Raising the head of your bed to prevent GERD. How do you do it?

Fistycuffs

So my mum has been told to raise the head of her bed to prevent heartburn etc. However she has a king size bed and the base is in two halves running from left to right rather than each one running from top to bottom. It just doesn't seem to work to raise only the top section on the bed .

So how do other people do it if their bed base is in 2 sections ?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

FluffyCat

It is generally recommended to raise your head and top half of your body using pillows.
There are special beds, like hospital beds, that can raise up but these are expensive.
I'd try just using extra pillows and see how that goes. Also dont eat large fatty meals coming up to bedtime and excerise!

CathyMoran

Medically I am supposed to do the same - I just use extra pillows, you can get special beds but they are very expensive.

I find that certain foods will make it a lot worse - curry near bed time is a no no, it is trial and error.

Fistycuffs

Thank you both

She asked her doctor if pillows were enough but he was quite insistent that pillows wouldn't be adequate. It seems to be impossible to raise her bed base using books etc though given it's in two halves so for now pillows will have to do.

LenaClaire

I used to have to do that as a kid and I got something like this http://www.ableforlife.com/cushions.html

You could probably get it from a medical supply store or something.

rubadub

Rather than raise the bed base you could raise the mattress. e.g. if you have a large bit of wood cut to the size of the mattress then the wood could rest on your bed base, now you could put books or pillows or old blankets underneath the bed at the top end so it looks like a ramp, then put the mattress on this.

Or you could forget the wood and try building up layers of old blankets underneath the mattress, slowly tapering down in a ramp shape towards the end.

Raising some beds might be dangerous as the legs would be at angles and might not be resting on the ground properly, they could be under abnormal stress conditions.