Question about bed pillows

[HalfAsleep]

My experience is that the suggestion to consider sleeping with head on the diagonal (instead of parallel to the bed) just involves some careful arranging of pillows. You may be able to try this without spending more money.

I can't sleep on my side, but wish I could. I can sleep half way to my side. I also use an FFM (F10 but I'm sure I could also do this with an F20). It involves piling soft (cheap) pillows to left and right, and simply leaning my face against the pile. I can diagonal-ize to left or right. I have pillowcases my face loves. EZ PZ.

It turns out, I love this pillow arrangement because it feels like I'm sleeping in a nest.

In the absence of a pile of pillows on one side, you could nest with face leaning against a partner?

I have also helped my situation by using Pad-a-Cheek pull-ons for top and bottom headgear straps. This keeps the straps from slipping, plus the pads let me snug the straps perhaps more than I'd be apt to do without them, since there's no gouging. The mask doesn't move around very much at all.

(Even better, I've hippy-fied my mask with wild Pad-a-Cheeks).

[Sleep2Snore]

I tried a CPAP pillow, I should have bought some sweets instead  
I went to Ikea and bought a cushion about 2ft long and 4" across, I use it to keep the mask off the other pillows , I can use it diagonally, horizontally or straight up the pillow.  It was not expensive and for all the cost (a few $/£) it was the best buy I have made.  They do have some weird covers on them, but I can put up with that for the sake of my sanity.

[SarcasticDave94]

Good stuff there. Besides, on the cover design, you can't see it while sleeping anyway.

[psm4610]

Exactly the answer I was looking for thanks. Do you spend most of your time side sleeping or toss and turn?

I am about to start CPAP and currently use a memory foam pillow but had been looking at the cutout pillows.

[Quark]

I feel like the buckwheat pillow is winning out over the CPAP cutout pillow based on the responses.  HalfAsleep and Sleep2Snore, I'm having some difficulty visualizing your suggestions.  I've tried hanging my mask off the edge of a regular pillow - and find it perfectly comfortable for falling asleep, but my head rearranges itself while I sleep. That's why I thought the cutout pillow might help me stay in place.

Since this nose bridge thing just started very recently after using this mask without difficulty for 4 months, now I'm wondering if I need a new mask pillow.  The mask I have looks perfectly fine. I clean it every day, but recently I've been having more trouble with leaks and now this nose bridge problem. I use a mask cover and fleece strap pads.

[kiwii]

The mask cushions do become more fiddly and problematic as time goes on. A new cushion may help a lot.

I've seen people enthusiastically recommend a product called "moleskin" for pressure spots but have had no experience with it myself.

[MitchS]

Think HalfAsleep is using pillows to keep her halfway between on her side and on her back and using other pillows positioned so she can rest her face on them without her mask making contact. I do something like that to keep myself off of my back. After I get my buckwheat pillow arranged to suit me, I place pillows parallel to my body and against my stomach and back. The extra pillows will usually keep me off of my back and only let me go halfway onto my stomach.  They also have the added benefit of helping control my mouth breathing. By pulling the pillow against my stomach up against my chin, it helps keep my mouth shut. And now that HalfAsleep mentions it, it does feel like I'm sleeping in a nest.

[Sleep2Snore]

I feel like the buckwheat pillow is winning out over the CPAP cutout pillow based on the responses.  HalfAsleep and Sleep2Snore, I'm having some difficulty visualizing your suggestions.  I've tried hanging my mask off the edge of a regular pillow - and find it perfectly comfortable for falling asleep, but my head rearranges itself while I sleep. That's why I thought the cutout pillow might help me stay in place.

Well, even the cpap pillows are not perfect.
I do sometimes wake up and I have rolled over onto my back (I turn onto my side again) and the cushion I use when on my back is useless, however, while I am sleeping on my side (even with a big mask) the mask is clear of the cushion I use for a pillow, it sits on top of my own pillow.  I found it worked for me, however, if you like a soft pillow it will not be worth trying as they are quite firm.  I have had no trouble sleeping with it, neither has my sons daughter who also decided she wanted one, just because I had one!  
I was just giving you a cheap option to try, if it didn't work for you, you would have only spent a small amount.
That is if there is an Ikea near you.  Not worth paying for delivery at their prices.

[HalfAsleep]

Since no one else seems to have mentioned it. I have tried both versions of the F20. I found they tended to sit a tad lower on the nose bridge than other FFM's. I liked it because it was easy to read with the mask in place, but I also found that it slipped around a bit. I switched to the F10 (perhaps it's a few crucial millimeters longer?) and have a lot less slippage.

Just sayin': the mask may be close but not be perfect for you. Incidentally, I used a piece of paper tape on the bridge of my nose when I had the F20. Seemed to do the trick.

[OMyMyOHellYes]

Buckwheat hull pillows.

Set them up (shape them) how you want them when you get in bed and they'll be close to that when you get up. They WILL break down over time, so you have to add hulls every so often (me - it's a few cup fulls every year. I'm at five years on mine and will probably get to a point of starting over new in another five years of so, but so what?

They're cooler than feathers, down, memory foam, plain foam, etc.

Father came to visit a month ago, found the buckwheat hull pillows on the guest bed, slept better than he had in a long time, less neck pain, so he went home and bought new buckwheat hull pillows.