finding it hard to sleep my neck aches so much

Vanessa..I have found that using a heat pack or wheat bag can give me a lot of relief.....I also have a soft collar from my Physio that helps rest my neck for a little while....Do you have any medication for your neck???? I get a lot of aches and spasms...Valium helps for that too!!!

There are also special pillows out there...memory foam pillows seem to be the most popular i think.

Good luck and I hope you get some relief soon!!!

Jas..... :wings:

I have recently been diagnosed with cervical spondylosis but am not sure where osteoarthritia ends and cervical spondylosis begins. I have been using a orthoepedic memory foam pillow for about 7 years but all of a sudden it started to push into my neck and I could not sleep for the pain. I have now found a Cervical neck support pillow, it is firm with a triangular stitched middle and is curved round the neck. On first using seems hard and unyealding, but I am sleeping better and my neck is getting far less painfull. I now have two, the first one from \"extracomfort\" and I think the better one from \"Back2Comfort\". I am taking one on holiday with me. An American site \"Arc4life\" offers a \"Cervical Linear Traction Neck Pillow\" and I am thinking of trying this when I have the money. Good luck

hi flutterbye thank you , i now have a shaped memorry pillow and a wheat collor which i warm up in the microwave but still could not get to sleep so now im on the amytriptoline and if i take one at about 8pm on an evening i find i get to sleep faster and sleep till morning :D they are only 10 mg as well, i did get these tablets last year but iv never wanted to be on tablets but iv realised i have to :roll: lol but i still have not got anything to help me just chill and watch a film or read because my neck is always pushing to one side and really aches but at least i can now sleep well which is fantastic :lol: i know a lot of people are a lot worse off than me and i wish you all the very best of luck and good health for christmas and the new year 2010 :D :D oh i forgot to say my doctor has refered me for physio (oh excuse spelling ) and mri but im so scared of being enclosed dont think i can go through with that thanks again vanessa x

vanessa, i am sorry to hear that you are suffering. if you mention that you have claustrophobia they will give you something for it, make sure you tell your gp in plenty of time.. i have friends that have the same problem and i know what you mean i have another mri soon( i hope) and it is the pain i will get with staying still for so long that will bother me more. so i will wish us both luck for the forecoming mri's have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS xxxxxxxxxchris x

[color=blue:7782ea3885][/color:7782ea3885]thank you so much for that yes il ask my doctor for something but it will have to practicaly put me to sleep lol i also get pain worse the longer i am still, i was at the dentists and found it bad enough sitting in the chair. thanks xx[/b][/i]

Sorry to hear you are suffering, I too have a neck collar, my doc told me to sleep in it to support your neck at night x

Hi

Not so sure about the benefits of a collar, especially for sleeping. The neck needs the freedom to find it's own comfort when sleeping and any restrictions can cause conflicting reactions in the neck. Memory foam cervical pillows are also too resistant to free movement of the neck when sleeping. The best pillow I've found is the triangular stitched soft pillow (as mentioned above ) which helped make morning headaches mostly a thing of the past. I recommend them to anyone who gets morning headaches. Also a memory foam mattress or mattress topper helps ease other radiated aches and pains. Allow a few days for your body to adjust from previous arrangements and I'm sure any improvements will become obvious.

Gerry