[Ironside]

If you read the numerous web pages that talk about pressure sore prevention, most of them will say that you should turn at least every two hours in bed. Now, I don't know about you, but I certainly wouldn't want to be woken up every two hours to turn, you would never get any sleep. I remember the days when I was in the spinal unit, it was bloody awful be woken up during the night to be turned. Can you imagine relying on your wife or girlfriend to get up every two hours, your relationship would suffer terribly. It's very easy to give this kind of advice, it is a different ball game altogether sticking to it. If you get a decent mattress, you can lie on your back all-night without any pressure marks.

[zepac]

Howdy, im C4 and i should be covered with pressure spots all over my body, but im not
It depends on your skin. I hav a ''good type of skin'', i can lay on my back like 3days(once when hangover) and have no spots. Its not possible to wake up at night after overy 2h. Thats fustrating when you hav to get up at morning.
The mattress should be possibly hard and flat. I know most of ppl perfer soft but then you need to deal with spots on your ass, and it takes a lot of time to get rid off.

[Simon]

I agree the 2-3 hourly turn is a PITA but not done that since leaving my spinal unit 23 yrs ago. Get yourself a pressure reliving mattress made of memory foam such as a Tempur. I go 10-12 hours on a side and 15 hours on my back ie all night. No turns.
Zepac, I guess you've been lucky. I'm c4 too and would advise a normal mattress soft or hard. The risk is too great. Once the skin goes its difficult to repair and the older you get the less 'repairable' the skin becomes. Prevention is far better, for the sake of about 750 quid on a mattress which will last at least 10 years (mine is 10+ now) its nothing.

[Apparelyzed]

I just took delivery of my Tempur yesterday under their 60 day promotion.

It's weird!

You just sink into it and it molds itself to you, I think it'll take a few weeks to get used to it properly.

Simon.

[milosh]

well... just hard good plain mattress... that's what i prefer. also, never used cushion underneath my head.

[Joed]

In the normal course of a night, my body wakes me up at least every two hours. I guess it's because I still have patchy sensation, albeit abnormal sensation, and being in one position for very long will cause my skin to feel like it's burning. That wakes me up. Or if I do try to turn while sleeping, my body gets twisted which also causes pain and wakes me up.

This is the reason I'm such a grumpy ol' B.

We had just bought a new mattress (firm) before my main injury occurred, and now I'm wishing we had tried out the memory foam types first. Hindsight is 20/20, I suppose.

[brenrich]

Apparelyzed, on Jul 7 2006, 02:21 PM, said:

I just took delivery of my Tempur yesterday under their 60 day promotion.

It's weird!

You just sink into it and it molds itself to you, I think it'll take a few weeks to get used to it properly.

Simon.

I've had Tempur matresses for about 6 years. they are good and 14 hours without turning is no problem. however they do make you stay warm when you don't need it in the height of summer!

P.S. I don't pay for them. My district nurses sort them out for meevery two years.

Brendan

[Zeuss1953]

Hello Everybody,
Just my thoughts on turning, after being in the chair 37 years now. I sleep on my right side tonight, then tomorrow night I sleep on my left side, alternating each night. That way no side gets all the pressure every night. I've never had a sore from doing this either. If I'm in the hospital, I have to explicitly ask the nurses not to wake me up to turn me. I just get on my side about 11PM, put a pillow between my knees to keep from crushing my (boys), and sleep until 8-8:30AM. Next night, the other side. Try it, and Good Luck.
Zeuss1953