Somehow, at the age of 23, I am already about as fussy about pillows as the average 75-year-old. Sometime in college I decided normal pillows gave me neck pains, and tried a little camp pillow I had, followed by a Bucky travel pillow. Call it genetics or bad luck, but at the least provocation my neck would knot up and start sending sorties up my skull to stab me with migraines. At some point I got a little foam dealy from my grandma that worked for years—a little tiny rectangular pillow with a swelling at the bottom for under my neck. When I ended up with a pillow-topped mattress, suddenly that no longer worked, and I settled for the dubious expedient of rolling up a hand-towel. As recently as last week, I have been, I kid you not, switching from the towel to the grandma pillow when I turn on my side, and back again when I flop on my back. This whole thing, doubtless boring as heck to read a blog post about, was annoying, back-painy, and generally make-me-feel-old-before-my-timey. And now, I think, it’s over.
When I was little, my mom insisted on buying hypoallergenic foam pillows for me, on the grounds that I would be allergic to down because I was allergic to [Dust, dust mites, tree pollen, grass pollen, flower pollen, cats, dogs, nuts, raw fruits and veggies, probably bees…|text|practically everything else]. This is the same logic by which I had no wool clothing until Mom’s fear of her daughter freezing to death at college in Chicago overrode her fear of her daughter itching; and the logic that made me incredibly happy that my wisdom teeth came in straight, as my mom said she wouldn’t let them give me general anaesthesia because “with your luck, you’ll be the one in a hundred thousand who doesn’t wake up.”
At my sister’s house in Seattle, I slept on a down pillow for three blissful nights. I can tuck up the bottom edge to support my neck, my head isn’t too far off the mattress, and the down on either side keeps my head from lolling about without my neck muscles doing a blessed thing. It’s glorious! I came right back home and bought a down pillow. I’m getting delicious, comfortable sleep, but it makes me laugh that after 23 years I have finally ‘discovered’ the kind of pillow everyone else in my house used when I was 2. And I haven’t sneezed yet.
Comments
*shrug*
I sleep without a pillow.
Neck pain and down
As you well know, I too have neck/head crankiness, and therefore understand your quest for and joy in finding a good pillow. My only compliant about down pillows is how quickly they lose their shape. I am not talking a simple matter of fluffing, but loss of feathers and matting of feathers over time. As the process of feather loss begins a second issue arises, being poked in the face by quills. Supposedly good pillow cases and shams can help avoid these problems, so you may want to look into such things early, before your new joy begins to wilt, leak, and leave feathers on everything you own.
Re: Neck pain and down
Well, it’s Wamsutta and claims it won’t do the quill thing…but I figure the matting won’t be too bad, since I like flatness in a pillow :) When I was in the store, I kept pressin’ ‘em, trying to figure out which one would be nice and flat :P
Re: *shrug*
I gave that a try, too, but the fussy vertebrae were not happy with the lack of attention!
addendum
You forgot birch trees. (aren’t you allergic to them, too?)
Re: addendum
I just simplified to ‘tree pollen’. If I tried to list every kind of pollen I am verifiably allergic to, we would be here all week.