Oofff bad night tonight. It's 4.50am UK time and I have been awake since 2am! My duvet is too heavy for my leg! Put my leg out I am cold:( so so fed up. Taking so many pain meds it's enough to knock a small elephant out! Going to be like a zombi today :((((
Have you tried sleeping will a largish pillow under your knees, or under your leg whatever position you sleep in so that the pillow is supporting your leg.
Yes Morph have done for years. Just feeling down about it all. Off to get myself a new Summer duvet perhaps that will make a difference 7 nights to go and definitely counting lol
I know it is hard, tiredness and pain is not an easy thing to deal with, but try and keep your chin up. Not long to wait now and you will be all sorted :)
Rach;
I feel for you, my sleep has been screwed up for so long, it is definitely something that drains you. It will get better soon,
Dan
Rach, I can tell you that despite the surgical soreness, I was able to sleep much better after than before.
Before, I could not get down to that nice deep sleep, usually slept one hour or so, woke for half an hour due to pain, repeat until morning. At most three maybe four hours, with pain and wakefulness throughout. I did that for about five years with increasing frequency of waking and lessened sleep intervals. I understand your frustration and pain.
Immediately after the surgery, I was beat but excited. I expected to have trouble sleeping, but it couldn't have been worse than before. The first time I slept, it was 'only' for three hours, but I woke up incredibly refreshed. I was so psyched about it I practically hugged my nurse (the lawsuit is still pending ::) , he wants me to pay for acting classes). As short as it was, it was the best sleep I'd had in years.
I did have trouble sleeping during recuperation, especially the first few weeks, but relative to before, I was practically in the doldrums. The first weeks, I did wake up, but not so much from discomfort as from the amazingly torrid night sweats that I had. If I hadn't had those, I think I could have gotten to a luxurious 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep!
By the sixth week or so, night sweat Monsoon season over, I was sleeping about five hours straight, which finally felt like real relaxing sleep. I am now at about five to eight hours of sleep, still not perfect, but doable, and I can feel my body just relaxing like ... well I'm not sure like what, since my memory doesn't reach back that far.
Things get better when the pain is gone and your body doesn't have to compensate for it, I was a witness to that twice.
I too had a problem with a heavy quilt being too much for my operated leg (especially as the leg was elevated by a pillow and so the foot was taking a lot of weight and torqueing the whole leg, which was very weak from side-to-side, understandably).
My "solution" during the first couple of weeks when I had that problem was to wear a sock on that foot for warmth and leave it outside of the covers (as you already have done).
Regards,
Mike
Thanks for your replies. Had the joy of OT delivering two raised toilet seats earlier. My 6 year old thought it was cool and insisted on using it even though got another week to go lol. My husband did chuckle! My OT is now ordering me a trolley and a pircher seat for the kitchen so I can dishes and prepare vegetables omg I am recovering I wanted to be waited on lol. Anyway it looks so real now. Rach
Quote from: Rach41 on May 08, 2012, 02:15:26 PM
My OT is now ordering me a trolley and a pircher seat for the kitchen so I can dishes and prepare vegetables omg I am recovering I wanted to be waited on lol. Anyway it looks so real now. Rach
Are you sure your OT is working for you, not against you?? ... there is such a thing as being overzealous ;D
Rach...it only gets better. Your first couple nights sleeping will be the worst, but maybe not even as bad as your having now cause it least you'll have good drugs. I'd say after day 3, my sleeping was better than it was before the surgery...and I gave up the pain killers by the fourth day so it wasn't all drug induced.
I'm willing to bet you will sound just like everyone else on this site within two weeks..."I can't believe I waited this long. I should have done it sooner"...and least I hope you will...good luck and happy healing...jb
Hang in there and hang tough - it does get better and will improve swiftly. I used a light sheet for a while - kept the cold off. I know here is the US we keep our houses warmer than in the UK (I was born in UK and came here when i was 28, about 25 years before my 2 hip resurfacings)
Had another painful night last night only 2 more sleeps or not sleeps before the op! Scared much YES but got to get rid of this bone on bone pain!