Pillow Talk

This morning my “body pain” increased significantly in the vicinity of my neck.  I could barely move my neck without pain.  Sometimes I’d feel a shooting pain all around that area.  My discomfort during class was obvious to one professor, and he stopped his lecture to ask me if my neck was hurting.  I said yes.  He then asked me if I use a pillow.

A former roommate also told me he had concern about my pillow, and now that I’m having this severe neck pain, he made his suspicions known.

I went to the doctor with my symptoms.  He first asked me if I felt feverish.  Then he asked me how many pillows do I use.

Well, my doctor concluded that it’s due to a fever (He’s great that way.  He doesn’t have me waste money on x-rays and such.  He’s seen so much that he knows what’s up).  He gave me some meds for the fever, and I’m already feeling less pain.  I should be better by morning, although I’ll be taking the meds for a week.

More pillow talk….

When I went on my mission practical in October, my partner never used a pillow.  During my mission practical the year before, my partner at that time never used a pillow.   Many of my classmates don’t use a pillow, and almost all the above prefer sleeping on wood or a concrete floor.

Why?

This is something I just don’t understand:  Prolonged use of pillows can cause neck and back problems.   My former roommate has a severe neck problem which he attributes to pillow use (but I think it's more genetic [spinal stenosis]).  But why is it that this is such a huge problem and/or concern in Kerala and possibly India?   How is it that in America, where the mattresses are softer, and pillows are thicker, that there isn’t a big concern over this? Whereas here it is a big concern, so pillows aren’t used, and people prefer to sleep on wood.  I do know some obvious things which are not good for your back and neck.  But the concern here is just normal pillow usage.  My doctor's question wasn't if I used pillows, but how many.  I said 1 pillow, so he didn't follow that up with more related questions.  Although, I didn't tell him it's an American pillow that's about as thick as three of your standard Kerala pillows.

I’m wondering if there’s a connection between these beds and the use of a pillow, where the pillow isn’t the sole culprit.

Or could it be that it has absolutely nothing to do with pillows and beds, but someone has overreacted to a doctor telling someone he shouldn't sleep with two pillows because it's hurting his neck.  So now everyone thinks every single neck problem is due to pillow usage.

It's kind of like when someone found out tomato seeds cause kidney stones, some students stopped eating tomatos.  Yet, it would take hundreds of tomatos for that to even be an issue.   But people would rather be overly cautious I guess.  And maybe that's the same with pillows.



So when you come to India, a word of a advice: don't use a pillow, sleep on wood, and avoid tomatos.