Inclined Bed Therapy

AndrewKFletcher · Post by **AndrewKFletcher** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 10:37 am

zinamaria

Glad you liked the humour.

Used to have migraines. Oddly enough they stopped 16 years ago when we tilted our bed.

Yes you have said something interesting about the naps and you not needing so many. This indicates you have begun to respond and should have new levels of energy also?

Sleeping on an inclined bed is so different to sleeping flat. When I look at a flat bed it just looks so wrong.

This same flat bed that people with ms are advised by the charities looking out for them to get more of? Almost as if they thrive on the illness or am I being cynical again?

Loved the childhood picture you painted with your words.

I write poetry too

So did my late Father

maggie44 · Post by **maggie44** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 11:38 am

Andrew I don't have any way to get a big piece of plywood home so could I just use the books like I read where that is one person did? Do you know how to do this? All I want to do is see if it will help me and if it does then I'am going to order me one of those inclinging frames. Thanks so much Maggie

zinamaria · Post by **zinamaria** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 11:54 am

Hi Maggie,
You seem to be having so much trouble, can I suggest simply taking the measurement of your mattress, then taking Fletcher's dimensions, and take all this to a carpenter and have him build you a frame. It was so easy and mine was done in just a few days. There was no need to use plywood either, which is awful stuff, I think (I used to paint on it).
My boyfriend had the carpenter make slats so that the matress could breathe; naturally I thought this was brilliant.
The frame is light and simply crafted (it is a single) but with the slats (do you know what I mean by that?) are like those futon bed frames, it' kinda like that. I wish I could draw you a picture.
Anyway, I hope this is helpful; good luck.
Peace,
Zinamaria

zinamaria · Post by **zinamaria** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 11:57 am

Hi Fletcher,

Well I thank you for calling my sentence poetry, that is nice to hear.
Hey, why don't we start a poetry section?
I have no idea how to even do anything on this forum excep post responses; this is all so new to me.
But I think this could be a great place for people to express the artistic side of themselves, which I feel is so important in this life, for the spirit, for the soul.
What say you? You're savvy on this site, can we do something like this?

Peace,
Zinamaria

maggie44 · Post by **maggie44** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 12:13 pm

zinamaria I guess what I want is something that will make do to see if it will work before I invest any money. I know the carpenters in my area are around $30.00 a hour and up. Thats why I thought maybe the books would work. Thanks for the suggestion maggie

zinamaria · Post by **zinamaria** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 12:21 pm

Ouch, that hurts. I totally understand. What about going to a Home Depot or one of these larger places to see if they can help you for cheaper than $30/hr? Just a thought. If you can do it yourself that would be best of course...
Or posting an add on Craigslist (I am assuming you are somewhere in the states?). It's amazing what you can find on that site.
Just some more ideas...

Peace,
Zinamaria

AndrewKFletcher · Post by **AndrewKFletcher** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 12:25 pm

An old door will suffice instead of plywood.

Use books. blocks, bricks, or stout plastic tubing to slot the legs in anything will tilt the bed if your not bothered about the headboard tilting also.

Another sugestion was to have someone relocate the joints on the bedframe 6 inches higher at the headboard end.

But you can also use folded blankets under the mattress to give you the angle.

maggie44 · Post by **maggie44** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 1:33 pm

I found some 6" slanted styofoam covered in plastic that came out of a medical box in my shed and put that under the head my mattress and I had 6 packages of some copy paper that was for a old type computer. They are exactly 1 1/2" so 2 bundled together is 3" so I put that in the middle of my bed and stuffed the hollow place with blankets. Well the head of my mattress looks up in the air and I laid down on it but I don't feel slanted. Am I suppose to? Also can I use a pillow? So do you think this will work? Thank you for all your help maggie

AndrewKFletcher · Post by **AndrewKFletcher** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 1:49 pm

Sounds fine Maggie but check the wadding in the morning as it may need extra blankets when they are compressed.

For a balanced view of whether we should sleep flat or not the following paper might prove useful.

Bed rest: a potentially harmful treatment needing more careful
evaluation
http://www.mnworkability.com/articles/M ... edrest.pdf

Someone else is looking into bedrest, rather compelling evidence for IBT

LouK · Post by **LouK** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 5:05 am

Hi Andrew

I have read through your threads and am wanting to try IBT. I have a wooden bed frame so wouldn't be able to put the blocks under the base. How would I go about doing it on my bed?

AndrewKFletcher · Post by **AndrewKFletcher** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 5:28 am

Use a plywod sheet under the matress with 6" tmber at the top, 3" timber in the middle. Best method imo

LouK · Post by **LouK** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 7:03 am

Cool thank you. My housemates boyfriend is a carpenter so will see if he can knock something together for me!!!

Dovechick · Post by **Dovechick** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 7:35 am

Hi Andrew and all those sleepy slopypeople.
Ella is home for Christmas and I had her bed inclined ready for her.
Morning after 1st night only up once for a wee, usually up 3 or 4 times
Morning after 2nd night, not up at all until 7am in morning. She is convinced... Her boyfriend is going to alter her bed at home so that she can sleep that way all the time.
By the way I am also sleeping on an inclined bed and am hoping for some improvements in my peripheral neuropathy amongst other things.
A week in I can't be sure of anything but it seems as though my legs and feet are more painful which in a strange way is encouraging as the process of losing feeling in my feet went through a very painful stage which ended in not much pain sensation at all in my feet now, so much so that I walked a mile with a large staple in my big toe without realising until the blood flowed out of the sandal I was wearing...

colapesce · Post by **colapesce** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 7:58 am

After reading these posts I'm going to tilt my bed.

I wake often in the night and usually have to get up much earlier than needed because my head hurts.

Can't believe I didn't think of this before, especially as when I first moved to where I live now, I was (unknowingly) sleeping with my feet higher than my head (wonky old house) and felt awful until I realised what the cause was and evened the bed out. Will have to wait until after Christmas though now to get some wood!

colapesce · Post by **colapesce** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 8:00 am

After reading these posts I'm going to tilt my bed.

I wake often in the night and usually have to get up much earlier than needed because my head hurts.

Can't believe I didn't think of this before, especially as when I first moved to where I live now, I was (unknowingly) sleeping with my feet higher than my head (wonky old house) and felt awful until I realised what the cause was and evened the bed out. Will have to wait until after Christmas though now to get some wood!

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Inclined Bed Therapy

Ella's inclined bed