I have severe brittle asthma and tracheomalacia of which are fully uncontrolled (tried every medication suitable to no avail with consultant). I am worst overnight and first thing in the morning and really struggle to sleep. I sleep propped up with pillows but they always end up falling off the bed. I would like an adjustable bed so I can sleep propped up all night. Is it worth bothering with an Occupational therapy assessment to get one that way or should i just try and afford one privately
Thabks
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wheezy01
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I bought an adjustable back rest just like that (not from Amazon though) and also a wedge pillow. I find the adjustable back rest much better than the wedge pillow. Good tip 👍
Like others have said, occupational health likely won’t help. I asked about a wedge pillow, at least to borrow one to see how I get on with it before buying one, but they said no. It’s a pity though because I don’t get on well with the pillow and barely used it. It can be used under the mattress but my bed is wedged in at the head and I can’t lift the mattress to put the pilllow underneath but it might be better like that.
Regarding your question seeing a occupational therapy it's not worth sorry for inconvenience but due to cut back they won't give you anything at most you might get some tablet for your pillow disorder sorry for being so upfront just wanted you to save the time
I to have serve brittle asthma and was told my respiratory team to sleep proped up. I don't know how close your bed is to the wall at the back of your bed, but I found that if I use a body pillow to pug the gap at the back of my bed and then use spare pillows in front of the body pillow, followed by one normal pillow with a U shaped pillow on top. Non of my other pillows move and I stay proped up all night. This has made a big difference to my sleeping. Maybe you should give it a go.
I always had my bed next to the wall and a chair the other side with its back to the bed. As well as the pile of pillows behind, I had two tucked in between the layers either side so it looked a bit like an armchair. Then I had one under my knees. It is true that I eventually slid a bit in the night, but not very far. You can get a special device to keep you in bed but it might be very expensive - shifting your furniture might look odd, but good if it works and it's free!
Occupational Health Assessments can be difficult to get as SS budgets are very overstretched.
My husband worked for an organisation which used to arrange private ones (OH assessments) so that they could then apply for the money for the necessary Aid.
You could try inverted bed therapy. The simplest thing to do is prop your bed up with books or wood e.g 2 x4 pieces. There is info on this on line, it Is easy to do, it’s inexpensiveand there is a number of benefits to be gained. The recommended height is 6 inches so there is a 5% incline . Best to raise in increments .try 2 inches at first and increase over time. My wife loves the fact that i don’t snore anymore ..
I also have severe brittle asthma and have tried everything. Currently at home when "well" I'm on steroid nebs via Pari LC Sprint Star fine mist neb 3x a day, salbutamol nebs every 4 hours minimum, atrovent nebs every 6 hours, intal forte inhaler 4 puffs 4x a day, montelukast, long term prednisolone and a couple of months ago started mepolizumab injections to replace the xolair that was not working well enough. We are hoping to wean off the prednisolone after my next mepo injection because it should be at full effect by then. I have been dependent on supplemental oxygen for years because of damage from the asthma and now I'm on 24/7 cpap because of tracheobronchomalacia and excessive collapse of the smaller airways. I also have atelectasis in both lungs which was diagnosed at the start of last year and has not resolved since. Wow, that was not meant to turn into such an essay.
More to the point, I have an adjustable hospital bed at home. I sleep propped up due to severe reflux from oesophageal dysmotility, slack lower oesophageal sphincter and hiatus hernia. I have lost count of how many times it's caused aspiration pneumonia. In fact, I am in hospital right now for that. If you can afford it, an adjustable bed with a good mattress is a really good idea. I tried wedge pillows and other things like a foldup frame in my normal bed and I ended up with bedsores. The number of times I have aspirated during the night has vastly dropped since getting my adjustable bed and it is much easier to breathe when sleeping propped up.
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