Yet another question...

[MikeHeim]

I've been asking a bunch lately, but hopefully all of you can bear one more.

Over the past week, I've really been having trouble sleeping. I know it's very common to have this problem after surgery, but shouldn't it be going away by the sixth week? Actually, for the first few weeks after surgery, I didn't have problems sleeping at all. My hypothesis is that I was in so much pain that my body didn't shift one bit during the night (I typically awoke in the morning in the exact same spot and position in which I fell asleep). Now that I've healed some, I think my body has relaxed itself into thinking it can move around. However, I find myself waking up constantly and usually in pain (sometimes with the night sweats, but that's a different story).

Unfortunately (or fortunately), I've found that if I take Vicodin an hour or two prior to going to bed, I sleep through the night without problems. The problem is that I'm at six weeks and the Vicodin is about to run out. I really don't want to refill it, I would much rather find another way to get through the night peacefully. Any ideas? Has anyone else had this many problems sleeping this long after surgery?

Thanks as always!

[Cris N]

Mike,
I'm sorry you're still having so much pain. What sort of pain is it? Have you discussed it with your dr? I had sleep problems long after 6 weeks but not due to pain - I slept for the 2-3 hours stretches for several months. In fact, I still often wake up several times during the night. I know some folks take Tylenol PM before going to bed. At this point you probably shouldn't have so much pain from the surgery that you can't sleep unless something else is going on. Vicodin is a wonderful med but it does cause some dependence - you may ask your dr if something weaker could be used but only before going to bed, til you can get your body re-acclimated. But do check with dr about the pain.

Don't be shy about asking questions - that's what this site is for!
Cris

[spaige]

Hello,

I am more of a lurker here, I had surgery December 8th for an ASD and had the same trouble. I found that 2 Extra Strength Tylenol PM at night helped me instead of the vicodin. I stopped the Vicodin pretty early on, but I do admit to needing 9 instead of the recommended 8 a day of Tylenol the first 2 weeks.

I had a few days of not much night pain and then if I did too much during the day it was terrible. Also your neck and shoulders tend to hurt a lot from surgery and I found that pain came much later as well.

I hope that helps

Sandi