My good ear falls asleep

[terp1974]

Ever since my AN surgery my good ear tends to fall asleep while I am lying on it. If I am already asleep, my now "sleeping ear" wakes me up.

I sleep on my left side and that is the side that my good ear is on. I have tried an ear pillow and found it very uncomfortable. I have tried a variety of pillows. A small soft one seems to work the best.

I am able to sleep on my back but I sometimes snore; something I did not do before very often.

[arizonajack]

Interesting.

I assume you mean numbness, like when one's foot falls asleep from sitting in one position.

I also sleep on my good ear but don't experience the numbness.

Try wearing a pair of ear muffs at night. I know. Seems like a ridiculous idea but the way ear muffs are made, it might put some distance between your ear and the pillow so you're not getting pressure on a nerve.

Just a thought.

What have you got to lose?

[terp1974]

Thank you for your response Jack. You are accurate in your description. My ear goes numb sometimes when I lie on it and it interferes with my sleep. Neither of my 2 surgeons ever heard of this happening. My guess is that after lying in the same position for 10.5 hours of surgery something must have happened to the auricle part of my outer ear. I tried an ear pillow at the suggestion of one of the surgeons. Unfortunately, it was very uncomfortable. I then tried acupuncture which worked a little but was not something I recommend; there is no fleshy part to insert needles into (ouch!).

I like your idea about using ear muffs. I will look into this and reply back later.

Do any other members experience numbness when sleeping or trying to sleep on your good ear?

[feline]

Yes I feel or hear my heart beating to when I'm sleeping on my good ear but it's nice sleeping on it since I'm SSD I don't hear any noise so I sleep much better. I found I sleep on my back more now since sx 9 months out.