After months of pain, neck pain, occipital pain, migraines, acupuncture, tears, neck rolls, pain meds, the works I bit the bullet and bought a Bucky Duo Bed Pillow.   Some things have worked for a little while, most didn’t work at all.  Last night I tried my buckwheat bolster and while it wasn’t great, there were some size problems, I knew I was on the right track.  Even so, I had to revert back to my regular pillow simply because the bolster wasn’t large enough to support my head AND neck.  And I was awake, AGAIN, at 5:30 in such pain I couldn’t get back to sleep.

Spoke with my acupuncturist and she suggested that because it’s waking me up that it must be a sleep or pillow issue.

I went out immediately and got the Duo pillow.  It is buckwheat hulls on one side and millet hulls on the other. The millet is very quiet, the buckwheat not so much. But they both adjust completely to whatever form I need.  Hollows here, mounds there.  I lay down for about an hour and while my lower neck and shoulders ache my occipital pain is mostly gone and so is the headache.  I think the lower neck and shoulder ache is most likely attributable to the release of tension as it filters down.

Still a lot of pain and tonight I’m going to take a pain pill (thank god for the refill) to take care of this last bit of pain and see how I feel in the morning.  I suspect I’m going to feel better than I have in a long time.

The pillow I’ve been using?  I bought last winter when I replaced all the bedding after The Breakup. And that pillow just wasn’t punching down or getting comfortable. Now that I think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever had a pillow that really worked for me.

The best thing?  This pillow isn’t likely to wear out or get hard and flat. Its’ going to last a very long time and since I sew, when the case wears out I can make another one. Yeah Baby.