I have been unable to get a good nights sleep for a number of weeks now, I have tried advil pm and the tizanidine aka zanaflex muscle relaxant and i still can not sleep well. I wake up feeling sore and unrested. I have a bulged disk that is keeping the muscles along my back bone from healing. Does anyone have any suggestions that i might try? I am going to ask my doctor about it on wednesday at my appt.

Thanks in Advance

They added elavil to my combination of meds and I must admit it is helping with nerve pain and the sleep department. It is an antidepressent and my surgeon has said that is helpful with nerve pain in some patients. I don't know if this is a problem with you or not.

Coping with back pain is tough enough but not being able to sleep with back pain is the pits. I hope you can find some help on Wednesday.

Good luck.

thank you for the quick reply :)

I have a bulged disk that is preventing my muscle from healing. basically it spasm's too much to heal properly. I have an 8% imparement rating and they say it may get better but it may not.

Thanks again, and God bless

Ratman, sorry to hear you're not able to get the rest you need. Have you tried using pillows to prop yourself in various ways to help prevent/decrease the spasms? You might find some positions with pillows by trial and error that will help.

You might even try adding to your sleep meds some good old fashioned turkey and warm milk.

My two cents worth. I hope you can get some sleep.

Blessings,
Emily :wave:

Gosh I sure know what you are going thru. I bet the year I was in bad pain I did not sleep a whole night. I am just now starting to sleep all night or at least a straight 6 hours without waking. I had a fusion Feb 26th.

My Dr even felt sorry for me after I had kept a pain diary and he saw that I was up every night for 3-4 hours a night he prescribed ambien. I have to say it might have helped a little but was not covered by my insurance and pricey so I did not get any refills.

Good luck wish I had some suggestions.

my husband has 2 bulged discs, and i have 2 herniated w/spondy..so we dont sleep much either. we were both on tizanidine, we seemed to both wake up after about 4 hrs, and couldnt go back to sleep, our mind was going, but we were tired. we bought a temperpedic mattress. i hate it, hubby loves it. i find that it keeps me so still all night that when i cramp i dont move around to relieve it, so in the morning i am sooo sore. so, anyway we were put on ambien cr.
works GREAT!! i havent slept so well in about 2 yrs.
the only thing is it can make you do wierd things (sleep walk, break things..my step dad was on it, and he did all that) but i heard lunesta is good also. i would try something like that. at least once in a while so you can feel rested.
hope you sleep tonight!!!!
have you tried a white noise machiene? that's another thing we love

The CR I think is the difference I was only on ambien. I have heard that ambiencr works better. At least Momma you guys have company at night when awake.

Hope you all have a great nights rest.

well the doctor prescribed Robaxin to me and it has helped some, the side effect is kinda crappy tho. he said it would be as if i had been on a drinking binge the night before and had a bad hangover. he wasn't too far off on his assessment of what it was like this morning. Thank you for all the responses.

Kevin

Kevin,

Hopefully as your body adjusts to the med, it will get better. It seems that the meds that work for us, have the droggy feelings in the mornings.

Wishing you a good nights sleep

Hi, I know the feeling. I have not been able to sleep well since my surgery in December. My doctor is giving me Lorazepam 1mg to take before bed and I sleep well on it. Without it I don't really sleep at all. Glad there is stuff out there you can take to sleep, not sleeping is not fun.

Rose:wave:

I tried Lunesta for the first time and I can honestly say I haven't slept so good in a long, long time. I tried ambien before, but with no results. Has anyone had any problems with this drug? Thanks:)

Hi Rose. It's Pam. Saw your post on Ambien. Did you hear about my diagnosis?
I have to schedule my rhizotomy in the next couple of weeks. Thanks for being so kind and supportive.

hmmm, when my leg was on fire last year I took 1 flexeril (10mg) and 2 fingers of brandy or scotch ... of course the warning on the pill bottle said it may intensify efffects but that was my goal at the time. it did work and I was able to make it to work every day .

Sooo sorry you are not able to get a full night's sleep....I also have this problem... It is so tiresome to be awake at 2 or 3 or 4 a.m. It has been so long since I slept a full night...that my body is used to very little sleep. I do think that it makes the back pain worse, if we are not rested. I am going to my PM Dr. tomorrow and I am going to ask him for something to help me sleep... You will love this, the last time I was there, my husband mentioned that I do not sleep. The PM turned around to me and asked if I was depressed!!! Told him no, just have to get up and move...make ice packs etc. I do understand that we can become depressed with chronic pain, but I do not really feel that is the cause of my not sleeping well. I have a tissy every now and then, and then I get over it, so I try not to let myself become depressed. I do hope that you can get some rest soon. I have tried ambien previously (a few yrs. ago) and it worked pretty good for me, but I am very sensitive to meds. I would settle for that..or xanax...very small dose...I know that is for anxiety...but I took it for a very short time 3 yrs. ago, and I slept pretty well on that. Oh, well, wait and see what I can get for sleep tomorrow.

Sage