GERD & Heartburn Support Group

Hi there,
I have put wooden blocks under the front feet of my bed as well as to pillows under my mattress. This makes the bed have an incline of about 8 inches. Something to try.

I tried the bed wedge thing, and I just found I would roll across the bed at some point during the night. So I use a wedge pillow system and it works very well for me. It did have that faint smell of new foam for about a week, but you can always unwrap it and let it air for a week before you use it.

I'll have to go looking for the site where I found the pillows. I'm very happy with them.

Well, the advice i've read is NOT to use a wedge because you do slip down and it can make it worse. It's also hard to sleep on your side. Rather, elevate the head of the whole bed. Use cindar blocks or Bed Blocks or those spacemaker thingys they sell at Bed store. If you have king, you need 3-one for each wheel. If the mattress slips on the box, put non skid shelf liner between mattresses. My husband got used to it. It worked very well. Also sleep on left side.

I TRIED THE WEDGE PILLOW AND I FOUND MYSELF AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BED AND IN WORSE SHAPE. THEY HIGHLY RECOMMEND NOT USING PILLOWS BUT ELEVATING YOUR BED BY 6 INCHES. FIND SOME 6 INCH BLOCKS AND STICK THEM ON EACH SIDE AT THE TOP OF YOUR HEADBOARD. YOU WILL REALLY TELL THE DIFFERENCE. CHEAPER THEN A PILLOW TOO! GOOD LUCK. LET US KNOW HOW IT WORKS FOR YOU.

The wedge used to work for me, but as my hernia and GERD worsened it stopped working and the only way I could get any sleep was to sleep in a recliner chair I had put in my bedroom. I started with a smaller wedge, then moved up to a higher one and had the bed propped up also.

I am looking for a used hospital bed or adjustable bed now. I am so tired of sleeping in a recliner chair and when I was in the hospital for a hernia surgery for 5 days, having a hospital bed and the iv pain pump made me feel the best in years.

Hopefully if I have another surgery this june (or sooner) I will one day be able to sleep somewhat normally again. I am tired of not being able to lie down without causing more pain.

I found I couldn't get my bed raised high enough and bought a wedge pillow. The first one I got I ended up returning since the small end (which you lie over) was 2 inches high! This seems to be the same for a number of wedge pillows which clearly weren't really designed for this. I've now got one which is smaller. Both the ones I've tried are actually pretty hard (don't be fooled by pictures of soft memory foam, it needs to be quite dense to support you). One way to make it more comfortable is to put the pillow UNDER the mattress if possible. This may take a bit of experimenting and probably isn't so good for the mattress.
It's not so easy to lie on your side, and pretty impossible to lie on your front with a wedge pillow, since it bends you at the hips. I've also developed some back problems, which may be related to using the wedge pillow - has anyone else had similar problems?

HELLO, I BOUGHT THE WEDGE PILLOW ALSO...AT FIRST I WOULD COME OFF IT DURNING THE NIGHT SO WHAT I DID WAS PUT IT UNDER MY FITTED SHEET AND IT WILL STAY THERE...NO MOVING...IT HELPS A LOT AS I MOVE ALOT..I ALSO BEFORE USING IT PUT IT OUTDOORS WITH OUT THE PLASTIC TO AIR IT OUT FOR THE DAY..THAT WORKED OUT GREAT AND IT REALLY DOES HELP...GOOD LUCK TOO YOU..

Boy, this is an issue that i think everyone has to work out for themselves. There's no one right way to do this. I had been advised to avoid the wedge pillows because of the problem of sliding off them. So I bought the bed riser blocks at WalMart for $8.97. I used them for about a week, but my back wouldn't tolerate them. I have a history of spinal problems and surgeries. So unfortunately, we ended up buying an adjustable bed. It was terribly expensive, but at the time we could afford it, so we decided to take the chance. Now I can raise the head of my bed to just the height that works for me. I also find that raising the foot of the bed just slightly helps keep me from sliding down. Because I have a number of chronic medical problems that won't go away, we felt that this was the wisest investment. You might be able to find a financing arrangement that will work for you.

I tried lots of things before I bought an adjustable bed. It has been great, well worth the expense. I recommend getting a latex foam mattress, they're not as smelly as the pertoleum based foam mattresses.

I've used a wedge pillow with no problems.Both my ENT and Gastro Internalist recommended using them. I bought both my pillows on line at JCPenney.com They have removeable outer coverings that are made of cotton that can be washed, so I don't have a problem w/ slipping down. I can also put pillows on top of them and they won't slip down or off either.

GOOD LUCK :D