Hi im four weeks in tlhr sleeping is a nightmare !!!

Breaking my silence , Tina. Been ingesting all comments on this site. So many similarities in pain, frustrations and emotional toll of joint replacement. But rarely does any one mention permanent paralysis from THR. Due to femoral nerve damage or acute bleeding. I had both. Am permanently mobility compromised. I just got to sleep on my side fairly comfortably about six months ago. I'm three years out from my surgery. Pt agravates the palsy. But I force myself to walk with my husband every day.. Good luck to all. Keep up the info!!

Hi Tina - look up a recent post by Gwen - actually a repost of one by Kate a while back entitled The Sleep Club.

The challenges of sleeping post-op are epic for almost everyone - whether due to sleep position (few of us think of sleeping on our back as normal or desirable or even feasible); or pain and swelling; the incredible quantities of urine we need to dispel at night; restless and cramping legs; or the night sweats (that my GP promised were behind me for all time).

Thank God for Internet and wireless and this forum or there definitely would have been a headline and photo this spring in our city paper of me on crutches on short pj's barking at the moon on our very snowy street.

Keeping my medications regular (thank you Graham for suggesting setting the alarm on my phone), extra pillows under my leg and around my hips to keep me balanced and ease my back (thank you dear husband for moving to the extra bedroom to make room for all of my paraphernalia), getting my magnesium level checked to reduce the restless legs (thank you ... Kate?); and the spare table w extra towels and t-shirts ready to do a quick change (well ... changes anyway) and an Ipod with favourite music (thank you dearest daughter) kept me (just ths side of) sane.

A cooler of cold packs and beginner sudoku also helped but ... this was the biggest challenge for me and .. I get to do it all over again shortly!

Hang in there - it does get easier and dozens of new hippies arriving all the time - surely someone will find the definitive fix for this 😁.

Big hugs,

L

Hi Tina, boy don't we all! I keep trying but it just isn't happening. My husband did say he got up the other morning and I was on my right side. Which amazes me must have done it in my sleep and doubt I had been that way very long. I had rthr on May 17, and just about the time I felt like maybe I could lay on my side it was time for my lthr (August 12)...so here I am on my back still. It seems like it has been forever! I am not a back sleeper so I keep trying to lay on my sides. My right side is still just as tender as the left is. I had a fracture on the right side though and think the healing is slower on that side. I can lay on either side for only a few minutes and I start to hurt. So then it is back to the back. First surgery I got by with slipping pillows under my knees and propping my legs up, but for some reason that doesn't seem to make me any more comfortable this time. Guess I am just getting tired of laying that way in general. Nothing wrong with daydreaming...lol....Hope you heal quickly and are able to lay on your side soon. Wishing you well...Barb

Hi Tina, I an sleep on my side with a pillow between my legs I tired it for a minute, made me nervous and I rolled right back on my back, do you have a sleeping pill? maybe it would help short term? I pretty much sleep on my back so my face doesn't wrinkel ( no kidding lol). Good luck wishing you sweet dreams.

Annette

Hi Tina

We are all going through the same thing. I'm 7 months post op and I'm lucky if I get 2 hours at a time. I feel like a zombie most of the time.  All you can do is keep going and grab sleep when you can.  4 weeks is such a short time after a big operation.

Brenda C

Hi Tina I'm 8weeks post op and have slept on

my operated side for the first time this week

YAHOO it's heaven couldn't do it earlier as not

comfy and a little afraid of dislocation, but so

GOOD. You'll get there little love ,hugs xxx😴

Hi Tina I'm 40 and 5 weeks post LTHR from week 3 my pt said if it feels comfortable I can lay on my right side with pillow and was lovely to get some sleep check with your pt as everyone is different but worth the ? Good luck

My problem and I'm 7 wks on is incontinence.  Have got used to sleeping on back and now on op. side with pillow.  It becomes habit.

Hi Tina and all, 

I'm 41 TLHR 2 1/2 weeks post op. I had all the same problems with sleep as everyone else. Sleeping on my L side is still to tender. But by the end of the 1st week I could not function due to sleep deprivation. So I started sleeping on my front with a pillow under my pelvis (for support) and pillows either side of my operated leg to stop rotation. And it worked!!! I tend to get 3-4 hours on my front, then wake up for the loo, then another 2-3 hours either on my front or my back (if on my back I have pillows under my knew raising my legs slightly. The hospital said it was ok to sleep on my front, this was the PT and occupational health and the staff nurse. But said when you turn your body on to your front your legs, hips and torso have to be turned all at the same time, if that makes sense, a little bit of upper body strength involved.

I also suffer from friggety leg syndrome, so have started drinking tonic water (for the quinine) to take the edge off, it totally works. 

Also wheni feel I'm not going to fall asleep well I take 2 herbal nightol a hour before going to bed. And if that doesn't work I listen to a 10 min mindfulness  meditation and so far I haven't heard the end of the meditation. Don't get me wrong I'm not a hippy In the sense of meditation, it's more the fact that the gentlemen's voice is like velvet and sends me to sleep!!  

But don't get me wrong, there are the odd night when my mind is racing and it just won't sleep. 

I hope this helps a little.

Hang in there. 

Nina. X