP.  As a mouth-leaker, the only one that really works for me is a full-face mask.  The Amara View was too leaky on my face so now I use the AirFit F20.  I’ve had pretty good luck with the F20, but I’m a side sleeper and occasionally the mask gets smooshed out of place by my pillow.  When it stays in place this mask doesn’t bother the bridge of my nose, but the  other night it got pushed down toward my chin which put pressure on the bridge of my nose.  By the time I woke up I had a sore bridge and raging headache as a result of it. Occasionally the mask gets pillow-displaced in some other direction that results in leaks. 
 
I have tried soft, medium and firm bed pillows and nothing seems ideal.  I’m wondering if anyone has used one of the special CPAP pillows with the cut-out portion for the mask that are designed for side sleepers and whether you had success with it?

[SelfLoadingCargo]

I think it's definitely worth trying. I couldn't get comfortable with it, but my wife loves it and even travels with it. Good luck...

[robermax]

Tried a CPAP pillow but it didn't seem to help much, maybe will try again. I find the memory foam contour pillows are ok for side sleeping, though.

[Quark]

Thanks for the responses, Jerry and Robermax.  At this point I have accumulated enough pillows to open my own shop, so I figure what is one more!  I have a memory foam pillow (not contour, but one with side gussets).  I can sleep with it just fine, but it doesn't help with mask movement.  The tech at the sleep center told me I needed to learn to sleep with my face tilted slightly upward, but once I'm asleep my face does what it wants, and what it wants is to bury itself in my pillow.   The CPAP pillow seems worth a try.

[kiwii]

YES!!

I am unable to use memory foam due to chemical sensitivities.

However, I am now a Big Fan of buckwheat pillows. I found a manufacturer, ComfyComfy, that has high quality materials and craftsmanship. I couldn't be happier with my purchase and in fact just bought another pillow a few hours ago.

Signing up for their newsletter gets you a 10% discount in their reply. (email subscribers just received a discount code for 17% off this morning)

If you go to youtube and search on ComfyComfy, you can find a video where the owner describes the different features and options, and you can see the pillows side-by-side.

Even my husband is now a fan (he does not use cpap). If you have any questions just ask, I could go on and on. I'm a side-sleeper and have the Large cylindrical, the smallest cylindrical, and just ordered the smallest flat. My husband uses the standard size flat. My daughter (an xpap user) sleeps on her stomach and just loves the standard size flat. She also has the smallest cylindrical for travel.

[SarcasticDave94]

Great info on pillows, kiwii. I'll have to check into one of these. None of the current pillows I have meets the sleep need. I'm a side sleeper and cannot find one that's a Goldilocks, neither too thick nor too thin, not too hard nor too soft, etc. I guess this brand needs added to the wish list after disability approval...

Dave

[kiwii]

I'm a side sleeper and cannot find one that's a Goldilocks, neither too thick nor too thin, not too hard nor too soft, etc.

The beauty of these is that you fill or empty the pillow according to your own needs. The flat ones come with extra hulls. DH considered removing some hulls, but there definitely was no need to add more for his comfort. He likes to fluff it up from underneath with his hand/wrist. We've got a whole bag of hulls being unused!

For mask needs, you just hollow out a little spot or hang it off the edge, whatever works best. I tend to make a depression on one end and haven't had any problems with the mask - no need to do anything special for it.

Best of luck on the disability! I bet it will feel awfully good once it comes through.

[SarcasticDave94]

Thanks again on info. Have to wait till Feb. on disability. Believe I've done all I can to be work ready but body doesn't have it anymore. Oh well, I'm still alive and that's a big positive in itself.

Great day to y'all
Dave

[Quark]

Thanks, Kiwii-  I did try a friend's buckwheat pillow and felt it was a bit too firm for me.  I understand that they take some getting used to, though, so maybe I didn't give it an adequate chance. There are certainly a lot of PAPers that love them!

[MitchS]

I am a side sleeper and use a buckwheat pillow with gussets, with good results. As kiwii said, you can hollow out an area to keep your mask from hitting the pillow. In fact, I hollow out areas on both sides in case I roll over. Another advantage of the buckwheat is it is heavier than most other pillows and stays where you put it.

I tried the cpap pillow like you are describing and couldn't get it to work for me. I even went to the trouble of putting a zipper on it so I could replace the filling with buckwheat. No joy. I used the pillow about 3 weeks trying to get it to work. My AHI was between 2 and three the entire time I was using it. It is usually below 0.5.

Quark. It took me a couple of nights to get used to the buckwheat pillow. Mostly to get the right  amount of filling in the pillow and to learn how to form it to work with my mask and style of sleeping. I take it with me when traveling.