Napping | Arthritis Information

 

My aide comes over at 7:30 AM and I take my painpills.  I get up at 8:30.  I work with my aide, if I can, until 12:30.  I am always exhausted when she leaves, even if I don't do anything

How long do you all nap?

Roxy   I try not to nap so I can sleep at night, I rest in the p.m. I envy those who can sleep, WHEN I do manage a seven hour sleep at night I feel great the next day.

Sleep is supposed to be restorative for us suffering with RA, OA, etc.

Taking sleeping meds is not the answer either.....hope you all feel better and I pray something is discovered soon to bring us pain relieve from this disease that no one understands except the sufferer.

rose
Like you, I can nap for a couple of hours in the pm but I try not to.  I usually take a 1 hr. nap and force myself up.  I'm napping longer since I started Lortabs.  My long naps have to do with the pain pills and not so much the disease.  I barely make it through dinner, into the lounge chair and to be no later than 10 and up again about 8.  I get plenty of restorative sleep.  LindyHi Roxy, I am like you, I try to do a few jobs in the am on a good day but always end up fatigued and have a nap usually, lasting from 1 to 3 hours and then sometimes have trouble sleeping at night but more because I try to stay up to have some time to myself when the kids and hubby are asleep.  If I have a really bad day, then I just stay in bed until the meds have kicked in and then usually the fatigue hits, so I feel like I am sleeping my life away too.  Regards Janie. The sleeping is depressing but usually I use up my spoons in the am.  9:30 - 12:30.  Someone helping me motivates me.  I don't set an alarm when I sleep, I let my body tell me when I should wake.  I get maybe an hour in the evening, that I usually water the yard and what not.  Dinner has been out of the question.  Quesadilla, sandwich or takeout.  Hurts too much to stand too long.  I HATE how much I sleep but when I try to get up earlier because someone woke me up, I feel exhausted.  This disease has made me resigned to whatever happens.  Sadly, RA runs my life most of the time.  If I did not have the few good hours, I would have nothing to motivate me.  Kelsey also naps, her meds are very strong.  It is hard for me to believe it is my meds as they are only taking an edge off the pain.  I think I sleep to take a break from the pain.  It is better than the first year - I would never get more than 3-4 hours of sleep in a day.  I was miserable.  I hated that.  Thank God I sleep at night.  I was going insane those long nights alone and in pain.  I am just amazed how much I can sleep.  I have fibro also so that may be a factor.

Was wondering if your stroke had similar consequences?

Ron

I work later in the day (1pm-8:30pm) so I usually get home and eat dinner (if the family has cooked it or if I left it in the crock pot before I left for work).  Then I sit and veg and watch TV, knit, make jewellery or whatnot til about 11:30.  I take my night time meds then around 12:30 or 1 I go to bed and do sudokus until I fall asleep.  I sleep for 1 hour.  Then I either do more sudokus or surf the net for an hour then go back to bed.  I usually get up at 10am.  If I have to get up at 7 or 8 I will be just about comatose by 11:30.  The only day I usually have a nap is Sunday afternoon and its usually about 2 hours.  It sounds crazy but it works for me.  Even if I did go to bed earlier I wouldn't sleep any better, I've never been a good sleeper (seriously restless legs).  If I don't take my meds for the legs after about 2 nights the bed turns into a trampoline because I jacknife in the middle every 30-40 seconds (so hard that sometimes I knee myself in the chest).  I find I have to sleep later in the morning or I would fall asleep at my desk.  I guess what I do is tack my nap onto my sleep time in the morning and that lets me get through the day.

Pammy,  It sounds like you have it down to a science.  Doesn't sound fun, all that interrupted sleep but we all do what we have to do to cope.  I wish I had a hobby like you.  My fine motor skills are about gone so it limits me.  My only hobby now is my yard, even though I am limited, like digging very much (I always pay for that) can't mow, flares my shoulders, I can still weed, plant, and dig small holes.  I love my yard.

Ron,  I think you are right.  WOW.  That coincides.  I did start sleeping more after the stroke.  Is that permanent?

Hey Roxy, you said you cant stand to long to make dinner...is there a way that maybe when your aid is there during the day the 2 of you and Kelsey can make some dinners that you can freeze so all you have to do is pop them in the oven?

I don't nap because of time/life constraints, however I sleep a LOT. I usually don't wake up until at least 11:00, usually more like noon. I rest a lot, but don't actually fall asleep most of the time. I worry that if I fall asleep in the afternoon that I won't wake up until the next day. Love and restful hugs, J

Shannon,  What a coincidence.  My aide and I are making dinner for tonight right now !!!!  We are going to make plans to do it more often.  We do not eat well in the evening as neither of us feel like cooking Mmmmm, naps!  I go to be weekends usually around 8pm, watch tv in bed for another hour or so.  I get my clock for 7:30-8 am, need to be to work by 10.  Get off work at 6, home at 6:30, face washed and in pjs by 6:35.  Hubby cooks dinner.  On the weekends, I don't set an alarm but usually don't sleep much past 9, sometimes 10am.  I try to do a thing or two around the house but usually doesn't last long.  I usually nap at least 4 hours each day on the weekends.  And I am still exhausted! Do you all feel guilty for your naps?  I feel like I am wasting a good proportion of my precious life and also am unavailable to those that I love.  Guilt, guilt,guilt.  My biggest issue.  Working on that one

A cat's life does indeed sound wonderful! LOL

I'm all for a cat's life. Don't they  have 9 of them? LOLI don't really sleep during the day, most days I just run out of steam and have to vegetate on the couch for a while. I might need to lay on my bed for an hour or so but I don't really fall into a deep sleep most days. Some days though I fall asleep around 4 o'clock for just a 1/2 hour or so, to recharge - if that's possible. I go to bed for the night at about 8:30 and get up at 6am. I like to have an hour to myself in the morning to have some coffee, feed my dog, catch up on the news before I wake the kids for school.

I'm sort of thinking though that my family needs an "RA Refresher Course". I think I hide my limitations too well and my family is forgetting that I am ill. I didn't like feeling like I was "whining" everyday. I don't like to constantly tell my husband that i'm tired, or that I hurt, because I know he is a "fixer" and wants to fix my pain which we know isn't possible. He will massage my wrists or legs or whatever is hurting but I still feel like a complainer. Then I start to feel like they (my kids and Husband) expect too much from me. They don't always take my RA into consideration. Like when my VERY hormonal teenage daughter wants me to take her to the mall and I say "I"m too tired". She gets all angry. Anyone else have this problem?

Roxy, I don't know if the tiredness that comes with a stroke is permanent or not. Will ask my doc when I see him on the 4th for my MRI results.

You should never feel guilty for napping. You know that stress can bring on flares and being tired is a form of stress on your body.

Hope your visit works out well,

Ron

Hi Roxy,

I also nap from 2 to4 hours every day then to bed at about 10.  I wanted to mention that when I cannot stand to cook dinner I get things ready earlier in the day like chopping etc. then I sit on a bar stool to cook and it has worked well for me.

Don't feel guilty for sleeping, our bodies need sleep for healing.

I work from 8 to 5 and am pretty worthless after that because I am too tired to do anything. I can catch a 20 minute nap at lunch and that helps. I nap a couple hours a day on the weekends and rest a lot. I've been trying to take one vacation day a week lately and find that I am more tired if I stay home than I am at work since there are so many chores to do! Yesterday I stayed home and slept 3 hours. It does seem like a waste but that's just how it is. My family is great about it and always tell me to rest or lie down if they see me taking on too much.

Laker

I cant judge my naps as i fall asleep without even realising it. I was on the computer this morning when i felt the need to lie down, by the time I got to the couch i felt better so I put the t.v. on. and The Duggan family were on, they must have wore me out cause the next thing I knew i woke up 2 hours later. Yesterday my daughter was showing me a new t-shirt she bought, she went to change into it and i was asleep by the time she came back

Now its a lot worse--some days I may sleep 12 to 14 hours. One day last week I thought I'd lay down & read a book.  This was about 4 p.m.  I woke up again to go to the bathroom at 1 a.m.  Fell right back to sleep and woke up at 7 when my brother called to tell me to get up for work.  ( I also have 2 alarm clocks for days when I am working and have to get up.)  Then I'll occasionally have a day when I can't sleep at all.  

Mostly I feel like I am sleeping my life away too. 

If it were not for the occasional bursts of energy (provided by prednisone I'm sure) I might not ever get anything done.  Very frustrating.

 

My usual nap is 10 to 20 minutes.  If I really had an absolutely awful night, maybe an hour.  Rarely more than that. 
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