Help sleeping

tictac

This is my first post and any help would be much appreciated. I have recently been diagnosed with osteoarthritis of the lumbar spine. I’m having great difficulty sleeping, have tried pillow under knees when lying on my back but nothing is helping. Any tips please?

Ellen

Morning @tictac welcome to the online community.

Difficulty sleeping, getting to sleep, getting comfortable or staying asleep is such a regular subject here. Not at all surprising as sleeping when in pain is not at all easy. This article might have something in it you haven't already tried:

https://www.versusarthritis.org/news/2022/february/top-tips-for-good-sleep/

I'll leave you now to meet our members and hear their stories.

Best wishes

Ellen.

frogmorton

I am sorry you must be in a lot of pain backs are dreadful aren't they😕

I find mine is worse if i lie on my back, but maybe you always sleep on your back.

I try to go to bed not in too much pain which might mean a hot shower (bath if you prefer) first a warm microwaveable wheatbag/using my tens machine before bed.

I lie on my side pillow between my knees and have a shaped neck pillow which keeps my spine quite well aligned. I also have some slow release pain relief I don't know if you have any? My antiflams last 24 hours. In the past I have taken other medications to help such as low dose amitriptyline which relaxes the muscles and also helped me sleep. A bit too much if anything!

Best of luck I hope things ease for you soon

Toni

tictac

Thankyou Toni. My problem is I am in pain if I lie on either side, lying on my back is also not good. I am using a pillow between my knees when lying on either side and when on my back have the pillow under my knees. Nothing helps and I am waking on average 6 times a night, so not good. Have tried prescription pain relief but nothing has worked. I’ve started going to a Chiropractor, I’ve had two sessions so far but no improvement. Anybody had good results using a chiropractor?

Trish9556

Probably wont help much but it might :)

I have recently discovered that when I wake with my hip pain in the small hours of the morning, I get up, make a mug of hot chocolate, do some of my jigsaw, potter about a bit and put my headphones on an d listen to a book or classic fm before falling asleep on the sofa or my recliner. I think the pottering walks the pain off a bit - no idea if it works on backs?

Trish xx

stickywicket

I think @Trish9556 's regime is a good one for any kind of night pain, not just spinal. Pain always seems worse in the early hours and just lying there wishing it would go away doesn't work at all for mè at least. I have always got up, brewed up and read and I do try, when things are rough, to leave some painkillers as an option ie don't take all during the day.

Here are lots of tips from a reliable site. I hope you'll find something to help. https://creakyjoints.org/living-with-arthritis/sleep-better-back-pain-at-night-arthritis/

Trish9556

@stickywicket

I think night time pain is particularly bad as it's between painkillers and I'm at the stage where I can't really take many more so the distraction therapy works for me - I have also found a night time headband with headphones in (snooze + band lol) and these also block out most light and extremely comfortable - other makes are available lol

trish xx

DebbieL

Hi Tictac

I have OA of lower spine. I sleep on my side and have a lot of hip pain. I bought a 4 inch memory foam topper for my mattress which has really helped. I can also lie on my stomach now as the foam somehow makes this possible.

Also some sort of exercise in the evening helps too.

I try to keep busy in the day and not take too many painkillers so I can have the benefit at night.

I take 2x 10 mg nortriptyline and 2x 30/500 at night. I have naproxen as reserve and heat pads. Keeping daytime painkillers to a minimum makes the night time ones more effective.

If all else fails I am usually on this site 😊

Hope you find something that works for you

Debbie