I am 36 years old, and have been deteriorating in health since 1997, mainly due to Fibro, but partly self neglect to be honest. I live in West Sussex in a sheltered housing scheme, and have a brilliant care package and range of services that help me to at least try to take part in life, which most of the time is tantalisingly just out of my reach. I also suffer additional conditions which affect my experience of Fibro. This is common ground to many of us, but where I share an issue that is also impacted by another condition I will mention it, so you know how much weight to add to the articles in terms of how they may help your experience of Fibro if you do not have the same problems.

I have been asked by Squirrel Medical to share, not just my experience with their product(s), but as much information as possible, with the help of any of you reading this as possible that would like to help, about the condition itself. Articles about what Fibro means to you and I, how it effects us, what we feel could make a difference, nutritional experiments we have tried, NHS convential treatment through to homeopathic remedies and treatments.

Together with Squirrelmedial.Co.Uk , for the first time perhaps, we have a company that wishes to engage with us, create products that relieve symptoms, but as important to them is that we have a blog space just to be there for each other and share our collective experience, knowledge and experiments we have gone through before we hit on something that helped you or another Fibro sufferer.

I belong to a local Fibro support group, and we often pool information, as well as chat and learn from each other. Some tend to sit and listen, and it is those people that might just use this sort of forum to have their voice heard.

One aspect of Fibro, is that it can commonly affect how fast we think, recall information and vocalise sentences. It is known as Fibro-fog and feels like thinking through fog, kind of the equivalent of runnimg through treacle feeling we have when we dream sometimes. Here you and I can take our time (this has taken me 2 hours already) to order our minds and express ourselves clearly.

Let us take this opportunity to tell Squirrelmedial.Co.Uk and the world our story, and work towards a slightly less painful future for us all. I will add further posts about specific aspects of Fibro over time, but would love to hear your comments and any further ideas for this space.

Danny Drage.

I will try to list the issues I have (bed related only I am afraid), and then say why the Diamond helps solve or ease them, and any other tips I have worked out for myself.

1- I have a severe form of Fibromyalgia, which means that there are multiple pressure points around my torso, and in may case legs and arms too which hurt when even a small amount of pressure is applied. In addition, my entire skin is hypersensitive to touch even away from pressure points. For me, a wrinkle in a bed sheet feels like lying on a pile of books, or hands trying to move me sideways. So, you would think, as did I, why would I try a product that means lying on so many bumps up and down the body? This put me off trying one for months, and I must have spent close to £500 on alternatives to alternating mattresses.
The Diamond mattress has 29 tubes, several are static at the head end, but in other places the tubes take it in turns over a ten minutes period to give support, the relief. This means the body is only in contact with half the mattress at any one time. Because in the Diamond the tunes are smaller that other mattresses of this type, the areas that are being supported have a greater number of tubes supporting them, which causes less pressure, which coupled with the comfort setting of your choice (35 for me) allows even the supporting tubes to soften enough not to apply the amount of pressure that triggers pain to my skin. That is one problem solved.
2- I also suffer from vertigo, which as well as those familiar to car sickness can testify is nauseating enough, mine can flare up and make it impossible to stand or even sit and feels like my head needs to be in contact with the floor or a bed or it feels like riding a barrell when turning, or having my head pinned down. Here, the static tubes at the top of the mattress prevent movement in this area. Problem two solved.
3- I have a condition called sleep paralysis, which gives me a 50/50 chance of mot being able to move any number of limbs, most commonly legs, can can be full body, which means Imcannot reposition myself or self medicate to deal with day to day pain. This has lasted anywhere between 3 hours and 5 days at a time. Longer episodes result in awful back pain from lack of movement, as well as all over stiffness in joints and can develop pressure sores. Because of this condition, I am in bed for all but 6 hours per week on average weeks.
Because these mattresses are designed to prevent and treat pressure ulcers (with appropriate intervention, I have two care calls per day), it naturally has tubes which deflate in all the right places for me, keeping my back in particular in motion 24/7. I can honestly say that in over a week I have not had a single back pain from immobility or through pressure with this mattress, but I have in my recliner chair and my wheelchairs. Massive problem solved for me.
4- Transfering from the mattress into my wheelchair. I was terrified of trying this to be honest. I have previously bought camping air mattresses and been thrown to the floor when turning on my side, and again getting into my chair. Usually with air mattresses, your shifting weight moves the air in the opposite direction from the way you are moving, leaving it flat at the edges, and more dangerously tipping you because the sudden influx of air behind you.
The diamond mattress does neither of these things. Because of the continuous air supply, the weight on the memory foam in the base, and being specially designed to have rigid edges for just this purpose, I can remove the side of my chair and use a slide board with no hassle or wobbles. When I can’t transfer myself, my carer likes it because it is easier to attach my sling because they can press down on the tubes rather than hurting me by lifting or pushing my shoulders too.
Tips for fellow hypersensitive to touch folks, I needed to add a 2ml fleece blanket on top of the mattress. This stopped my bulk from simply filling the empty spaces and also meant those areas were still ever so slightly supported still whe the tubes below were deflated.
For wheelchair transfers, once your slide board is in places shuffle onto it quite slowly. This allows the air pressure to equalise beneath you once your weight is no longer central. The pump works really well and only takes a second or two to harden up again after moving in general.
If you are a light sleeper, use ear plugs. It is not the pump you will notice, but if you do sleep on your side, you can hear a “pok” sound when the tubes are reinflating. Normally on your side only as less of your body is in contact with the mattress so the outer sides inflate ahead of where you are in contact. It becomes white noise very quickly anyway.
Anyone worried about the pump being noisy, it really is very quiet. I cannot hear it over the sound of my ceiling fan or a desk fan either. If you have a footboard on your bed, you may want to place the pump on the floor to avoid the very minor vibrations.
I hope you found my comments useful, and at least give this mattress a free try, which you will not find often with these because they cost the company about £200 to decontaminate if you do not buy, and they let me try two mattresses, so thanks again to Gary who organised these trials for me.

until I tried the Squirrel Diamond. Even if you have tried another alternating mattress before, do not give up until you have tried this one. Not every

mattress can suit everyone, so read people’s comments on each products to see what they think about it. I have also tried a Sapphrie mattress

from this company, and while it was not 100% right for me, it may well be just what you need. See my review on that mattress to see why it was

not for me before discounting it from your search.

For me, I no longer suffer the stiffness after sleeping, I have less spastic episodes in my arms and legs, which are quite violent and have caused bad

injuries to my hands and feet in the past. And best of all, because my lower back is being kept in motion, I no longer get pain in this area caused by

the pressure it is under both lying and sitting up. While I can’t go so far as saying I look forward to being paralysed nowadays, I can say that at

least the experience is now only boring, rather than painful and boring. I have now been sleeping at least two hours longer each time I do get some

sleep, and I only seem to turn over before I get to sleep, so sleep is not broken up any longer.

I wish this had been the first thing I tried, would have saved a small fortune.

Keep innovating Squirrel.”
Daniel Drage –
Fibromyalgia, sleep paralysis and vertigo sufferer since 1997.