I'm just having "issues" right now! My legs are freaking killing me! I took 2 Darvocet & my Flexerall & my Valium.........I feel drugged & yes even sleepy; but every time I lay down to try and SLEEP.......BAM red ants biting my legs & it feels like my toes are being crushed by a walnut cracker/sheller. I've got another apt with my Dr. & they've schedualed me for pain management again........I don't want to be drugged.......I just want to stop hurting long enough to sleep! My body is tired & the pain is killing me, my brain is only 1/2 working on account of the stupid pills that are only 1/2 working on the pain but fully working at making a fog bank up in my head.

And when I said something about this problem earlier to an AB friend......."just close your eyes". If only it were that stinking easy!

OK not that this had much of a "point", I just needed to bitch somewhere where people might actually know what kind of frustration I'm dealing with. OK rant over.....and I feel a bit better.

I really can empathise with you. Ive had weeks of waking up every half hour, trying to find ANY decent sleeping position becasue my legs are killing me too. Dont really know what to do about it to be honest.

I know where you are coming from, I get that all day 24/7, My doctor gave me Trazadol just one pill before bed and it seems to give me a few hrs of sleep. You might ask your pm dr. about it, it can't hurt?

nipper

Ps. Always rant away it's better than holding it in and blowing up at the wrong person.

Sounds like it might be something to do with your back. If it's worse when you lie down, then why not speak to an Osteopath or Chiropractor.

Sitting in a wheelchair can often lead to bad posture, but with time, this becomes "the norm" for your back whilst seated. But when you lay down, this forces the spine to re-align, and this can cause pain. Remember the "old days" when you weren't SCI and had a really sore back?

I lay flat on my back and place a pillow in the arch of my lower back, and one under my ankles to raise them slightly. No pillows for my head. Lie back and allow the muscles to relax, then do some stretching. Have someone pull your feet, then one foot at a time to pull your hips and twist the low spine. Hold on to the headboard and pull yourself up the bed slowly to stretch the spine. Bend your knees and left them fall to one side and leave them there for a while, then the other - this twists and stetches the lower back.

I also roll on to my front and stretch in the press-up position. Get in to the position and stretch one shoulder blade then the next, twist and turn, and hold the position so muscles can remain stretched.

If you weren't SCI and had a trapped nerve or something similar, you'd know exactly where the pain was coming from, and so would your Dr, and you'd get recommended for manipulation from an Osteopath/Chiropractor. Worth exploring.

Hey Bear

I sympathise with what you are going through. Nights often seem worse, personally I think that's because my mind has less to focus on around me as my brain tries to shut down to sleep. If I try and distract myself with music or tv then my brain is 'woken' up (well as much as my brain can be!). Many nights I have laid in bed with tears rolling down my face exhausted but unable to sleep, that kind of silent crying. Distraction techniques have limited use imo, and as for "just close your eyes..." if only it were that simple. Although I would never wish pain on anybody I sometimes wish that people could get just a snapshot of what neuro pain can be like, just to give them appreciation what you, I and many others have to deal with on a daily basis. We just may find a little more compassion coming our way!

I know it's going to be a bad day when I wake up in pain.

I sincerely hope you get a good nights sleep soon
xxx

Thanks guys.

As much as I love this friend she's one of those who just doesn't "get it"; can't understand how I can get so cold so easily either. So I needed a circle of who would "get it".

I have a referral to go through pain management once again as well as neuro. They are trying to get a handle on it, & I'm hoping we can still avoid surgery(it got brought up last time). I think it is most definitely linked to that in-between-time.......in the day there are things to do & I can keep myself pretty well distracted, but at night is another story. It isn't so much that laying down makes it worse.......that is usually what makes it better.....to lie on my back with my legs propped up so that I'm pretty much in a sitting position. If I straiten out for too long then it makes the neuropathy (ya know as often as we spell this word....too bad there isn't a spell check for it ;) ) worse. If I sleep on my side; it'd be on my right side cuz my left leg can't take it.....much worse pins & needles, with my right leg strait-ish, & my left leg bent & on a pillow (I use my body pillow for this position). So long as I stay actively doing something be it a game or on-line it helps.....things like TV not so much.

Some nights are worse than others and that night had been a particularly bad one. BF is very understanding & the only problem he has with it is that he can't make it go away. I had been talking with a friend when the "ants" started attacking......& her not "getting it" just aggravated me on top of the ow I was having. Actually I was crying while typing & finally just let BF hold me while I cried & after a while I guess I'd exhausted myself to sleep; but hashing it all out here can be kinda therapeutic......if nothing else like you guys said......just so I don't bottle it up & take it out on anyone.

As to specifics I'm not sure but I know they are going to try some different meds on me some of which will be specifically to make this nerve crap settle down.

Whenever I hear of tales of such pain I find it difficult to focus cos I'm uncomfortable with the idea of pain. I know I'm hopeless to do anything to make it any different for anyone else. Not nice feeling helpless. I'm lucky in that I don't have real issues with pain so I don't really know much about it. I do have some unexplained faith in the technique of focussing on the pain, making it as intense as it will take you and seeing where it leads you. I've had successes and failures with that. The next time I have an issue with pain, I'll try that again.

I literally feel your pain. and it seems like the less you sleep, the worse the pain gets, right? I don't take meds, occasionally tylenol PM.
this week my nighttime pain was so bad, i cried out every night. wish to toss and turn, but can't even do that. spasms get me stuck and locked down. legs burn, shoulders ache because i sleep on them. left side is also worse when in contact with the bed...may even try a new mattress..
i think there is something else at play, a UTI is my instinct.
constant movement and exercise seem to help my pain a lot, but it's not applicable tucked up in bed, is it?
have you tried meditation? i might...
earphones with calm music could help , too.

OH Wheeliebear, I sooooooooooo understand!!

Have you ever heard of HTP-1500 heat therapy system? I've had one for several years. Now, it doesn't work for me all the time--maybe it works 80% of the time. My legs feel like they are on fire (when I have feeling sensations), but are so cool to the touch. And, I don't know how my doctor wrote it up for me, but Medicare paid for it completely. Once I got the temperature set right for me, it was great!

Otherwise, as I understand, with all the medication, and the exhaustion from not sleeping, eventually, this too will pass. But, it's hard--I know.

Hope you get some solid rest VERY SOON.

-Barb
(a newbie)

Luckily after the good cry I had in BF's arms I was able to get a good solid block of sleep in. And I have been feeling better since. Still have been having some trouble sleeping; actually I'm almost nocturnal anymore, since the pain starts getting worse around 7-9PM & starts letting up about dawn so like 5-7 AM. So since for those 8-12hrs I'm in more pain I'm either drugged & sleeping or I'm awake & trying to keep my mind distracted. Sleep......that comes when ever I am both tired & not having too many ants on my legs. I've got a TENS unit that in some cases makes it better & other times will worsen it......just depends. I use a heating pad on my back & legs (keeping an eye on how hot it's making my skin of course) & that actually helps quite a bit. I can not keep the lower 1/2 of me warm to save my life. And yes my legs & especially feet often feel much like a chicken leg (not frozen) that was recently pulled from the refrigerator........and if my toes bump up against someone while we're asleep.......instantly they're awake.

Dr. is also thinking of adding melatonin to see if that would help me sleep at night & help me stay asleep through all the biting without feeling so drugged up when I wake up (pills.....the benefits last about 4-6hrs......the side-effects last about 10hrs. ). So on the 28th I'll see my Dr. for an apt. & then I just have to wait for those referrals to go though. I saw the pain management & neuro & ortho back in 2003 but since I didn't want to go with surgery & I was trying to get by with drugs that my GP could write for he handled things from there & just called them if there was something he wasn't sure of.

Oh I should also add we have a temper-pedic beds.......you know the ones that form to your body, & don't transfer much motion through the bed.

Not that I'm glad that anyone else has the same issues.......I wish NONE OF US had them, but in a way it is somewhat comforting to know that I'm not the only one who has to deal with this !

Thanks guys.

Here's your answer...or at least one that suits me.


Swearing Makes Pain More Tolerable

By LiveScience Staff

posted: 12 July 2009 10:05 am ET

That muttered curse word that reflexively comes out when you stub your toe could actually make it easier to bear the throbbing pain, a new study suggests.

Swearing is a common response to pain, but no previous research has connected the uttering of an expletive to the actual physical experience of pain.

"Swearing has been around for centuries and is an almost universal human linguistic phenomenon," said Richard Stephens of Keele University in England and one of the authors of the new study. "It taps into emotional brain centers and appears to arise in the right brain, whereas most language production occurs in the left cerebral hemisphere of the brain."

Stephens and his fellow Keele researchers John Atkins and Andrew Kingston sought to test how swearing would affect an individual's tolerance to pain. Because swearing often has an exaggerating effect that can overstate the severity of pain, the team thought that swearing would lessen a person's tolerance.

As it turned out, the opposite seems to be true.

The researchers enlisted 64 undergraduate volunteers and had them submerge their hand in a tub of ice water for as long as possible while repeating a swear word of their choice. The experiment was then repeated with the volunteer repeating a more common word that they would use to describe a table.

Contrary to what the researcher expected, the volunteers kept their hands submerged longer while repeating the swear word.

The researchers think that the increase in pain tolerance occurs because swearing triggers the body's natural "fight-or-flight" response. Stephens and his colleagues suggest that swearing may increase aggression (seen in accelerated heart rates), which downplays weakness to appear stronger or more macho.

"Our research shows one potential reason why swearing developed and why it persists," Stephens said.

The results of the study are detailed in the Aug. 5 issue of the journal NeuroReport.

http://www.livescience.com/health/090712-swearing-pain.html

LOL we'll just have to start calling you Professor Nomis. Although I'm not a big user of profanity I do/have used it for other things.......but yeah now that you mention it, when I'm in a lot of pain the 4 letter words do seem to fly out a lot quicker......find it much harder not to when I feel like shit <----- (see there goes another one).

I don't know, Nomis, as a former construction worker, my repertoire of curses and lesser invectives could make a sailor blush. One would think that I wouldn't feel any pain,, if that were the case.

Unfortunately, not,, but I'll keep trying.

I feel bad for you WB,, but, luckily for me, sleeping is what I do best. I fall asleep quickly and sleep soundly,, a trait I've had since birth ( i'm told). I have a similar problem with the burning, squeezing , stabbing stuff. The longer I'm up, the worse it gets,, but once I go to bed, start to read,,, as I normally do,,, It's lights out for Eddie.

Sorry that I don't have any ideas to help,,, just haven't been there. Doesn't mean I don't understand,, and care.

You can unload here, whenever you like.
ed

After reading some of what you all endure I feel blessed in that what pain I experience is minimal , some leg burning, some butt pain buts about All...thanks for making my day better. I wish you better pain free days and nights.

As with Meadowlarkmark I too have minimal pain issues.
But lately I've noticed in the afternoon my feet will feel like they're pressing down on the footrests of my w/c really hard, like I have 5oo pounds placed on my lap and knees. My lower legs feel like a pair of giant wet sand bags and the bottoms of my feet, especially the heels feel like they are crushing down on the stirrups. The only way I can alleviate the pain is by taking my foot off the rest and letting it dangle close to the floor for a while.

Could it be edema, poor circulation, being overweight? I have gained a pound or two lately. Or is this just one of those weird pains we all get from time to time?

E-dog