Sleeping With a VP Shunt: My Mattress & Pillow Journey

A 49 year old woman living with multiple chronic health conditions including a VP(Ventriculoperitoneal) Brain shunt.

Yes, that’s me!

In this post I’m sharing my honest experience with one of the hardest parts of living with a brain shunt: getting decent sleep.

But first, I would like to talk about issue of sleep because up to now it is still my biggest challenge. I’m going to share with you how I deal with sleep(or lack of) with a brain shunt.

A brief background about my brain shunt to bring you up to speed about how far I have come.

How Did I End Up With A VP Shunt?

So, I have a VP shunt that was installed in May 2025 on the right front side of my head. The reason for the installation was because I had been diagnosed with an arachnoid cyst.

I was told that it was congenital, meaning I had it since childhood and it kept growing with me, literally pushing my brain out of the way and exerting too much pressure.

Eventually, my brain couldn’t take the pressure anymore and I started developing symptoms: severe headaches, dizziness, nausea, seizures…

My brain shunt runs from the top of my head, behind my ear down my neck, between my breasts all the way down to my abdomen where it drains into my abdominal cavity.

Sleeping With A VP Brain Shunt

With this in mind, my most comfortable sleeping position should ideally be on my left side, which is actually what doctors recommend.

Unfortunately, that isn’t so simple in my case because I have a chronic hip problem that makes sleeping on my left side difficult. As a result, I naturally gravitate towards sleeping on my back.

The problem is that sleeping on my back isn’t the most comfortable position for me to maintain throughout the night. At the moment, I also find it very difficult to sleep on the side where my shunt is.

It feels completely uncomfortable, and I sometimes feel as though I can actually hear a throbbing sound, which only adds to my discomfort.

I remember asking my neurosurgeon whether it was safe to sleep on my shunt. His response has always stayed with me. He told me that unless I placed something extremely heavy on it, sleeping on that side would not cause any harm.

Knowing that is reassuring, but putting it into practice is another story. I have tried gradually sleeping on my shunt side, but I can only manage it for a few minutes before I have to change positions. Throughout the night, I find myself constantly adjusting my pillows in search of a comfortable position.

To be honest, it’s difficult to get a full night’s restful sleep when sleeping on my back is my only truly comfortable option. Until my back can’t take it anymore! Lately, I wake up with back pain and sore ribs…its a nightmare!

How To Get Quality Sleep With A VP Shunt

Your Mattress and Pillows Matter

If there is one thing I have learned during my recovery, it is that your mattress and pillows can make a huge difference to the quality of your sleep.

Good sleep is important for everyone, but I believe it becomes even more important after major brain surgery. When your body is trying to heal, being comfortable enough to get restful sleep can make a world of difference.

I learned this lesson the hard way.

The day I came home from the hospital, I slept on a mattress that I had only recently bought. Although it was brand new, it quickly became obvious that it wasn’t the right mattress for me.

At the time, I didn’t know what type of mattress would be best after surgery, but I knew the one I had wasn’t providing the support my body needed – especially for my painful hip.

So I decided to buy an extra-hard orthopaedic mattress. The first night I slept on it, I felt a huge improvement. My body felt more stable, and I finally thought I had found the solution.

Unfortunately, that feeling didn’t last.

While the mattress offered excellent support, it turned out to be far too firm for my chronic hip problem. Once again, I found myself waking up uncomfortable and struggling to sleep through the night.

When I spoke to my doctor, he advised me to choose a mattress that was comfortable rather than simply the hardest one available. He recommended an orthopaedic mattress, but not an extra-hard one.

Before buying another mattress, I tried a more affordable solution by adding a mattress topper to the extra-hard mattress. Just like before, the first few nights felt promising, but the improvement was only temporary.

Eventually, I accepted that I needed to buy yet another mattress.

The frustrating part? Every mattress I had bought was still sitting in my house because, where I live, mattresses cannot be returned once they have been used. It was an expensive lesson.

Today, I sleep on my newer 8 inch High Density mattress and have completely abandoned the extra-hard one. So far, it has been a much better choice.

My search for the perfect pillow, however, is still ongoing.

Over the past year, I have bought more pillows than I care to admit, all in the hope of finding one that would allow me to sleep comfortably. Most recently, I bought a contoured memory foam pillow, convinced it would finally solve the problem. Sadly, it didn’t work for me either.

Thankfully, this time I was lucky. The shop where I bought it allowed me to return it for a full refund—a rare experience that I was very grateful for.

If there’s one piece of advice I would give anyone recovering from VP shunt surgery, it’s this: don’t underestimate the importance of finding the right mattress and pillow.

What works for someone else may not work for you, and you may have to try several options before finding the combination that allows you to sleep comfortably. It can be frustrating and expensive, but quality sleep is worth investing in.

Thanks for reading, I truly appreciate it.

Please check this no BS post on my easy peri-menopause weight-loss.

Please note that I use affiliate links in my posts as a way to help me keep this website going. If you click and buy through my link, it won’t cost you anything extra and I will appreciate it.