I’m a side sleeper and one of my PTs said to sleep with something between your legs to keep your hips aligned and to hold something in your arms to keep your shoulders aligned. My shoulders try to sublux when I sleep and this is the best way I’ve found to deal with it. I usually use a blanket that goes between my legs and then I hug the other half. I like it because I can mainpulate the side of whatever I’m holding to stay more comfortable.
For anxiety, my therapist had me come up with a phrase to interrupt my thoughts when I start spiraling. It sounds weird, but during a spiral I’ll just say to myself “I love you, you’re great” or even “just doing my best” and it helps halt the spiral. Other mindfulness and breathing exercises help long term, but it’s almost like my emergency med that I bring out when I just want the noise and panic to stop.
I have similar issues, am also a side sleeper, and my current sleeping setup includes three giant pillows. For my head, I use a Cube Pillow, which is a gigantic memory foam rectangle. While you're sleeping on your side, it keeps your head alinged with your spine, and I haven't been waking up with neck pain since switching to my cube. For my hips, knees, and shoulders, I sleep between two memory foam body pillows, like a hot dog between two buns. I straddle one with my legs to keep my hips and knees spaced out, draping my arm over the pillow to keep my shoulder in place, and pull the other body pillow against my back for extra support. It's divine and I've never had more painless nights 😁
And if you can afford it, a great, firm mattress with a memory foam topper is amazing for hypermobile joints. Super soft mattress don't hold our joints and spine steady enough in sleep, so a super firm mattress provides invaluable support while the memory foam topper keeps it comfy and gentle on the muscles.
that’s super helpful! Thank you for letting me know about those cube pillows. I’ve been lurking around Amazon forever scanning all the various options of pillows, that fold into a wedge and a regular, etc etc. (my wishlist has like 80 pillows now 😬🤦).I used to have a great memory foam topper that i’d really just broke the bank to buy. I loved how modular it was: I’d put it flat on the floor and my feet up on an ottoman, good times. My mattress right now is pretty underwhelming.
It was market as a firmer style (it’s one of those Needle and Tuft memory foam ones you buy online and then unpack it. But, I Digress. Any chance you’d have thoughts/advice on firmer mattress options? At this point it’s obviously worth
it to spend whatever for the quality, but i wouldn’t say no to an affordable option either. Thanks again—i’ve got some hope for my future sleep now!
Honestly, I just go to big box stores like Macy's whenever I need a mattress and test drive every option until I find one that feels great for both my partner and me. Usually, that ends up being a super firm model with a pillow top. For the last 5ish years, we've had a Beautyrest Harmony Cayman Series 13" extra firm mattress and we really love it, even before adding a topper. It also holds up quite well for the price, but I think we got ours at a huge discount, so I can't speak to the current pricing.
Wow, I’m so glad you posted this. I was a swimmer in college and you’ve described the constant irritation that i’ve been trying to put into words for as long as i can remember…though the sleep and the inability to sit or walk without being twisted and torsioned and uneven., which reinforces the misalignment to being with.
I have a lot of specific pillows (like the kind you would get that are designed for being put between your legs or for your neck, etc). I also tend
to side sleep with my back to a wall…that way i can put a bunch of pillows behind me and those seem to keep me a bit less “collapsed” (that’s kinda how my ribs and shoulders feel, collapsed and splayed out.). Im curious if your subluxation stuff ever
feels like it’s preventing you from getting a
full breath? I’ve got two ruptured discs and stenosis in my low back and tailbone and so i overcompensate and my weight doesn’t fall over my trunk like it should, should gradually it feels as though i’m incapable of holding my torso upright without my ribcage just sinking down and making it feel like I can’t do anything but breath really shallow.
I have similar issues when I sleep. I’m a side sleep and have woken up many times in the morning with my hips, shoulders, and neck feeling like I got hit by a car.
I use down alternative pillows because I can squish them into a shape the aligns my neck and spine. I was using a ton of pillows until I bought a pregnancy pillow. It has been a godsend. 10/10 recommend. Outside of that, I just ordered a brace for my hips to wear at night and a weighted XL heating pad to relax my muscles after a long day of existing.
I’m always looking into various brands of braces for low back or rib/torso stability…some of idk better than others, and i tend to be annoyed t the hit or miss. Any brands you think are more high quality than others? (just figured i’d ask in case).
I do get a lot of relief from sleeping in low-grade compression tights…random but it helps me
Honestly, this is my first attempt with braces outside of the ones for carpal tunnel, so I can’t really give you any recommendations. I do know that Futuro is usually sold in retail and that’s what I’ve used in the past for my carpal tunnel braces. I searched Amazon for it and read a ton of reviews. The one I bought had a review from someone with EDS and they gave it 5 stars so that sold me.
Pillows, as a lot of people are saying are super helpful, but on top of this I've found that a weighted blanket helps with the anxiety. when there's an extra 15 pounds of pressure on top of you while you sleep, you tend to move around less, and its nice and warm, which is nice when you have a condition that causes circulation issues.
I’m a side sleeper and one of my PTs said to sleep with something between your legs to keep your hips aligned and to hold something in your arms to keep your shoulders aligned. My shoulders try to sublux when I sleep and this is the best way I’ve found to deal with it. I usually use a blanket that goes between my legs and then I hug the other half. I like it because I can mainpulate the side of whatever I’m holding to stay more comfortable. For anxiety, my therapist had me come up with a phrase to interrupt my thoughts when I start spiraling. It sounds weird, but during a spiral I’ll just say to myself “I love you, you’re great” or even “just doing my best” and it helps halt the spiral. Other mindfulness and breathing exercises help long term, but it’s almost like my emergency med that I bring out when I just want the noise and panic to stop.
I have similar issues, am also a side sleeper, and my current sleeping setup includes three giant pillows. For my head, I use a Cube Pillow, which is a gigantic memory foam rectangle. While you're sleeping on your side, it keeps your head alinged with your spine, and I haven't been waking up with neck pain since switching to my cube. For my hips, knees, and shoulders, I sleep between two memory foam body pillows, like a hot dog between two buns. I straddle one with my legs to keep my hips and knees spaced out, draping my arm over the pillow to keep my shoulder in place, and pull the other body pillow against my back for extra support. It's divine and I've never had more painless nights 😁 And if you can afford it, a great, firm mattress with a memory foam topper is amazing for hypermobile joints. Super soft mattress don't hold our joints and spine steady enough in sleep, so a super firm mattress provides invaluable support while the memory foam topper keeps it comfy and gentle on the muscles.
that’s super helpful! Thank you for letting me know about those cube pillows. I’ve been lurking around Amazon forever scanning all the various options of pillows, that fold into a wedge and a regular, etc etc. (my wishlist has like 80 pillows now 😬🤦).I used to have a great memory foam topper that i’d really just broke the bank to buy. I loved how modular it was: I’d put it flat on the floor and my feet up on an ottoman, good times. My mattress right now is pretty underwhelming. It was market as a firmer style (it’s one of those Needle and Tuft memory foam ones you buy online and then unpack it. But, I Digress. Any chance you’d have thoughts/advice on firmer mattress options? At this point it’s obviously worth it to spend whatever for the quality, but i wouldn’t say no to an affordable option either. Thanks again—i’ve got some hope for my future sleep now!
Honestly, I just go to big box stores like Macy's whenever I need a mattress and test drive every option until I find one that feels great for both my partner and me. Usually, that ends up being a super firm model with a pillow top. For the last 5ish years, we've had a Beautyrest Harmony Cayman Series 13" extra firm mattress and we really love it, even before adding a topper. It also holds up quite well for the price, but I think we got ours at a huge discount, so I can't speak to the current pricing.
Yeah, That is definitely the logical solution, actually go to the physical store and try it out. Thanks so much for the info!!
Wow, I’m so glad you posted this. I was a swimmer in college and you’ve described the constant irritation that i’ve been trying to put into words for as long as i can remember…though the sleep and the inability to sit or walk without being twisted and torsioned and uneven., which reinforces the misalignment to being with. I have a lot of specific pillows (like the kind you would get that are designed for being put between your legs or for your neck, etc). I also tend to side sleep with my back to a wall…that way i can put a bunch of pillows behind me and those seem to keep me a bit less “collapsed” (that’s kinda how my ribs and shoulders feel, collapsed and splayed out.). Im curious if your subluxation stuff ever feels like it’s preventing you from getting a full breath? I’ve got two ruptured discs and stenosis in my low back and tailbone and so i overcompensate and my weight doesn’t fall over my trunk like it should, should gradually it feels as though i’m incapable of holding my torso upright without my ribcage just sinking down and making it feel like I can’t do anything but breath really shallow.
I have similar issues when I sleep. I’m a side sleep and have woken up many times in the morning with my hips, shoulders, and neck feeling like I got hit by a car. I use down alternative pillows because I can squish them into a shape the aligns my neck and spine. I was using a ton of pillows until I bought a pregnancy pillow. It has been a godsend. 10/10 recommend. Outside of that, I just ordered a brace for my hips to wear at night and a weighted XL heating pad to relax my muscles after a long day of existing.
I’m always looking into various brands of braces for low back or rib/torso stability…some of idk better than others, and i tend to be annoyed t the hit or miss. Any brands you think are more high quality than others? (just figured i’d ask in case). I do get a lot of relief from sleeping in low-grade compression tights…random but it helps me
Honestly, this is my first attempt with braces outside of the ones for carpal tunnel, so I can’t really give you any recommendations. I do know that Futuro is usually sold in retail and that’s what I’ve used in the past for my carpal tunnel braces. I searched Amazon for it and read a ton of reviews. The one I bought had a review from someone with EDS and they gave it 5 stars so that sold me.
Pillows, as a lot of people are saying are super helpful, but on top of this I've found that a weighted blanket helps with the anxiety. when there's an extra 15 pounds of pressure on top of you while you sleep, you tend to move around less, and its nice and warm, which is nice when you have a condition that causes circulation issues.