Pain at night

Damien

I’ve recently been having increasing levels of pain at night especially in my shoulder and hip, making sleeping more and more difficult.

I have started taking paracetamol before bed. I have codeine prescribed, but only use this when really in pain, especially on days when I have to active.

Can anyone recommend what solutions they have had to ease this problem. I suffer from osteoarthritis and am due to have a hip replacement operation at some point.

Regards Damien

Poppyjane

Welcome to the online community @Damien

Coping with pain is an ongoing problem especially at night. Some of our members use heat and cool pads to ease aching joints as well as gels ( check with your pharmacist which is the most suitable for you). Some medication can make you groggy or brain foggy! so you are wise to bear that in mind. There are some that are slow release and this might give you a more satisfactory level of pain relief on an active day.

I hope you will receive some tips from others soon , so meanwhile I attach some information that I hope you will find helpful.

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/shoulder-pain/

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

We are glad you found us and hope you will join us again soon.

Take care

Poppyjane

Baloo

@Damien

My shoulders hurt right from the word go. I had to take to sleeping on my back as it seemed to be the least painful position. I had to experiment with pillows in different positions to make things more comfortable.

I tried pillows under my arms but didn't find I liked it much. I tried a neck pillow and found it was useful. I tried a pillow under my knees and ultimately a foot wedge. I find the wedge gives me a reasonably comfy way to sleep on my back.

frogmorton

@Damien if you are really struggling you could speak to your Dr about your pain meds. There are some meds which help our joints relax overnight and others which are slow release so can be really useful at night.

I also have a whole load of different pillows like @Baloo

Best of luck

Toni x

SoniaR

Different meds suit different people, but for me I take Cocodamol (codeine/paracetamol) about an hour before bed and it helps. Cocodamol can cause constipation but one Dulciease tablet does help at night. It’s gentle. There are different doses but the prescription level is better than over the counter. My shoulder pain is worse if I lie on my back. My knees have to be in a certain position to get through the night but changing position is good so you don’t get stuck. I think you need a better pain med so worth a chat with a GP.

Moira

As well as arthritis, I have Fybomyiligia which causes shoulder and back pain and I just couldn't get enough sleep, even with Co-drydamol 200 half an hour before bed. I spoke to my rhumatologist and she has given me another tablet with a low doesage, which is really for depression. After a week it has worked a treat.

I would speak to your GP/rhumatologist/specialist because everyone is different in how they react to different pain-killers.

I also set up a relaxing regime before bed. If you can get into a bath (I can't but use a shower) a nice warm one helps, keeping the room not too hot and not too cold and no screens, phones etc in the room, also helps. I also sleep on the "recovery position."

Hope you can find a regime that helps you. Sleep Well.

Baloo

@Moira

Im curious if you can tell which pain is from the arthritis in the joints, and which pain is from the Fybromialgia in the muscles or do they feel the same.

I only know when my arthritis came on it was like having pulled muscles, but It was diagnosed as PMR rather than Fibromyalgia.