Help - pillow giving me migraines every day , what pillow do I need?

[Matchingcollarandcuffs]

I’ve had a week of awful migraines that I’m waking up with, my neck and shoulders are in spasm and really hurt to the touch.

I’m using a tempur contoured pillow but I think it’s too high which is causing the problem.

I’ve read that buckwheat pillows can be good, anyone tried them and find they help? Or other suggestions?

Thanks

Honestly, it's probably not your pillow. I say that after dozens and dozens of pillows and years of chronic migraine.

Neck pain can be PART of the migraine, not a symptom of the trigger. I spent ages on drugs for neck pain, but actually all along it was actually an element of my migraines. Very common apparently, but most GPs think the neck pain triggers the attack...

Try any other pillow you like - I have a cupboard full of thick, thin, shaped, flat, feather, Tempur, cooling pillows - I've bought the lot. Not one makes a jot of difference for the long term.

Go see your GP about daily migraine though - poorly managed migraine can quickly become chronic and take years to treat. Something I also wish I'd known a decade ago....

@SilverHairedCat this interests me....

I have migraines caused by neck tension. Apparently. The fact that it might be the other way round is a novel idea! I take naproxen, go to loads of osteopathy for the neck, do oodles of yoga but the migraines still come. Frustrating is an understatement.

Can I ask how your chronic migraines were or are being treated? I'm at the end of my tether!!

I have the sleep easy pillow and it's amazing. It's a shaped pillow and only designed for side sleepers. You lay in the dent in it and sort of tuck your shoulder under. At first I thought I would hate it but after the best nights sleep and no headache the next morning I was converted and bought one for my husband

The pictures make it look really quite hard, is it?

I get migraines from hard pillows.

I do have chronic migraine and have had to come off HRT (and no other medication works for me and I’ve tried them all, currently in process of EDS diagnosis ) so migraines worse but after waking up feeling like death the fifth morning in a row I went back to bed for two hours without a pillow and woke up feeling so much better, so I linked the two.

Sorry others suffer too

Totally this. Welcome to my pillow stash of every known shape, size and consistency...all bought before I found the proper solution to my absolutely catastrophic migraines (monthly injections). Personally I find that the softest pillow is the best, simply because any undue pressure anywhere on my skull or neck, caused by my weight abutting a hard surface, is likely to aggravate the pain (but not cause the migraine pain in the first place IYSWIM).

So my favourite pillow is Siberian goose down, which I take everywhere I have to sleep.

@friskybivalves what injections do you get? I was offered Botox but then Covid, and I’ve heard about local anaesthetic jabs too but I don’t react to it well anyway, just doesn’t work. But finally after 3 years I’ve got a pain clinic appointment for October where I can try new things

I also bought this for similar reasons.
I hated the initial feeling of it - compared to my usual it was solid like a brick.
One night's sleep and I thought OK, no neck pain and headaches. A week in I even used it lying on the sofa.
Now I even take it with me on nights away as the alternative isn't worth it!
Even better, if I ever feel in the day that I'm on the verge of an episode, they've never progressed compared to neck issues every 3 weeks and migraines weekly and headaches most days beforehand.
Buy it from Boots!

Feather pillow is the only one that works for me (but I do feel guilty about how unethical it is). And as PP said, make sure your shoulder is tucked under the corner of the pillow.

Loads of other things set mine off though. Even wearing trousers that are too tight- makes me tense and uncomfortable, normally triggers a migraine by lunchtime. Putting my hair up, wearing heavy jumpers that pull on the back of my neck, or any top really that sits at the wrong point on my neck. I even have to take my lanyard off at my desk because that's too heavy for the back of my neck 🙄

Op dhs worse pillow for me are mushy soft one's.

My best is a heavy pillow that'd about 40 years old.
I can shape it around my neck.
Then I got some cheap hollow fibres one's Deon jl years ago and hated then.. horribly soft but they went lumpy...I thought that was rubbish quality however... they are much better for my neck lumpy.
Then finally... my DC toddler pillow.. thanks goodness I've kept it again it can be shaped under my neck.

Soft and mushy pillow... no.

You need to find your neck triggers.
Mine is a wiping motion.

I also got a tens machine whichever really helped with neck issue's.

Buckwheat is like concrete.

I have a water pillow. It takes a bit of fiddling to get the right amount of water but it's well
worth it.

For those wondering: migraineworldsummit.com/talk/neck-pain-and-migraine-trigger-or-symptom/

migraineworldsummit.com/resource/neck-pain-and-migraine-trigger-or-symptom/

I had Botox for a year (42 injections every 3 months) - this reduced the severity of attacks by about half, I had far fewer hemiplegic attacks and the number of attacks reduced by about 1/3 but my starting point was 27 days per month so I was still seriously debilitated.

I'm now on Ajovy - an anti CGRP injection and I'm a super responder, meaning max 4-5 attacks per month. I actually had 2 last month. I'm about to start a 3 month withdrawal at the order of the NHS Trust, and I'm terrified of what this will bring for me.

No pillow at all.

@SilverHairedCat 💐 I can't even imagine, you poor poor thing.

Have you ever had your cervical spine checked for trigemenal nerve compression/impingement? Mine is a combo of that and EDS as likely triggers, my ligaments just can't hold my head up enough. I only suffer a third or so of the month (other than now) so it's nothing compared to you.

Who referred you for the Ajovy? I really hope you either tolerate the withdrawal of are allowed back on, considering your baseline that's a massive improvement

I slept with an old wool filled pillow last night, not bad but still too full for my liking so tips my head, need to find my faithful old feather pillow that's squashed pancake flat

I have a cut up memory foam one that has helped stop me waking with migraines. It's full of tiny bits so you can fill it to the perfect hight

I get very similar, chronic neck and shoulder pain, have for years, and sleeping in the wrong position causes it.
Over the years I've tried different orthopaedic pillows, and they just made it worse. I tried out various combinations of pillows, with the aim to fill the gap exactly between my neck and the bed. Too high causes problems and too low does as well. I find a slimmer pillow and a fatter pillow work, both fairly solid for support. I also find hugging another pillow helps when on my side as it props my shoulder up.
Also, the Dr prescribed Amiltriptaline 10mg for me a few years ago. It's a migraine treatment but used for chronic pain. It helps me sleep a little better too which seems to be key to me being comfortable and keeping the neck /shoulder pain at ease.
I also find that self massage of the knots you get where the muscle spasms, really helps. My husband has also got so good at it, can immediately pinpoint where a knot is and gives it a good rub.
If I'm having a really bad day of pain, I try to stretch to ease off the pain, take neurofen and lie on a hot water bottle for a while.
The other thing I do is sit upright in a chair with hot water bottle wedged behind me on the sore part. Once my posture is good it often eases off. Sometimes it eases off in the car when I put the seat upright and prop a cushion behind me!
It might be different for you, but worth trying, and working out what works for you.
Best of luck xx

Not pillow related but do you grind your teeth?
Getting a properly fitted hard teeth guard that is smooth so no purchase for the bottom teeth to grip on helped enormously with my neck and shoulder pain. Headaches too.
My migraines are from light sensitivity so not what you suffer from but the anti grind guard has totally changed my sleep and how I feel in the morning.

Yes, have chewed through it but I do use one every night. I have TMJ and a subluxing jaw too. I'm falling apart but not being in HRT is definitely making it all worse

God, you've got it all going on Matching.
Did you come off HRT because you're sensitive to progesterone?

I have a wool pillow as I'm allergic to feathers. Totally agree the majority of pillows are too high, mine came with a zip so you could adjust the filling. I got DH to look at me until my head was level and I took loads of filling out.

I'd also recommend physio and a desk assessment at work, moving my computer screen about really helped as did the neck manipulation from the physio.

I have so many causes of my migraine but addressing each one all adds up.

@TheCanyon yes it is firm and an odd shape. But it really does work for me. I was initially worried because I often used to flip my pillow over in the night and you clearly can't do that but I soon realised I didn't wake up to do this. I think the main reason it works for me is it supports my neck. With your shoulder tucked under the dent; the head rests in the groove and supports the lot

@Silverstreaks have you got glasses for that? I live in my Migralens sunglasses outdoors - I can even go out in broad sunshine with a migraine if I have to whilst wearing them. I've also got orange / pink tinted glasses to prevent attacks when I'm in a harsh office lighting environment. That was after a colorimetry assessment. www.plymouth.ac.uk/schools/school-of-health-professions/centre-for-eyecare-excellence/our-clinics (down towards the bottom of the page).

OP - Botox and Ajovy are only available via neurology in England. If you can afford it contact www.nationalmigrainecentre.org.uk/ - they run all sorts of clinics and can prescribe privately. You can discuss how they can refer you back into the NHS.

I got lucky pre-pandemic and saw a neurologist with a specialism in headache disorders within 6 months of my GP referral - I asked to be put on the cancellation list and agreed to be seen literally anywhere in the country at the drop of a hat. I'd have flown anywhere is he asked me to! He put me on botox, ordered the colorimetry assessment (I paid for the assessment and the glasses though!), recommended I take all the supplements here: migrainetrust.org/live-with-migraine/healthcare/treatments/supplements/ (my doc helped write the guidance!), and to go buy a Cefaly (££££) on Amazon as the NHS won't fund them.

It all helped, especially the glasses, but not enough and I was still chronic and very ill. Ajovy has been life changing.

@SilverHairedCat
I pretty much wear sunnies all year round. I have some yellow lenses for strip lighting indoors. I'll have to look at orange and pink lenses, thanks for the info
When driving I wear thick armed glasses. To avoid the combination of light and shadow flicker in my periphery.
All helpful but I still get the odd migraine ambush just by bending over. 🙄