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Sleeping more than an hour at a time

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cheryl50

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Hi, Can you please suggest any hints or tips for getting more than on hour sleep at a time? I am 3 week post BKR and have yet to sleep more than an hour or 90 minutes. I wake up and ice and wait until I can take the next pain pill. Everything has gone great so far and this is really the toughest part of the process for me. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks! Cheryl
 
Cheryl

This is a real typical problem. I had no problem with pain but could have killed for a better night sleep. I tried the over the counter stuff like Tylenol PM, finally called the OS and he prescribed Ambien and that did not work. I have another problem and called my sleep doctor and she said this is a common pos-top problem called learned/condition insomnia. Basically with your sleep cycle messed up my surgery and pain meds you start getting anxious about sleep without knowing it. Then when you go to bed you get worried about not falling asleep which sets things off. She recommended some relaxation techniques, not going to bed till you are really tired and if you don't fall asleep in 15 minutes go to another room and read till the book drops and the best tip was she prescribed a short course of low dose (1 to 2 mg) of lorazapam (an anti-anxiety drug). 1 mg did not work but 2 mg did and I took them for 7 days over a 10 day period and it worked great. Within about 5 days I was almost back in my normal cycle and at 10 days no more trouble.

Simon

PS if pain is a problem and waiting for the pills to kick is a problem asked the doc about going with extended release ones. I pill last 12 hours so you only need 2 a days. In addition you will need a low dose one for breakthrough pain and for before PT
 
I too have had lorazapam prescribed, but taking half of a mg knocks me out. Simon you must be tough as in the hospital they gave me 2mg after my siezure episodes to really knock me out. I notice on my medical records that is was also prescribed for agitation so it does work for sleep guys as I was in the worst pain of my life.
Get some rest as Simon says!!! I did not mean it to come out that way. It is only used for the short term you won't get addicted. I had lorazapam prescribed for me when work got crazy for a particular meeting. Well tha was 18 months ago , I still have the same bottle .

Judy
 
Simon....how far out were you when you got the sleeping drugs that worked?

I'm with you here, Cheryl...I'm at 3.5 weeks and I'm SO tired of waking up all the time. It can take me anywhere from 1 to 3 hours to get back to sleep. Fortunately, my sleep periods have increased from 90 minutes to about 2 to 3 hours, but this just happened in the last week.

I never thought of asking the doc for something! Gonna add that to my list.

Weezy

and if I belonged to the 7 dwarves, I'd be Sleepy or Grumpy!
 
Go for it Weezy, get more energy for your bike!!!
I have not had problems sleeping even after this back surgery(well after 2 weeks when it got below a 10) and I roll around. I wake up in a lot of pain , but that is because I sleep all nite and do not wake to take anything.Between 7-9 hours!!!
Judy
 
Hi Weezy

I was at about 4½ weeks but I sure could have used them early. The problem is OS generally use ambien but according to my sleep doctor that is not the best choice as it doesn't get to the real problem. Many people have Ambien work but I didn't.


Judy I tried 1 mg and that didn't help much so I went for 2. I do have some tolerance to meds also I have a couple of other sleep problems so I just might needed more to overcome them. My doctor says I have a sleepy brain and need at least 10 to 12 hours of sleep and I have another problem of excessive daytime sleepiness where I just always want to go take a nap but napping doesn't do anything. I can tell you, when I was so tired and not sleeping I was wondering my nap problem also seemed to leave me and I had stopping taking my meds for that. The doctor said it all has to do with brain chemistry and things like heavy duty narcotics really do a number on that.

I hope you are feeling better

Simon
 
Ambien worked for me...


Also--maybe more importantly, a memory foam mattress topper. (There's another long thread on this subject if you do a search.)

Good luck! It can take awhile.

It really sounds like your pain meds might not be strong enough.
 
All sound advice -I'd emphasis the pain meds and the memory foam, though.
 
Thanks Simon
I was taking provigil for excessive daytime sleepiness before my first surgery. It was originally for narclepsy(sp?) Then added approval for people with night jobs. Two of my docs suggested I try it in the same week, so I decided it was meant to be,. When I met my ortho doc he told me it was just legalized speed!!!

My brain chemistry is really messed up now. I have also been told that my body rapidly metabolized one drug after an elaborate endocrine test, so I wonder now why pain meds don't seem to last very long. I could be rapidly metabolizing them as well.
Too much to think about.
Judy
 
I'm getting tired(yawn,!!!!:)after all this mention of sleep!!Even without having surgery, insomnia is quite an international problem! Its a really tough chemical balance to figure out just the right individual dose for not only refreshing sleep,but waking up minus the drug induced fog
Good Night & happy dreams, Bonesmarties!!!:)
 
Judy

I take Provigil and it does help prevent the feeling of the need to keep taking naps and was starting to have more energy but since surgery I have not been paying attention to some things like eating on time etc. Your OS is not exactly correct, Provigil acts like speed without being speed so you avoid all the addiction and other side effects of speed.

You might be right about the metabolism thing. Have you seen a really good pain management person as they probably understand the drug kinetics.

Well I am glad the knees are working as at 10 pm I was outside shoveling about 8 inches of snow and it is still coming down, my footprints are already filled in. They are saying we might be in the range of 12 to 14 inches by Monday afternoon. The ski resorts are in seventh haven as this means the ski season might go through April as long as there is no rapid warm up.

Simon
 
No I have not been sent to a pain management doc. My only experience with them was the day after back surgery. I guess they helped that nite, I have so many blackouts. I just remember seeing the pain management doc in the hallway on my one trip with the physical therapist and thanking him and telling her he has saved my life.
That was it, after that they refused to treat me saying I should have been over surgical pain by then (about 4 days after an 8 level back fusion) and my doctor needed to get the chronic pain people . He was the acute pain manager. So crazy.s

I'd better get to bed or I will oversleep and miss my appointment

Judy
 
Simon....how far out were you when you got the sleeping drugs that worked?

I'm with you here, Cheryl...I'm at 3.5 weeks and I'm SO tired of waking up all the time. It can take me anywhere from 1 to 3 hours to get back to sleep. Fortunately, my sleep periods have increased from 90 minutes to about 2 to 3 hours, but this just happened in the last week.

I never thought of asking the doc for something! Gonna add that to my list.

Weezy

and if I belonged to the 7 dwarves, I'd be Sleepy or Grumpy!

Weezy,
I am sleepy and grumpy wrapped into one! I have been stayiing awake all day -no naps and last night I slept 2-3 hours at a time and it was easier to go back to sleep in between. I feel a lot better just getting that much more sleep. I think it is just a process. I'm going to give it one more week and see how I'm doing. If need be I'll call my PCP and get something. Let me know what works for you! Cheryl
 
I'm 3 mos out & I just take Advil PM! I think its the mindset at this point! ;)
 
I slept 2-3 hours at a time and it was easier to go back to sleep in between. I feel a lot better just getting that much more sleep. I think it is just a process. I'm going to give it one more week and see how I'm doing. If need be I'll call my PCP and get something. Let me know what works for you! Cheryl

Is your sleep still improving, Cheryl? I hope so! I'm up and down, but still haven't made an appointment with my PCP. My pattern remains the same, and I think the first thing I'm going to ask about is some of the timed-release pain meds (I think Simon mentioned them?)...maybe that will help me sleep longer at a time because it usually is pain that wakes me up.

I'm also not taking any naps during the day, but right now that doesn't seem to be helping, except I get more work done. grumble grumble... :)

Weezy
 
I'm usually Bashful! And that's not pills speaking
 
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