Shoreline

Hi Chris, I think i's safe to assume that anyone with chronic pain has a more difficult itme gettng moving in the morning. If I have to be at my part time job at 11 I have to get up by 8 to give myself 3 hours to get myself together and get moving in order t put on the happy fce to go to work. It also takes an up to an hour to stop seeeating after taking a shower, to egt back pain under control and to pour enough coffee down my throat to get through the afternoon.

Personally I haven't slept more than 4 hours straight since the last surgery n
'99. Going to bed at midnight isn't unusual for an adult or someone with CP. Staying i bed for 10-111 hours is kind of unusual. Then taking naps in the after noon and looking forward to them unless you a senior citizen isn't within the boundaries of normal. It sounds more like depression and should be discussed with your doc. It's not that your not getting enough sleep, in fact spending to much time in bed can make some conditions worse.

It's easy to fall into the trap of using your condition or injuries as an excuse for everything you don't feel like doing, but somewhere there is a line between not feeling like doing it and not being able to do it. When that line gets blurred it's time to discuss this with a PM psychologist or your PM doc. I don't think the answer is to start the day with ritalin or any other stimulant before trying everything else first. Sure we could use out condition or meds to justify it, but all were doing is justifying a legal speed ball. I nice combo of opiates and amphetamines to start the day when the proper antidepressant and dealing with our problems may be the more appropriate way to manage a problem like this. If I take a nap at all during the day, It guarantees I'll still be up at 4 am, cursing the sleeping pills that don't work and being envious of those that can sleep.

If sleep is an escape and your sleeping more than 8-9 hours, this isn't normal. In the old days, PM psychology was part of every PM program and rightfully so, CP effects every aspect of our life. CP patient are 600 times more likely to take their own lives and simply having someone to tell the thoughts we hold in because they would scare the crap out of our loved ones and family and friends. A psychologist or shrink gives you a place to vent, keep our self in check so we don't use our condition for secondary gains. Just having an unbiased opinion about our lifestyles not to mention having another medical pro to bounce questions and ideas across that aren't in the habit of trying to move patients along where our PM docs have a heavy case load.

Many docs use NP's and PA's, They have their place in easing the case load, but there are things I want to discus with a doc that I'm not going to discus with a NP and allow them to put their spin or interpret what we said into our personal records.

Bottom line, is , It's not hurting ourselves to push ourselves and hold ourselves to an adult schedule rather than one that suites a teenager or a college kid that simply doesn't go to class if they don't feel good for whatever reason.

You said yourself, you feel better when you get up and moving and you feel bad about wasting the day. The key is being aware of those things, and doing something positive about it. If you know something makes you feel better about your life circumstance, why wouldn't you do those things to make yourself feel better. If it's depression, perhaps you can't until the depression is treated. If it's just CP and the normal difficulties of getting moving when you stiff and tired, Not pushing yourself just makes you feel worse.

It's easier for me because my daughter has to get up and go to school every day, my wifes day starts at the same time so I get up, make breakfast, pack lunches and get folks off to school and work. Rather than going back to bed and then feeling bad about how I spent my day while everyone else was productive. I drink lots of coffee, stay up and do what needs to be done around the house or stay up and go off to my part time job that fortunately never starts before 10 am.

I can't sleep through 3 rounds of snooze on my wives alarm clock and the sound of my daughters alarm going off, or the morning showers and activity that goes on. It sounds nice and there are plenty of days I would prefer to stay in bed, but it's not much of a life spent sleeping the days away as my family comes and goes and then staying up for hours after everyone else has gone to bed.It’s not like I don’t get enough alone time. Even if I'm not tired and know I won't be falling asleep, It's not a huge sacrifice to go to bed with my wife to simply maintain some sort of level of intimacy. I don't mean physical intimacy every night, but my wife has been through a great deal with all that's gone on in the past 13 years. She has hung in there where many wives would have simply walked away to find something better. So it's not a huge sacrifice to go to bed and be my wives companion, bed warmer and comforter for a few minutes or an hour until she falls asleep. She has certainly given up a great deal for me, so it's really not to much to ask to try to accommodate a simple wish to have your spouse come to bed with you at night.

Sorry to get off track, but you seem to recognize it's a problem. Now it's up to you to do something about it or try to figure out why you can't make yourself do something about it. That's where depression comes to mind when you recognize a problem but simply can't change the pattern that makes you feel worse. That’s what the pros are for and perhaps where the right med comes in.

Good luck, I don’t thiink this is anything unusual or anything nobody else experiences, It’s just part of CP and wanting to be as productive as possible.
Take care, Dave