Ambien?

[wnyrider]

I still am not sleeping through the night because of my back (9 weeks! ...

... I was sent on a sleep study at the end of last year and the results were... "YOu don't sleep at all"..gosh, tell me something I didn't already know. The rest of the results were that I never entered REM sleep and I woke up over 19 times per hour. ...

Long story short... I was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea. The insomnia may or may not be a result of that. My body may have been conditioned to keep me aroused to enable my breathing. On the other hand, because of health issues, my sleep position has been altered which may have contributed to the apnea symptoms. My new MD steered me into a Sleep Study. My constant fatigue and mental complaints were what prompted him to consider Apnea.

I use a CPAP/APAP machine now. This is not to say my insomnia is completely cured. I still work to recondition my body for sleep. For example, I consciously re-focus my thoughts to deep breathing into my abdomen or relaxing body parts. It is like a bad habit and you have to concentrate on breaking those contributing traits. I will say that I feel much more mentally refreshed and my body feels much better since using the breathing machine. I can feel the difference when I don't use it. It is the lack of oxygen that effects me in so many ways. I have hypopnia more so than apnea.

If you are able to have a Sleep Study I would definitely do one. It is direct method of examining your sleep patterns. It is something concrete that you can cross off your list in trying to find out the cause of your problem.

[jessmarimba]

Thanks a bunch guys! I actually did a little research last night and I guess Ambien is supposed to help you fall asleep, but doesn't really help you stay asleep. It'd probably have the same effect as the Tylenol PM, where I pass out fine but wake up feeling really drugged about 10 times a night anyway.

Pretty sure I can't stay asleep because I'm not allowed (and really physically just can't) sleep how I'm comfortable. Hopefully the doctor will be able to help today. Or maybe after a few weeks of PT (soon!) I'll have the core strength to roll over in my sleep again

[Possegal]

Yeah, you definitely have a distinctly different reason for your sleeping problems than what most of us here have likely experienced. So odds are what has worked for us, may not be what would work for you. I'm assuming you've tried muscle relaxants, given that your problem is ultimately your back? That was the first thing I thought of when you describe what is happening. Wondering if the muscle relaxant would put you into a deeper sleep and by nature of the relaxing of the muscles, cause you to move less while asleep. Just sort of thinking out loud.

When I injured my knee, sleeping was hard because I had this fear of what would happen when I slept and moved while asleep. I found that sleeping on my couch, where I was less able to toss and turn, actually helped me. Though I suppose sleeping on a couch had its own sleep problems too. I never actually had the problem that when my body was trying to toss and turn, it woke me up because my body couldn't do it. So not really much of a comparison. But that's the closest I've got.

[ClockworkOrange]

Hi Jess

I can't come up with any solution but hopefully your doctor has.

Now, you are doing well despite the sleep problem, I do believe you are now through the worst 2 months?

The comment about light at the end of the tunnel, well, there's loads of it.

I also agree that sitting is quite literally a pain. I'm missing the hospital bed where I could prop myself to 60 degrees without wearing the brace.

The hardest thing i've had to do, I think, is change clothes. I need a shirt UNDER the brace, which involves a bunch of logrolling back and forth to pull down correctly.

See, you've come on heaps, am sure you will get into a regular sleep pattern soon.

Clock

[OakLeaf]

Medical marijuana is legal in Colorado. Will your doctor give you a script? That should help with both the pain and the insomnia.

[jessmarimba]

Ya know Oak...I was mulling that over this morning. I don't know.

Actually my doctor was next to useless. I told him that I haven't slept through the night since the surgery, since I can't roll over and sleep on my stomach. He repeats back, "so the tenderness at the hardware has made it difficult to sleep lately? If you can't sleep by the next appointment (in 4 weeks) we can inject a muscle relaxant into the muscles that go over the screws."

Ummm no, that's not what I told you at all. (P.S. nice weak dead-fish handshake, my friend). I almost cried after I left. I figure I'll try the triage nurse again in a few days, they seem like they'll call in anything.

But Clock, you're absolutely right. Woohoo, I can still walk! And a week til I can start PT and not wear this stupid brace ever again!!

(Possegal, you may be closer than you think. I'm not sure if it's a physical problem of rolling in my sleep, or if part of it IS knowing that I shouldn't sleep on my side without the pillows or on my stomach at all, and I wake up in fear)

[Dogmama]

As somebody else mentioned, a different sleeping place might help. When I had my neck fused, I slept in a recliner so that I did not have to worry about tossing & turning. Took a percoset first & usually managed 4 hours of continuous sleep. It wasn't my preferred way of sleeping but it beat hanging upside down like a bat.

I'd be cautious about Ambien, given that it has made people do weird stuff. You may wake up doing the rumba. An elderly gentleman friend of mine (80 years old) wandered outside in his underwear in the middle of the night. He woke up when the cops got there. A tad embarrassing.

Sounds like your doc is a jerk. Fatigue can exacerbate pain. I agree with the Possegal - maybe a muscle relaxant would help?