Anybody have any Ideas on how to get sleep, when you are in pain? Any ideas would be helpful. Chronic back and spinal pain?
I've had back and neck pain since I was 12. I havent had more than 2-3 hours of interrupted sleep in a row for years and am in constant pain but live with it. Here is what works for me:
1. Regular visits to a COMPETENT chiropractor for "tune ups" aid pain relief greatly. (My wife is a nurse and thought they were quacks until she went. She goes once every month or 2 now).
2. Exercise and stretching increase mobility and greatly decreases pain. hiking, cycling and swimming provide the best low impact exercise for me.
3. The best improvement to sleep however has been my bed. Just got a Temperpedic bed and pillows about 4 months ago. I am regularly getting 3-4 hours of non stop sleep. I still wake up 5-10 times a night...but the sleep has been greatly improved with this bed.
Pain medications are just a band-aid for the actual cause of the pain and do nothing to eliminate it long term. My pain is from arthritis and bone spurs along my lower back and neck area. These cannot be easily removed but the pressure points from a normal bed exaggerate the pain. This new bed helps to even out the pressure points and support my body evenly regardless of the position I am in.
Just my 2 cents...