Need suggestions on sleeping | Arthritis Information

_popupControl();OK, so at first I could sleep quite well taking paracetamol and ibuprofen, but in the last 5 months, I've found that the pain gets so bad that it wakes me up several times a night, mainly in my shoulders, hips, hands, knees and neck. Last week I had enough and I bought some codeine/antihistamine tablets and I slept quite well, I only woke up once or twice in the night, but the downside is that I would sleep for 14 hours and stay quite drowsy throughout the day. I've tried nortryptaline/amitryptaline but I get the same result. Even just an antihistamine sedative keeps me zonked for the whole day. I talked to my rheumy about it on Saturday and he just added sulfasalazine to the pred and plaquenil. I generally sleep 9-10 hours (up to 20 hours when the RA is bad) a night, I'm wondering if there is anything that you guys take or do to weather you through the night that works for you?

Any help will be much appreciated!

I'm usually in bed ten hours a night too... My shoulders used to wake me up around 5 am, then started seeing a physical therapist, who said that my shoulder/upper body pain was partially bad posture (but also the RA). I've done some core strengthening and most importantly, sitting up straight and sitting at the keyboard properly. I used to take tylenol before bed but I don't anymore...

It sounds like you're in more pain than I was with all those painkillers you're taking =/ but I hope this helps... or that someone else's comments do Thanks for the input guys, I'll go and get some epsom salts this afternoon! I generally ice my pain areas when I have my afternoon 'down' time, but I'll try it before i go to sleep tonight to see if that helps. I haven't asked about Remicade yet, I was only dx in Feb, so I have a long wait full of trial and error before I even get to a biologic, hopefully I won't need one! _popupControl(); Which antihistamine did you try? Doxylamine (Unisom here in the states) leaves me zonked the next day, but 50mg diphenhydramine (benadryl here) leaves me clear-headed as long as I take it by 9:00 (bedtime at 10:00, wakeup at 6:00AM the next day). Unfortunately, the benadryl doesn't always knock me out. My rheumatologist gave me a script for Lunesta (not sure what it's called overseas) which knocks me out and leaves me bright and alert the next day. It works pretty quickly. I just take it occasionally, when I'm having difficulty sleeping (due to pain or whatever). If pain is the main thing keeping me awake, I'll pop a vicodin before I go to bed and that usually takes care of the pain long enough for me to get a decent night's sleep. Luckily I've been pretty pain-free these last few months since taking plaquenil, so I haven't had to use any of that stuff. Yeah, we have an OTC tablet here with codeine, paracetamol and doxylamine mixed together, and while the codeine left me feeling great, the doxylamine didn't. Here in Australia we have Phenergan (promethazine) which I've used in the past, but now it leaves me wrecked the next day. I'll ask my pharmacist about benadryl, but if I'm finding that I'm too crazy from lack of sleep and pain, I'll see my doctor about a sleeper.

I'm so glad that Plaquenil is working for you!
_popupControl(); ^ Augh. Isn't the cramping the worst? Does anyone get kind of a restless leg shake as well?

ELECTRIC BLANKET! Why didn't I think of that? That'll help my shoulders and my hips! I'll also try the pillow thing. Thanks!

_popupControl(); Paperdoll -

I've been running a sleep experiment on myself. :-) I need to find some info and post it for you. Just give me a bit to get more tea in me. If I blow it - send me a PM to say - post it already.

Pip

I take Ambien Cr. and have been for about 2 years. I sleep like a baby and wake up feeling rested 8-10 hours later and no hangover feeling. In the hospital they only had ambien 5mg, and I was wide awake all night long, so they let me take my med after the pharmacy approved it.
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