Jersey Girl
65 posts
March 2, 2015 2:28 PM MST
I just got done wrestling with a mattress. At least, to the best of my ability, lol.
Let me explain.
About 4 months ago I began waking in the middle of the night with the feeling that my throat was “clogged”. I know, from doctors, that people don’t actually do much swallowing in their sleep as it is a voluntary action. Sleep experts feel that when we are in the shallow stages of sleep, we swallow. If the swallowing is ineffective, we are close to being conscious anyway so we wake up, thinking we (OPMD’ers) are “choking” in our sleep.
In a way, it is immaterial whether we are in a deep sleep or not, because it is most unpleasant to suddenly wake up with that sensation we get that “it won’t go down”.
Most neurologists will tell you that sleeping with your head elevated about six inches gives gravity the advantage of helping saliva or mucous move down the esophagous effectively when we are asleep.
In addition to the swallowing issue, I love to read in bed at night. However, I have the world’s worst bed for propping myself up in a reading position, and my weakened leg muscles don’t help much.
So after a great deal of research, my husband and I decided to purchase an adjustable bed. We went to a large furniture store (part of a national chain) near our house and spent an entire afternoon “testing” beds out; was the mattress too soft or too firm? Did we like the remote that came with the bed? Did we like the adjustment capacity of the bed base?
It turns out we have expensive taste, because we picked the top of the line mattress and base. Then we asked, “how much?”. $10,000. Yes, you read that right … TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR A BED!!!
So we came home and went to work researching adjustable beds online. I ended up purchasing a better mattress and a base with more features and positions for $2,400.
Thus enters my experience with mattress wrestling.
The company sends the mattress about five days ahead of time, as it needs to be unwrapped and given a few days to expand. Its a gel foam mattress and the gel has to become room temperature to soften up before you can sleep on it.
The mattress arrived today. Whew!! After some effort, my husband and I got the tightly rolled mattress out of its wrapper and stood it on end where it can soften and expand for the next few days. Well, in truth, it was mostly my husband who did it but I gave it my best shot, and ended up looking like I WAS wrestling with the dang thing. 
As corny as this sounds, the bed’s base has a thin, horizontal support near the floor that has a softly glowing “night light”; a good thing for us OPMD’ers when we need to get up to use the rest room in the middle of the night and don’t want to trip or stumble in the dark. The base also has USB plug-ins where I can plug in and charge my cell phone and Kindle while I’m sleeping, lol.
Its too late in this tale to say “long story, short”, lol, so I’ll just say that the bottom line is that I am really looking forward to seeing how the bed will assist me with better sleep, better swallowing and being able to read at night without struggling with pillows and supports.
So stay tuned, folks! I’ll report on my new bed’s performance in the next week or two, and let you know if it makes some of OPMD’s challenges a little beat easier to handle.
Cheers … Jersey Girl
Jersey Girl
65 posts
March 15, 2015 10:38 AM MDT
My bed arrived! I absolutely love it! The little motor that actuates the lift the lower (foot) part of the bed was broken, so that part of the bed isn’t working yet.
A new part is on the way, and a technician will come to the house to install it.
So, it is only going to get better from here!
Should I feel guilty for spending 11 hours a day in bed now? lol. It has become my favorite place to be!
Jersey Girl
Jersey Girl
65 posts
April 4, 2015 8:02 AM MDT
The foot lift part of my bed is all fixed. Now that I have this bed, I don’t know how I’ll ever sleep again in a “normal” bed!
Without the strength in my legs to position myself to read, watch TV or even get myself easily into a sleeping position, I don’t have to worry about it anymore; I have a remote to position me, now!
And the ENT and Speech Pathologist thought it was an excellent idea for me to sleep with my head slightly elevated, to ensure that I don’t wake up feeling like I’m choking with saliva having pooled in my throat.
JG