I don’t have a sleep number
After using a bed that cost several thousands of dollars, I have come to the conclusion that I do not have a sleep number. Fibromyalgia should also be referred to as “Princess & the pea” syndrome. I can feel every wrinkle in the sheet because it feels like it has been burned into my skin when I wake up. Needless to say, I’ve spent way too much money & time trying to get comfortable. One of the solutions that worked best is an egg crate foam pad I got at Wal-mart for $12. I’ve also slept on about 12″ of foam that I had cut at a local fabric store. These turn any bed into the equivalent of one of those “space age material” beds. (Really they are just bragging about foam, yeah it’s memory foam, but it’s still foam). I always take them with me when I travel, they are the only way I can sleep.
I envy people who can just sit in a chair. Whenever I sit down I am longing for one of the few comfortable chairs I have sat in during my entire life. So goes life with fibromyalgia. Few people understand how sitting down can hurt. This is a quick tip for the blogger with fibromyalgia. I have tried to blog sitting on the floor propped up by pillows, in a recliner, in bed, on every couch I can find, at the dining room table, every chair in the house, & other people’s houses. The quest for the perfect chair alludes me. I have bought several office chairs in all shapes & sizes. I am convinced that the word ergonomics really means painful. I’ve owned more office chairs than most people have shoes. Either they lean too far back or hit the painful points in my back. I have found what works best is taking a body pillow & putting it on the back of my chair. Then I use a soft feather pillow on top of that. It is cushy enough for me to sit for hours. Without this I have a back ache within a few minutes. How do you work at the computer comfortably?
January 17th, 2007 at 5:52 am
Work at a computer comfortably? Gotta be joking!
I relented, bought a laptop and now work mostly on the sofa or a very soft supportive futon.
Office chairs have me in agony within a couple of minutes – same for dining chairs. Have to be cushioned for me to have any chance of sitting at the table let alone enjoying a meal!
Tip for sleeping: nice very expensive orthopaedic mattress and a wee bit of self-hypnosis. Lovely
January 17th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
I have an executive chair that I use, but I do a lot of my typing on a laptop while sitting on the couch. They key is to have a lapdesk to put it on so you don’t burn your legs and you keep the air flowing under it!
And Fibro has often been referred to as the Princess & the Pea syndrome. My favorite sheets to use are the T-Shirt sheets. I find the best ones from Domestications (online) – they last several years and are soft right off the bat. I travel with my own pillow and my own sheets. Hope this helps!
January 20th, 2007 at 1:08 am
Make that another vote for a laptop. I absolutely deplore not being able to upgrade my computer as the whim strikes, and while she has a nice 15″ screen, it can’t hold a candle to a big 21″ monitor.
On the other hand, I can use my sweet little gal whiel bundled up in my recliner, which is where I spend most of my hours. The rolling lap desk holds her precisely where I want her. An external, ergonomic, wireless keyboard fits in my lap and works very nicely. The wireless, laser mouse will work on the arm of the recliner if I don’t feel like raising my hands up to the lap desk, and that’s often the case (though I also use lots of keyboard shortcuts, or any of the nifty keys toys built in to the keyboard, or the splendiferous Wacom tablet I received for Yule).
I have another lap desk that’s better for days in bed. I’m very picky about my ergonomics, as we all need to be.
I do often have to put extra pillows beneath me in the recliner or the bed, though, and I have to shift frequently.
When I was pregnant with my daughter back in 1990, I had a nice ergonomic “task chair” and one of those “knee chairs” that were the rage in the late 80s, and switching between the two was the only way I could sit long enough to get any work done.
That memory makes me pine for two completely different recliners, so I could shift from one to another and have more of a break for the points that take the most pressure sitting in one or the other.
May 11th, 2009 at 6:55 am
i usually work on my bed. i cant work on sofa or chairs
May 11th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
I love to work on my bed as Im doing that now.. specially with the laptop.
May 18th, 2009 at 6:44 am
We sell mattresses to customers in Mooresville, North Carolina, and they often report using their bed as a location to work with their laptops. One of the considerations they have in buying a mattress is one for that is comfortable enough so that they could spend additional hours working on their bed without developing any pains or neck kinks.
June 11th, 2009 at 9:32 am
I know how you feel. I usually work on my bed to get comfortable, you could try a new sofa though, the right one could be very comfortable and make it easy to work on.
June 11th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
I cried like a baby when I read this post. No one can understand the pain and agony I feel spending my 10 hour day at work sitting on what I call the iron maiden (my new ergonomic, memory foam chair). I just want to cry when I come to work thinking about having to sit in this darn thing. And on the subject of sleeping, I am not sure I remember what that is, I used to know, but I have not slept a full night in over 5 years and am convinced that my high dollar, euro pillow top bed that was supposed to be awesome, hates me!!
June 26th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
I’m not comfortable when i work on a bed.. I really need a nice soft chair.
June 29th, 2009 at 11:10 pm
Sherri — I can. 11 hour days in front of a computer with a desk too high for the chair and a roller pad that isn’t big enough and no budget for a better chair. Help!
August 5th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
So…. I’m not alone? I’m not the only person on the planet that thinks sitting sucks? I have “no go areas in my life” … cinema, theatre, trains and planes. I love my recliner at home but I loathe this
“ergonomic super chair” my employers tell me cost a fortune. Very much looking forward to my home business earning me a living and I can give up the hell of this chair…. which reminds me I should be working. Hugs to you all.
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:01 pm
OMG, I thought I was the only person in the world who was going through this. Just like you, I’ve gone through a gazillion chairs, both trying to find one for the computer and an easy chair for the living room. Right now, I’m using a stool at my computer, so my back doesn’t have to touch anything at all, but I can only stay here for a few minutes before pain sets in.
For my living room easy chair, my newest attempt is an automobile seat. I went to the junk yard and sat in every junked car that I could get into. I finally found an old squishy volvo seat that was the least painful and had it pulled from the car. Cost me $30. I mounted it on a wooden platform. I spend any time in it constantly adjusting the sitting up/leaning back with various pillows. Can’t just sit and stay in any chair I sit in, this one so far is the best for me.
But I’m forever on the hunt for a chair. My mate has never quite understood, but after showing this blog, finally I’ve got proof how much pain it is to sit. Thank you!!
If anyone finds a living room easy chair that works with fibromyalgia, Please post it!
April 3rd, 2010 at 10:45 am
Shona and others with work chairs that hurt-
If a recliner helps, take it to work; the ADA law (Americans with Disabilities Act) says if the accomodation (chair in this case) provided by the employer does not help, the employee can furnish his own; as long as it does not put undo hardship on employer (gray area, giving you a little more space if the recliner won’t fit your work space probably is not undo hardship, unless they would have to expand their building to do so); I found a very soft office chair that works for me, made by Lazyboy (not a recliner, rather their office products line), called the Horizon, which relieved the pain in my Ischial Tuberosity (sit bones area), after trying the employer’s ergo chair that didn’t help; I did have to start a lawsuit with the EEOC agency that administers the ADA law, however, to get the employer to finally allow my chair; recommend you tell employer up front you plan to bring your chair, and see if they resist (I had already brought mine, didn’t think they would object, they did); the Horizon worked for about 3 years, then I developed pain in the tail bone, the chair causes you to lean slightly back, to get off the Ischial, doctors not sure if chair is the cause, or just progression of disease; now using a cushion with a cut-out under the tail bone, on top of the chair seat; the ADA law also says you can work from home, as long as your presence is not absolutely needed in the workplace; as for avoiding cinema’s etc., not fun, but planes I have flown do let you stand in the back for awhile if sitting gets uncomfortable; finally, my fibro is 90% in remission, got off sugar (candida overload) and eat organic and avoid other pollution exposures as can, there is a small group of doctors that treat this way, Dr. Rea in Texas is one.
May 24th, 2010 at 9:16 pm
My mother has fibromyalgia, though her pain doesn’t seem to be as extreme as yours. Its strange, she’ll buy nice expensive beds that she finds comfortable, and most of the time she ends up sleeping on the couch. Maybe its easier on a psychological level to deal with the discomfort of a couch than a bed.
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November 10th, 2010 at 7:11 pm
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November 10th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
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November 26th, 2010 at 11:27 pm
My Grandmother has fibromyalgia and suffers from the same pain mentioned in this article. That is the main reason that I decided to research various foams (mainly memory foam) to possibly ease her pain during sleep. Like you, my Grandma doesn’t have a sleep number but what she did have was a major problem (her innerspring mattress)
She now has a Tempflow memory foam mattress and adjustable bed and no longer experiences any problems…