Gadget for reading while lying down

[Sasha]

some good ideas here, i am with Mithriel - i read mainly non-fiction & can't go back & re-read my facts on a tape book which is why i haven't tried them.
the Levo just isn't working for me, it would never occur to me to tighten or untighten anything - thanks. mabye. mainly i've given it up for now & as i stated from the get go i didn't try very hard & have trouble admitting i need it at all. i'd almost rather not read, & frankly as much as i'm sleeping right now & as much time as i have to dedicate to my gentle work outs just to keep going ... well, i have no time to read. so i didn't mean to get into it all but my reasons are as much personal as they are practical or having to do with the stand itself. i was just lettin Sasha know it didn't work for me. now she has some other responses sayin it did work for some others so she can choose for herself

Thanks, danib. I know what you mean about admitting to yourself that you need a gadget - I've only just started getting things that would actually make my life easier like a shower seat and so on. I hate the idea that I'm buying what are essentially aids for the disabled and stuff I didn't even think I'd need in my eighties - it's forcing me to face the reality that I am indeed disabled and less functional than many people in their late old age - but I've realised that I don't mind so much if I think of it as something that's just for now. I see all these adaptations as things that will help me save my energy for recovery, so that one day I'll be well enough to get rid of them all again - and in the meantime mean that I can take a shower/read whatever book I want, when I want/etc. etc.

As well as being cheap, I think that my home-made cardboard/perspex gadget won't feel like one of those things that you see in an old folks' home - it will feel like a toy or something! Either way, it's just for now!

 

[FernRhizome]

I have a levo stand too. I sometimes use it directly upside down over my head but only with very light magazines or paperbacks. I have a lot of neck problems so I do find it hard to adjust anything and have it be comfortable when I'm lying on my back. ~Fern

 

[serenity]

yep Sasha, i got a shower seat too. luckily for me that one did turn out to be temp. i was having some extreme dizziness that got better, so thank goodness never needed to resort to the shower seat.
for now the bookholder rests in my closet. i tried to let it into my bedroom for awhile. i would eye it from the corner, hoping we would get to know each other & i would become comfortable with it. but no go. i'd rather just not read for now. tho i did just buy Osler's Web... i figure when a book comes out i really want to read real bad then i will make the effort to figure it out & give in to the thing.

 

[Sasha]

Problem solved!

My sheet of perspex just arrived and I've realised (a) it's a much more flexible solution to the problem than I had realised and (b) I ordered too small a sheet!

I ordered a 6mm thick sheet and it's completely rigid - I think 5mm or 4mm would be fine but it's still pretty light.

However, I ordered a ready-cut piece 24" by 9" rather than ordering one to spec and I think I should have ordered 36" by 12". I've realised I don't have to make legs for it (I had been going to make cardboard ones) - it's fine to lay it across a couple of chairs or boxes and get underneath it. However, when I rest during the day I do so on a 24" wide mattress so obviously the perspex needs to be wider than that. Also, I had been thinking only about reading paperback books when I ordered it to be 9" deep but I would also like to read the newspaper or bigger books with it so 12" or bigger would be better.

Not having to fix legs to it means I can adapt it to whatever I'm resting on - I can just rest it on the chair top instead of chair seat if I'm resting on something higher, for example.

A tip for getting underneath it - it's hard work to slide yourself underneath it and it's not necessary! If you sit on your bed (or whatever) with your legs stretched out in front of you, your bottom where it would be if you were lying with your head on the pillow and the perspex sheet resting on risers behind you above the pillow, you can just lower your upper body and your head will miss hitting the perspex (as long as it's high enough, which it will need to be anyway for you to get proper reading distance).

You need to be prepared to break the spine of the book you're reading - but resale value of secondhand books is terrible so just go right ahead!

Hope this helps - I like the fact that it's easy to store away a sheet of perspex when it's not in use and it doesn't look or feel like some sort of institutional disability aid! And it's extremely cheap!

 

[Mithriel]

Glad it works. It's good you are sharing your experience.

Mithriel

 

[Sunday]

Yes, there are ways in which this disease really contributes to our ingenuity, despite the brain fog. I was interested to see that I'm not the only person who resists being "officially" disabled. But it's true, the pragmatic view is that these devices are saving our energy. I do like the idea of one that's a little more friendly and a little less official.