Sleep...lack of

[Leelee16661]

Hi everyone,

I suffer badly with lumbar pain pain, tenderness (cant lie on back or side) and get siactica mostly on the right leg but also a bit on the left. I am awaiting facet injections for this.

My question is I am really struggling with sleeping and getting comfy at night. The lack in sleep is really starting to get me down and I am exhausted! Anyone hot any suggestions about getting a good night sleep??

Thank you! 🙂

[Hidden]

Hi

I know how you feel, I get a hour or less per night due to pain. Hope you improve very soon. Lynne

[Leelee16661 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you! Keep your head up (I know its hard) and I hope things start to improve for you soon!

[Hidden in reply to Leelee16661]

Thank you and also for you too. Xxxx

[johnsmith]

You need a firmer surface to sleep on. The firmer surface forces you to relax.

Facet injections may kill pain but they do nothing about the cause of the pain. So in the long run you may cause further problems. You are going to need to see a chiropractor to help get the pressure of the nerves. Some types of sciatica are caused by problems in the tightness of the hip joint muscle.

[Leelee16661 in reply to johnsmith]

Thanks for you advice, will look into seeing a chiropractor!

[Barbola in reply to Leelee16661]

If u are diagnosed with spinal stenosis chiropractors actually could do some harm.....after MRI you can ask doctor if its ok but i do 3x physical therapy a week and exercise specific stretches morning and nightime. The epidural steroid injections do heal the nerve inflammation, not the cause tho but if u strengthen and stretch regularly the pressure on nerve will lighten and hopefully no other treatments needed.

I sleep with a large, hard pillow (they sell specific foam rubber wedges) between legs, on my side. My mattress is not the best. I put boards between the mattress and box spring. And wear a eye mask, no light not even a night lite. The wedge helps the pain so much! Leelee, it sucks, i have very good days and some bad ones if i dont sleep good or the weather changes! Good luck, the injections will help with the pain, physical therapy and/ or stretching on the floor (some good youtube out there) a must...was told not to sit long period of time, get up every 20 min or so, walk around. Keep moving as much as u can!

And, i do everything to look my best........try keeping weight down.....dont let f....en pain win!

[johnsmith in reply to Barbola]

What type of physical therapy do you do?

[Barbola in reply to johnsmith]

3xweek: 15 min. TENS with heat, 5 min. Massage, then therapist stretches and bends my legs. Then i do strength and stretch exercises without equipment and then recumbent bicycle 7 min, balance exercises with medicine ball, etc. all in all takes one hour except when we have a good time talking.

See pain doctor who comes to same building every 6 weeks or so to renew medicare prescription and discusses the progress.

At home i do on floor stretches 15 min. After awaking, 15 min. Before sleep. This is a pain in the butt .... but I cAn walk painfree now. My MRI looks gruesome in the lumbar spine area!

Just move as much as possible! Chiropractor can hurt if u have stenosis. Just good for herniated disc.

Best of luck, progress report pease!

[johnsmith in reply to Barbola]

Thanks for the reply. You have a nice regime. The leg stretches take the pressure off the lumber spine. The muscles in the legs connect to the lumber spine.

I know what you mean by chiropractor hurt. Some muscles cramps hurt when they get stretched out by a chiropractor.

Have you looked at how you put your underwear and socks on. I had to develop a regime where I bent from the hips rather than from the centre of the back. When putting on socks I had to learn to resist bending the back.

[Barbola in reply to johnsmith]

Sitting down when lower body dressing! Never ever twist body! I hope ur healthcare system pays for therapy and that u have the time to do those stretches! In lunch hour, when i still worked.

Im more flexible now than before therapy.

If it is necessary dont be afraid of steroid epidurals under xray guidance, those got me over the worst of it!

[johnsmith in reply to Barbola]

Thanks for reply. It is not the twisting of the body its the bending of the lower back that i work to resist.

I actually stand when putting on lower body dressing. So I do that as a movement exercise working on balance and bring knee to chest via hip joint rather than bending back.

[lupus_01]

Try hot water bottle on your back before bed or an electric blanket for when you first get into bed.

[Leelee16661 in reply to lupus_01]

I think I might give this ago tonight! Thank you for your message!

[cyberbarn]

I was going to suggest a warm bath before bed. Do you have a bidet in the house? Hot water (not too hot!) in that area can relax all the pelvic muscles which can relieve the pain a bit.

[Leelee16661 in reply to cyberbarn]

I will definitely give a bath a go before bed and see if I can get comfortable!