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Keeping Straight Through the Night

Some good info on sleeping, including support and positioning when you are unable to sleep on back or belly.

Dusty,
I am finally getting sleep.
PM night time, meds helped.

But the meds the neurologist gave are of course the best.
6-7 hours now. I do not feel rested, but the flu like symptoms are not as bad.

are you taking a night time med?

For horrendous nights I take either tramal or Endone/ OxyContin they sometimes take the edge off. For your down right annoying nights I will use 3 nuerofen.. It can help for a bit..
I try to keep painkillers to a minimum so my body isn't overloaded with meds all the time. The stronger painkillers can cause "cockroaches" to run around under my skin all night if I"m unlucky
The old adage sleep when your dead seems to be my motto at present

I know this is not good but I just can't wear shoes. If anything I wear a pair of thongs (flip flops for the non aussies)lol
Not a good thing for the heels or arches but if I wear shoes withing 2 minutes my entire spine is screaming.

Big no no is spending thousands of dollars on a special mattress designed to help those with bad backs and never being uble to sleep on it. My advice if you are going to buy an expensive mattress give yourself plenty of time to do it. You realy need to spend at least an hour laying on each mattress in the store. I tried the one I bought for about 15mins and it felt great but after getting it home the first night I found it was no good.

i'm like you with the whole wearing shoes vs not wearing shoes, though for me its my feet that become inflamed, flaring up my PF. for me its the arch support, so i have a few "shoes" with no arch support. for years i tried to be good about arch support: orthotics, custom made orthotics, shoes that others swore by for arch support. but in the end, even my podiatrist agreed with me that i needed FLAT! the flat shoes with no cushioning can be hard on my feet if i'm on hard surfaces; the trick is for me to find flat shoes with some cushioning on the outside / bottom. or standing barefoot on a cushion (that's the best and what i do in the kitchen and in the lab) or walking on grass, in the dirt, anything soft.

as for the bed. i spent hours laying by myself on beds in stores for a few years. then finally found a bed i could lay on. but didn't think to try it with another person in the bed. when my husband lays as well, the bed tilts in toward the middle and makes my neck / face / upper back go into spasm. so separate beds. we said til we got something like an air bed with separate sides. but honestly, we both sleep better this way. hadn't realized how much we both woke one another up. we both sleep more soundly now.

Hi Greg. From one Okie to another...I have a brace; in fact two different ones. I am supposed to wear one when I am doing housework or yard work to protect my back. I am not supposed to wear it all of the time because of the weakness that can happen. The spine doctor said it was very important though to wear it during times of stress that I could really hurt my back.

I suppose it depends on the doctor. I do wear it though for some activities.

Beautiful weather we are having!

Blessings.
Possi

Possi, sounds like your doctor understands the constraints of AS. I have enjoyed the past few days. I am so ready for Spring.

--Greg

Just got back from back surgeon and he doesn't like the fact that most of the night I sleep on my stomach because my neck is turned. However, I too feel like a rotisserie. I start on my back, move to the side and then the stomach and then this goes on all night. I wake up pretty well that way. Stiff but not tore up from the floor up!
I think whatever makes you comfortable enough to get the kind of sleep we need is the dealio!
We bought a Sealy latex foam mattress a year ago and it is the soft one. Love it to pieces. It goes up and down and vibrates but it is so comfy. It is not like a tempurpedic. I tried one of those and it was too hard to turn over. This is supposed to never sag and is free of dust mites as well as our pillow's. It is the best bed I have ever had but the most expensive. Would buy it all over again though!

Totally agree on the mattress buying, I have a lovely bed that hurts me so badly.

I used to sleep on my left side to help with IBS... it is best position if you have stomach upset. and if I am napping because of nausea then i lay on right side. Right now i wish i had 2 beds. a firm one to sleep on my back in and a soft cushie one that would cradle me when my stomach bad. currently when i lay on side i have pillow between knees (since teen years) one to Hug (big fluffy) small pillow to support neck, and now a thin one to hold my right arm at the correct position. I do not travel well let me tell ya! lol...
but this is the only way i can get to sleep sometimes. i sleep better if on my back on firm mattress. soft matres i wake up in agony because of ribs cant hardly breath.
oh and the Chiro.. they are not all created equal. Dont go to one who helps with "back pain" or deals in symptom releif only, rather find one who believes in regular checks and gentle adjustment using only the drop table and who's goal is to help you get and remain as subluxation free as possible.. its like getting good circulation for your nervous system. i'd be 1000% worse without mine. but a bad one made me worse for sure

for sleeping on stomach.. go to walmart and buy massage table. then put a few pilows under feet and thin one under the ribs and voila sleep face down without cranking neck. i try to get 30 min a day but its in basement so i keep forgetting to do that.