sleeping with pressure?

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Hey folks -

I was recently diagnosed with Aspergers' syndrome.

I read one of Temple Grandin's books where she talks about using a modified cattle grappling machine to exert enough pressure on the trunk of her body so she could sleep comfortably. After reading this, I realized that I enjoyed this kind of stimluation also. When I was little, I used to crawl under the mattress of my bed, lying on the boxsprings, to get some pressure. As I got older, I would have my partner lie on top of me, when I had a willing partner.

To this day, I have trouble sleeping on my back. I usually have to have a pillow on my chest in order to try to do so. Invariably, I wind up sleeping on my side or stomach. I am most comfortable sleeping on my stomach, but that tends to put kinks in my neck in the morning

The pressure seems to stretch out muscles in my back and trunk. I don't think I'm interested in the sensation of this pressure other than the stretching of muscles, but I'm not sure.

Does anyone have the same experience? Has anyone set up a rig like Temple Grandin's to help them sleep?

I have been wanting to ask this same question have a lot of problems getting to sleep...I rotate like a pig on a spit...rightside,back,leftside,stomach...I do this for hour or so before I ware myself out enough to settle on my stomach...no way could I sleep on my back...I feel totally exposed and on alert...I also have chronic neck pain and use heat raps a lot(I make them out of fleece filled with two pounds of rice nuked for about 4 min...really feel wonderful...wish I had one for my whole body)...I also have problems with "crazy legs" and may try and get a med for this (some concerns about side effects...but it drives me crazy).....Thanks for bringing this up...nice to know I'm not alone...

Advice people....I'm getting cranky from lack of good rest....

It appears to be pretty common for aspies to require pressure or weight against their body for them to sleep comfortably.

Many people use weighted blankets (blankets with gravel or other heavy materials sewn into pockets) or sleep wedged between the mattress and the side board on waterbeds (this is what I do).

I would love to be able to sleep on my back but I can't. I sleep on the side, though I change side all the time in sleep. My bruxism may (partially) come from this.

Yeah I have to sleep on my side as well.. cant sleep on my stomach or back but weighted blankets still work that way and sleeping wedged in a waterbed you pretty much have to sleep on your side.

i like to sleep on my back but yeah i toss and turn like a wiggly pig too.
also aspies suffer from sleep apnea, so this can affect how can actually achieve sleep on our backs as well.

how can you have that much pressure on you while you sleep? i personally don't like having anything too heavy on me, my blankets have to be as soft as rabbit ears, and i have to sleep in a chilled room with a fan on me to, 1. help drown out any backround noise and 2. to keep me at a comfortable tempature. i like it to be cold when i sleep

I like sleeping on my side. I don't like anything on me but when I was little I used to have my brothers climb on me and sometimes I have them put a pillow on my head and have them sit on it but it was not for sleeping, it was one of my games I invented.