Hi everyone, I want to share something great and free that I am finding incredible, my lungs are gradually improving.
Is there anyone else here using Inclined Bed Therapy ? I have wondered for a long time how much lung damage happens because of unseen reflux. IBT is not just propping up pillows, it is raising the complete bed 6" at the head end only.
After sleeping on this slight slope for nearly a month my lifelong cough and wheeze is going, my sinus is clear, pnd almost gone - it used to take me 1 1/2 hrs to "drain and clear" my lungs every morning with neb saline, lung flute etc but not any more, just a short go with my lung flute and I'm clear. Surely this must help those with reflux, Barrett's esophagus ? Anyway, sleeping in this position has helped other things too, I feel refreshed when I wake, I realise now that the headachy unwell feeling I woke to must have been caused by stagnation lying flat, I know that I never want to sleep in a flat bed again.
I just had to write and ask everyone what they think, I'm not sure how to do links on this iPad, have a look on google for Andrew K Fletcher Inclined Bed Therapy, don't underestimate this gentle spoken man from west mids UK, it does not surprise me that the world is too busy to hear his words.
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zube-UK
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sassy you were quick with that reply, thanks for taking a look.
Hi zube-UK Ihave had an electric bed for eleven years. I have bronchiectasis and on and off reflux so have the top half of the bed raised as and whenI need it. I’m glad it works for you.
Hi littlepom, thanks for your reply, is it just the top half of your bed that is raised? It needs to be a gradual slope from head to foot for the therapy to work apparently, something to do with whole body fluids according to Andrew.
Hmmm. They used to block my bed up like this in the 1950s before the invention of the electric bed. It was no different to my having the top half of my bed up 6 inches. It is a very old thing to do so must have some benefit. Whichever way you do it though, remember that it can encourage the mucus to stay down in the lungs whilst preventing acid from coming up. A conundrum but at the moment you seem to have the balance right with your excellent mucus clearing.
how interesting that your bed was raised in the 50's, like you, I have had this bronch way back and also remember some beds blocked up but not mine, you are right it looked about 6" back then. I am looking out for the blessed stuff to get stuck low down, cofdrop mentioned that as well, can only keep trying.
Now I’m giving more thought, they also used to make me lie facing down the bed with my head over the end to cough up. That was before I had a torture implement which was a slatted wooden triangle thing. They used to put a cushion on the top, I lay over it and they thumped my back- twice a day! ( actually my mother did). At Leicester hospital, where I went for monthly physio ( abuse) for 6 years one of the gentler contraptions was a a rocking bed which tipped me up down and side to side. Oh I’ve had the lot!
Oh fond memories. I think we should write the book! When I go for my breathing tests the young technicians always ask me for stories of how they treated us as kids. More than once they have asked me to write it down.
my bed is an all singing all dancing nursing one I keep my head end at 70 degrees and to stop myself sliding down I use the knee break which is included, I have had many a good sleep in it an never grumbled at paying £500 plus for it help me being able to keep my chest clear
That's a goodun anthony, sounds snug. My husband has a hospital bed they sent when he came home from hospital. It makes a humming sound when it is plugged in and I wonder how much electric it takes, does your bed make this sound ?
It is Larry and not just draining, I think reflux acid is not able to do the damage it did when I was flat. I see that you have emphysema, do you get much sputum stuck in the lungs?
Hi, yer sometimes but then I drink a couple of table spoons of raw lemon juice and bang it helps no end. Give it a try a bit Sharp at first but I like Sharp taste so iam okay with it. It does work for me.
hi, Yes I used to slide off the pillows with just the top end raised, it's horrid isn't it, does not seem to happen now that the whole bed has been raised at head end, first I used 3 pillows and now just one will do.
Will check out the link in a mo. Currently I use pillows, don't really slip off them as Ive got a thin pillow under my thighs which prevents me going down further. Mattress is a futon which Im finding too hard and is causing pain in my pelvis. There's also an american reflux wedge pillow where you put your lower left arm through a hole in the wedge and this keeps you in place - not cheap though. I'll put the link on if I can find it. Thanks for posting Zube.
I used to sleep on a futon but it hurt my hips too, would a memory foam mattress topper help ? At least the futon mattress is not too bouncy like some beds can be. The reflux wedge sounds a good help, if you don't toss about like me !
Enthusiasm, I like that, please let us know how it goes Alde, did you read Andrew K Fletcher on cofdrop's link ? He explains all the advantages with it, interesting.
Reflux plays a big part in bronchiectasis i was told and have oesphigitus reflux disease too.i have just had major heart surgery 7 weeks ago and actually i am really propped up in bed for the pain in my sternum and i have noticed that my chest is much clearer and so are my sinuses on a morning as i also suffer with chronic sinusitus so this is very interesting to read.thanks
Thank you for your info Dazzler, I think you are doing amazingly well with all the mitral heart surgery as well, my husband had a metal aortic heart valve replaced 25 yrs ago, gp says it is still excellent now, reasuring.
Interestingly, there are a few people on Andrew K Fletcher's link who have AF and find IBT is helping a lot.
Yey, great if you can give it a try Sjf, interesting to see if it gets you as clear as it is for me now, I know I will never want to sleep on a flat bed again.
With me my sinus make my eyelids so puffy you can see through them and in the morning sinus drainage going down and phlem coming up make for a miserable morning but when I was in the hospital my eyes never did that
I have used an adjustable bed for years now. Without it I don't have so much breath in the morning. And it stops any reflux. Also useful for raising the feet a little too as the bottom half also raises. How much I am raised depends on my chest on the night. Sometimes it will be raised quite a way. Other times quite flat. I would recommend these beds to anyone having problems in bed at night. When I used pillows I used to wake and find them all on the floor. Now with the head raised I only need one pillow.
Thanks derrylynne, it is good to hear you are getting a better sleep with the adjustments. I don't want to sleep on a flat bed again, think it causes stagnation and I wake feeling headachey and slow, this has not happened at all since I inclined the head end of my bed.
You also sound so much better on the 'phone. Less chesty and less tired, despite all you have to do. Gonna try it hun, especially re the IBS and SIBO, which is making life a misery. Fletcher makes sense to me. If I don't give it a go I'll never know. Will keep an eye on any effect on lung clearance.
Thank you for sharing. One day I might have a little lab going with kombucha scooby doos etc!
Interestingly, I had the flue jab yesterday and have a niggly irritation in upper lung, happens every time I have the jab but thought I better have it this year because of the Oz flue.
Have grown loads of scooby doos now - visitors do not like them ! Not many will try the magic elixir..
I like the idea of the wineglass, tried it and it does taste nicer. Feel unwell today, Clive too, it must be that jab or we picked up infection in the flue clinic, did try to avoid doorhandles etc. xx
Hello zube-UK. I had problems sleeping flat, so we found a very nice reclining chair in a charity shop, and having slept in it for a few nights things were much improved, I didn't wake up with an headache and I felt so much better. It is definitely something worth doing xx
Thanks Christina, you were real lucky to find that recliner, ours was given to us but it is old. Interesting that you woke up without that awful headache, I feel refreshed now with more energy. I feel warmer too, like my metabolism has increased, let's hope it continues...
It was very strange the way I found the chair, I had spent many hours looking for one I could afford and I got so fed up with finding nothing that I decided to give it a rest and start looking for a birthday present for my grandson who wanted a particular hoodie, nothing to do with reclining chairs, when up popped an advert for a chair in a charity shop about 6 miles away, I phoned them and we went straight over to see it, and it was perfect and cost us £40, it has been worth every penny several times over. I hope you continue to have restful sleep in your xxxx
Hi Lindyloo, I used logs from the forest around me, Forest of Dean UK, whole logs and some sliced up to get 6" equal, had to knock off a few wood lice !
Head is definitely up and feet need to be lower than hips, have a look at Andrew K Fletcher on google or follow cofdrop's helpful link. Thanks Lindy,it's great that so many are interested in this.
I warched the You tube video. Completely the opposite from what they say to clear the mucous out of the lungs! Do you find that you are draining the guk from your lungs?
Hiya Lindy-loo, well spotted. Lung draining and sleeping are two separate things.
Sleeping on a flat bed allows reflux fluids to silently seep into lungs, causing damage, also bunged up sinus and post nasal drip seeps into the lungs as well, all this in the lungs is a mucus forming problem which for me has vastly improved since sleeping on my 5% slope.
This 5% slope optimises flow and return of body fluids, lymph, blood, mucus etc., I believe it is why I feel more refreshed and clear headed when I wake now.
We could use the slope the opposite way to actually do postural drainage, I do not drain my lungs that way anymore as it can agrivate my hiatus hernia, and anyway, I find much less muke now after a month sleeping on the slope.
I like the lung flute although breath makes it wet and stops it working, I dismantle it and push a cloth through it with a stick, yep, I really work at getting rid of the dreaded mucus !
I know I'm fighting an infection right now and just want that to go! I get far too many infections. I am sure when I go back to the specialist we will know more about whats growing in there!
I hope you do get some help, infection is horrible, I know I don't feel so well now after having the flue jab yesterday, it's the jab or I have picked up infection in the jab clinic, hope you feel better soon.
Many thanks Zube-UK for the heads up!! lol...heads up...I make me laugh!!
I was sleeping with raised pillows and the like but my sleep was poor...now back to just two biggish pillows and sleeping sound. I too have the dreaded reflux (with a good dose of COPD, stage four apparently and osteoarthritis...all a bit of a nuisance if you ask me!!...mustn't grumble!!) and managing through diet. After reading your post I will ponder on this for a bit...I read 'payalot's' post saying they raised their mattress by 6 inches...which would be far easier for me to do than to try and raise this wooden bed I have. But thank you...appreciate the info.
have a good one...wishing you and yours only the very best now and in the future.
Sorry Juliette, you have a lot to put up with, your entitled to have a good old groan, my bed is heavy wooden one too, I resorted to a car jack to raise it, mad me..
Yes, it works! I have a hospital bed and so am able to tilt it and since doing so I rarely have the reflux that was making me really suffer before. I had tried a wedge and raising the top of the bed but all that happened was I slid down. Many thanks.
This is great news mrsmummy, and a good description of the tilt helping your reflux, do you also find improved circulation, like warm hands and feet when you wake up? thanks for letting us know that it has helped you too.
That's so interesting, zube, thanks for posting. I've recently bought one of these completecareshop.co.uk/beds... We have two single mattresses pushed together on a 6' wide base so this is better for me.
Brilliant link, thanks Hanne, so much useful stuff there, I've just ordered the tall wooden risers.
I am not sure about the wedge as it is only 27" and takes you up from the waist. To feel full benefit we need feet lower than hips, it did not make sense to me until I tried it exactly as Andrew K Fletcher described, I felt the difference straight away.
Hi again zube. The wedge has definitely helped, but I’m thinking of changing over to the risers. For the reasons you mention, I think it would be even better. We’ve got 2 single bases we can use, will look a bit odd but never mind. How do you stop yourself slipping down the bed though?
The risers from your link are good, a gradual tilt is better for the diaphragm, the wedge can keep us bent at the waist.
I don't find myself sliding down, only if I am wriggling about a lot which does not seem to happen as often as it did sleeping flat.
If I wake in the night it does not feel like a slope, It feels flat to me now, I have got used to it and lying flat now feels wrong, heavy in the chest feeling, odd.
I agree with zube-uk. There is no sensation of being tilted. My body just feels to be flat and I don't experience any slide the way I did with the wedge.
Hello Andrew, thank you for your valuable research, wish I had found it years ago! The IBT is helping me a lot, even through the exhausting difficulties of nursing my husband with a brain tumour, heart failure and copd.
I am so thankful to you, can't believe my clear sinus and general improvement when I wake, 2 months like this is unusual for me, I'm grabbing some wood! and staying on the slope, thank you Andrew.
Nice to hear from you Andrew, yes I'm still sleeping on the incline, it's about a year now. Sadly my dear husband died in January so not a very fair way to trial your theory, a year of grieving and recovery from last winters bad flue I caught in hospital with him.
But, I can say there are good changes, no reflux symptoms and much less inflammation in upper airways. Interestingly the annoying reflux cough returned for a few weeks after staying at my sister's on a flat bed, that proved it for me.
Also feet and limbs are warmer in bed and no constipation for the whole year apart from the blip at my sisters ! An odd thing though, my nose is very cold, day and night, taken to wearing a bobble hat.
I just ordered one Im hoping it will help by reading your post looking forward in clearing up my problem.... I have had acid reflux fourteen years and it caused lots of lung scaring and infections... Doing every thing I can to help with this problem...
Thanks for your update, which as you say, comparing sleeping flat proves the incline is a useful tool in combating respiratory problems. Ironically, there are published papers that state raising the head end of the bed helps to prevent ICU acquired pneumonia. Odd that your nose is cold, could this be due to where you live? Damp environment in the forest?
I'm still sleeping on the slope Andrew, it's over a year since I started and I am really noticing a difference now, I have not needed antibiotics for nearly a year, this is amazing for my lung condition.
When I first started IBT my husband was very ill and I was nursing him day and night as well as coping with my bronchiectasis, sadly he died last January which left me deeply sad, altogether not a very fair trial for IBS.
Even so, not needing antibiotics for a year is the result as well as easier lung draining each day, thanks again Andrew.
Hi skipwork, yes it will but it depends on why you are coughing, what sort of cough it is.
If your cough produces mucus (wet cough) you need to do lung clearing methods to get your lungs as clear as possible each day, I use a lung flute and hypertonic saline in a nebuliser, sometimes ventolin.
If your cough feels like a dry irritation at the top of your right lung, or top of lungs then it could be caused by acid reflux creeping up your esophagus when you lie flat. To stop this you can eat foods that do not create acid in the stomach, try just vegetables, or compatible food combing for a while.
If your cough is caused by an infection you need to collect a sample of sputum from coughing and take it to your GP or lung consultant within a few hours to be sent to the lab, they will tell you which antibiotic to use.
Yes, your coughing bouts should stop, I do not cough any more at night.
I hope this is helpful to you, so sorry you are troubled with coughing, please let us know how you are skipwork.
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Many thanks.
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