Sleeping Problems Without the DD's

Thanks for the suggestion, Erica. I checked out the comfortcushion. I don't think it will be good for sleeping for several reasons. It has the then strap on it like a purs would. When I am having lots of pain, I am all over the place when I sleep. I would be afraid I could be strangled by the strap. And since I roll from side to side, IF it even stayed in place I would need two, so double the chances of strangulation. They are small and won't stay in place. It is no different than me hugging a pillow when I sleep and to me, is safer. There are a few other reasons why, but forgot them as I was writing.

Wearing prosthetics to bed is not an option for me because of my pain issues.

I had my BMX on 1/11/11. I don't remember complaining about shoulder pain with sleeping until a year, year and a half later. 

I have no problems with the upper back. I have vertigo issues so I can't lay flat on my back. And for some reason, if I don't use feather pillows, my head hurts. I have thought about getting one of those wedge pillows, but they are expensive and wonder if my head will hurt. I wake up in pain at night often from the nerve damage from the BMX and node removal.

I noticed that after a year, year and a half, my shoulders scrunch forward and they get sore. They aren't sore all of the time, but every so often. I am a very restless sleeper. I sleep on one side, roll to the other, roll onto the belly, rarely sleep on my back. I never know what position I will be in.

Also, I have back issues that are worse than the scrunched shoulders so the mattress is picked for what is most important...our backs.

Biker:

As for Yoga or PT for scrunching shoulders for sleeping is not going to solve the problem. I don't have an upper back problem. I don't think you quite read what I wrote and interpreted it correctly.

I see a PT pretty regularly for one thing or another. He knows about and keeps track of it. So far it is not an everyday issue, and is not bad enough that warrants PT/OT (I have Medicare and I am only allowed so much in physical or occupational therapy so I have to use them wisely and carefully.)

My SO just purchased a brand new mattress. I could NEVER afford that much for a mattress on my own. I only live on disability and a $1000 mattress is more than one month's income for me. Luckily, he could charge it and get it paid off fairly quickly, so it is not the mattress.

It is totally due to my shoulders rolling in when I sleep. I guess there is nothing I can do to stop them from rolling in.

Thanks for all the input.

Ps. The name Cinnamonsmiles has nothing to do with Cinnamon. Cinnamon is the name of my cinnamon colored cocker spaniel. Years ago when I got my first cell phone (2004 or 2005) the first pic I snapped was a pic of my dog (and it is my bc.org picture). When I saved it, I called it Cinnamonsmile. It looked like she was smiling. Now Cinnamonsmiles has taken on much more emotional, loving, and multi-meanings. She makes me smile, I make her smile and so much more...

Oh, and the pain I talk about waking up from is a very severe pain issue from nerve damage from the BMX and node removal. I have been battling nerve damage pain from the moment I woke from surgery on 1/11/11. I am on lots of meds, have IV Lidocaine Infusions where they give a bag of Lidocaine straight to the vein every 2.5 motnhs. I recently tried a neurostimulator placed in the spine to see if that would help but as luck would have it, it actually caused more pain in areas, exhauseted my brain, and the benefits outweighed the negatives. However, it did feel nice at times no to constantly feel the ickiness on my chest, and the pain in the right armpit and right arm to the elbow. But it just wasn't a good fit for me. Both my pain doctor and I were disappointed. Anyway, that is the pain that wakes me up at night, the occasional shoulder pain is just an added thing to the pile.

I thought about wearing a bra with prosthetics to bed, but 99.9% of the time, it is too painful for me to wear them. But for me, buying DD prosthetics is ridiculous. I hated my DDs, and love having them gone (except when I feel like fooling around once or twice a year...LOL).

Sounds like you understand it completely, Crystal. It is only a problem at night. During the day, it is fine. Like I said, the only I thing I could think of is wearing a mastectomy bra and prosthetics at night, but that is not an option for me. Maybe it would be for someone else? But then who wants to wear a bra 24/7??

That is so far from the truth. I appreciated the comments and the help. It just appears that there hasn't been a solution that works. I have a very good mattress, I have feather pillows to sleep on (the only kind I can use), I have tried sleeping with pillows on each side of me that I can hug (but I lose them once I fall asleep. I am a very restless sleeper and roll from side to side, to the back.)

Just because Barbe and I disagree and don't see eye to eye, does not mean I really didn't want help. I wanted to see if others had this same problem and if they had any solutions. Crystal agreed that there doesn't seem to be a stand out solution so far. 

If you read Crsytal's comments you would see that she agrees that there hasn't been any solutions that will seem to work, except maybe getting the back muscles stronger, but I still wonder about that.

And the shoulder pain comes and goes. I don't always feel it. My physical therapist says it may be related to the rotator cuff. We discussed it in 2012. He told me if the soreness gets worse, then he would work with me on it. I don't think it is bad enough for PT (and I am on Medicare so I have a limited number of pt/ot money).

Thanks for all the suggestions, but as Crystal, agreed on as well, we don't see a clear cut solution to this problem right now.

River Rat... thank you. That is a very intriguing idea that is also not too expensive. I will start looking at stores for those and see if it would work when my shoulders start to hurt. I will check it out. Very ingenius idea!!!