Hello Sally,

Have you ever thought about getting a pullout sofa? We've got one in our study and several of our guests have remarked that it was quite cozy. It is a tad heavy to pull out, but I suppose you could leave it open.

I hope you are getting some energy back,

Chris

Actually, the sofa sleeping has been better for my back. You would expect the opposite to be true, but this is a well built sofa...firm, but soft and supports my back. I have Down pillows that are wonderful for comfy sleeping, too.

I also have a recliner that's a comfy napper, but not an all nighter.

I used to be a tummy sleeper, but because of my lumbar problems, i sleep on my back and side, which is perfect for sofa cruising..

4 years ago we bought a new pillow top mattress from Simmons that is firm in the middle with lots of innerspring coil support but soft on the surface. Made a big difference in how well we both slept. And was a LOT less costly then the temperpedic or select comfort sleep systems. I think we paid about $600 for the queen sized mattress and box. Now we are only using the mattress and the box went upstairs to replace springs that were gone on one of the gurst beds. We're doing this because we got a platform bed last year for Christmas and using both the mattress and box spring had us almost needing a ladder to get into bed. Very comfortable with just the mattress atop the platform.

I couldn't afford a whole new bed system. But I bought a tempurpedic mattress pad and then covered it with a high-end featherbed from Overstocks dot com. The combination is great. It's made a huge difference in night spasms and general comfort. I really recommend this if you can't get a whole new system.

I have the same approach with my pillow. I have a tempurpedic pillow and a thin, but very nice, down pillow over it for comfort and heat absorption. I absolutely love them.

This is my first post since finding Braintalk2.

I have wasted thousands on beds. At present, the better of my two beds is a futon I bought on sale at a going-out-of sale while we were in Seattle for a year.
It is neither too hard nor too soft.

I have pain many nights, no matter what kind of mattress I use.

Our other mattress was an expensive one made to order to have non-toxic materials. I have Porphyria in addition to MS, so any new bed is a nightmare for me. The futon had already mostly outgassed by being a floor model for eight months before I laid eyes on it.

Not all futons are good. Years ago I had one which was way too hard.

The worst of all mattresses for me was Tempurpedic. It gave me no support. I sunk into it so that every painful place was emphasized. I had them take it back the next morning. I had to pay a 10% restocking fee.

We had a Select Comfort but it wasn't too great for me so my son has it now.

My husband, who has no sensitivities, ironically, is the one who really likes the mattress with non-toxic materials. It is a little soft for me. What I usually do is spend part of the night in one place and then move to the other place when I need to. That works best for me, moving often to have differing pressure points.

I too do well on motel beds, although I don't do well on the "sprays" they use in them. I had a nightmare trip back here to NM. I had to do all the driving, as my husband is now in a wheelchair full time; we have a wheelchair lift on the back of the car for HIM.

What helps me most in sleeping, I find, is to have enough Vitamin D3 and calcium. On rare occasions I take a small demerol to help with the pain. The pain varies dramatically from night to night, and the reasons for the pain are not always evident, but lack of D3 or calcium will keep me awake. Of course, as some of you know, I must also take l000 or more mg of magnesium to stop myoclonic jerks, and this works great. I also take B1 if the mag ever fails. The jerks are so bad without mag that I would never sleep a wink; they affect both legs and lower back, and a bad jerk can propel my whole body into the air.

Mariel

I too find sleeping on a couch is sometimes the best plan, if I get the right pillows arranged at just the optimum angle. It all depends on which pressure point has had too much pressure on it lately.

Mariel

Hi Mariel, nice to see you.

I always put a comforter over the sofa and sleep on it, so that I can keep the sofa clean. Tomorrow, the family will be sitting on it, and after they leave, the comforter goes back on..LOL.

On the bed, I have a Sealy Posturepedic-pillowtop, but it's, still, too hard for me. I'd probably do better with a water bed, but with my balance/strength problems, I could never get out of it.

I'm sorry, Mariel, for your pressure point problems. Nothing worse for sleeping. Maybe one of those sleep number beds? You could change it to a different number, when the pressure starts to bother you.

Sleep well tonight, everyone...Unless, of course, Santa makes too much noise.:icon_wink:

Hello Nola,

I don't believe we've met before. That's a wonderful solution that you came up with for the heat problem with the Temperpedic bed. We had heard they retained heat and therefore didn't even look at them. I'm glad it's working out for you. I do have one of their travel pillows, and I do enjoy that. It's just the right contour for my neck and is very comfortable for me.

Mariel,

I'm sorry you're having the problems you are. The sleep comfort might be a good solution for your problem as SallyC mentioned. I usually change the number on my side of the bed in the morning about a half hour before arising to get myself ready to get out of bed. It seems to be working very well for me. You might want to consider it. Let me know if you have any questions about it.

All the best to both of you,

Chris

I can't believe I missed your post Nola. I'll blame it on the season. Anyway, Welcome to Neurotalk, it's nice to meet you.

I had been thinking about getting a down mattress thingy to put on top of my mattress. I'm happy to see it's working for you. Thanks for reminding me...maybe I'll be able to sleep in my bed again.

I hope you will forgive my rude oversight and come back to talk to us. I know that I can use all the support I can get and we are here for you as well.

Hugs,

I can hardly believe I found you, and that I could log back on the next day. I tried and tried to make sense of what was happening to Braintalk.

Anyway, the futon is the best of all worlds for me, but it's a lucky buy, or a blessed buy if you prefer.

Good sleeping, friends.

Mariel