Sleep

[OldaYoda]

4.5 weeks post CABG - everything going great. Except sleep. I seem to manage 1 hour at a time max - then I wake up. Around 2/3 in the morning I am wide awake and then at 4:30/5 I get the longest spell of unbroken sleep (around 2 hours).

I am a bit achy in the day, not really bad, worst aches in shoulders, but not got any bad pain. I sleep on my back, but also lie on my right side for some time. But my best sleep seems to be when I am sitting up.

Does anyone have any advice?

ps I have enlarged prostate and get up twice a night for the toilet, but this is about 7 or 8 times being awake each night

[Hart2202]

I dont have any advice, however i have been following a cardiac nurse who specialises in and she said initially sleep like a baby ' little and often' until sleeping through the night returns, seems a common thing.

My husband is 12 days post op, he had been home 6 days and i am struggling to gage where he 'should' be in recovery, or what is expected on average at each stage, as everyone is different.

He is only 38, but i am surprised how cognitively he still seems to be not quite with it. Glad to hear your recovery is going well other than the sleep eliment! There is a podcast on Spotify called send me to sleep, and there is an episode called ' full body scan' this helps me fall asleep when in need, not sure if that would be helpful atal

[OldaYoda in reply to Hart2202]

Thanks- all very helpful.

I will give the podcast a listen tonight

[Hart2202 in reply to OldaYoda]

Having just had a conversation with my Husband, he said he has woken from the longest stretch of sleep since the op and feels like a new man. I mentioned your post and it seems he is struggling with the same thing, and generally feels well other than that.

[OldaYoda in reply to Hart2202]

I know that feeling - if I get 3 hours I am ready to party!!!

[WorriedWife24]

Good to hear you're generally doing well. My husband had his triple bypass last Wednesday and is coming home today. He seems to think it was the hospital setting which was preventing him sleeping but from reading the posts on here I know that's not the case. I spoke with BHF nurses today and was told to encourage him to take an afternoon nap. Ditto the prostate problem. Good luck for your continued recovery.

[weepip]

I'm 4 months out and still struggle to sleep some nights . Getting up twice a night to get rid of fluid doesn't help. I have no real advise apart from it does get better the blocks of sleep get longer and a nap in the afternoon is quite nice. Most night I'm now getting 6 to 7 hours over 3 or 4 blocks. I have a fan running all night so when I wake there is a regular noise to concentrate on rather then letting the brain think about what's gone on . I think some find a radio on quietly can help as well.good luck 🙂

[Mancunian1]

hi. Hope you’re doing well. Sleep for me has been the biggest issue by far but it’s resolving itself. I’d say as others have take it when you can, your body knows what it’s doing and you will get back into rhythm when your body is ready. See my graph from my Oura ring with the dip being surgery week. Things coming back to normal now, last week being a bit of a cold I picked up.

Screenshot

[stevetheadi]

I had a triple CABG at the end of June and for the first six weeks or so after I got home I only managed a couple of hours sleep per night. I wasn't in pain, just couldn't sleep.

My GP suggested it was due to the traumatic nature of the op and the conditions in the hospital wards that make it just about impossible for anyone to sleep there!

Eventually my sleep improved and now I get 4-5 hours per night. Like you, it's broken by several visits to the toilet. But I can manage on that much sleep.

Key to improving my sleep was establishing a set routine (same time to bed, same time up every day), not staying in bed if I couldn't sleep plus the usual sleep hygiene stuff like no looking the clock during the night, no screen time just before bed etc.

Most important of all for me was not 'trying' to get more sleep. If I sleep, I sleep. If not, no worries, I might sleep more tomorrow.

I accepted that some night I'd get very little sleep but it wouldn't kill me. And if I did get only a couple of hours of sleep to carry on with my daily activities as though I'd 'normal' sleep. Didn't let sleep - or the lack of it - rule my life.

Good luck!

[Alfie33]

Hi I have a enlarged prostrate also doctor prescribed me tamsulosin which i take in the evening. It really helps with with my toilet calls during the night

[Survivor1952]

I was very similar, about 3 hours maximum at a time. It’s taken a while but I’m finally back to my normal sleep pattern.