Do You Move at Night?

[maureen in mukilteo]

I usually don't have insomnia but I often awake at night from pain. Specifically, when I move it hurts in a very major way. From what I have noticed in myself, I remain in the same position for most of the night. I sleep with my iPhone and listen to it to fall asleep. It's set to turn off after 30 minutes. It's not unusual to wake after six hours in the exact same position I fell asleep (on my side with the phone still in my hand and the buds in my ear). Moving from that position is extremely painful. Or I will wake from searing pain after 4 hours when I try to move.

Of course, just lying in bed in one position for 30 minutes causes pain on that side and I have to move onto my other side for a while. But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about not moving and then having pain bad enough to wake you from a sound sleep when you do move.

I wonder if the morning stiffness in FM is due to a decrease in body movement at night. Anyone else find they do not move much at night? It is normal to do a certain amount of tossing and turning.

 

[GemmaRowlands]

If your body is trying not to move because it hurts to move, then unfortunately all that is going to happen is that you get stiff and will struggle to be able to move when you wake up in the morning anyway. It is like a vicious circle - there's nothing that you can do about it because you won't be able to win either way. Do you have painkillers that you can take before you go to bed? You might find that if you can ease your pain, you should be able to get to sleep and move a little before it gets too much. Also, make sure that you have a high quality mattress, as this can help a lot and you might find that it can reduce your pain.

 

[flightybird]

For me, it's the exact opposite. I toss and turn endlessly when I am flaring and get next to no rest at all because of it. I don't think I settle into one position for longer than a couple minutes at a time because I can't get my limbs into a comfortable position. Nights that I am able to be still though, I do notice a considerable amount of stiffness. I've started taking Benedryl and Aleve before I go to bed to help alleviate the falling asleep pain/weird legs-and-arms-don't-belong feeling, and then in the morning when I wake up stiff, I do some slow, gentle stretching ( YouTube has some great videos) and slowwwwwly plop myself out of bed. I'm still a little creaky afterwards but it makes it a bit more bearable.

 

[AlexF15]

I do move at night, quite a bit. It gets on my nerves when I wake up because of all the moving I'm doing. It annoys the living crap out of me to be honest, I just want to sleeeeeep.

 

[Trellum]

I move, I move a lot, but that's because I don't hurt so bad, if I'm having issues with my legs then I'll try not to move so much, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. I think your brain has been conditioned to control your movements even while you sleep because of the pain. That makes morning stiffness worse. I hope you can find a way to fix it, sleeping in one position the whole night every night can take a toll.

 

[Trellum]

If your body is trying not to move because it hurts to move, then unfortunately all that is going to happen is that you get stiff and will struggle to be able to move when you wake up in the morning anyway. It is like a vicious circle - there's nothing that you can do about it because you won't be able to win either way. Do you have painkillers that you can take before you go to bed? You might find that if you can ease your pain, you should be able to get to sleep and move a little before it gets too much. Also, make sure that you have a high quality mattress, as this can help a lot and you might find that it can reduce your pain.

I couldn't agree more with you, it is a vicious circle and I can't help but to feel sorry for the OP! I was thinking that maybe she should take some muscle relaxants, I take some when I really feel bad!

 

[dunaelegance]

Hi Maureen
I am new to this group. I have fibromyalgia and sleep in one position most of the night also. Something new to me Iis the need to stretch when I do move. I wake up and then stretch. I go back to sleep and then wake up stretch and repeat again. My dr, told me it was probably from the muscles being so sore. My dr. Put me on Cymbalta. I will see if that helps,

 

[VAMPFAN0328]

Hi
I do move at night. I can't stop moving, twitching, fluffing pillows, and rolling over. I feel the pain in my hips, back, shoulders. My husband says that my legs are marching all night long. I was taking a low dose antidepressant called Amitriptyline for many years, and I just recently took my self off thinking it wasn't doing me much good. After being awake for many nights, completely exhausted which makes you feel your worst, I tried taking the Benadryl, it only worked for a few hours each night. Any help or suggestions?

 

[nascarmike]

Exact opposite of OP. I get spams that contort my entire body. Warm baths and pain medication are really the only relief, but it's all temporary