Recommended Sleeping Positions?

Hi Carl

when I was flaring up - I used to sleep on my side like you with a pillow or flat on my back and then also tried on my front when pain was at its worst in my ribs.

I did lots of breathing exercises - and found that lying on my front on a hard surface with a pillow on the floor then breathing from my chest to expand the rib cage also helped before going to sleep.

then a few "funny" stretches I do is to walk half way down he stairs and hang with both hands - then a sideways stretch / hang (reaching up with my feet still on the stairs) with one arm - then turning to do the other side. This help side rib pain.

I get a lot of relief from diet changes - have been gluten and corn free now for over 20 years.  I recommend that you read the kickas dot org website - a good amount of exercise is beneficial for our condition.

It is worth considering that nearly all current reearch focuses on AS and RA and a number of other autoimmune diseases being environmental from gut bacterial and /or dietary factors triggering and helping to fuel the autoimmune reactions.

Best wishes, Sean

 

Hi Carl

I find sleeping on my front the best, often with my hands on either side of my pelvis to take some of the strain.  On my back with my feet slightly elevated also works well but I can't sleep on my side at all.

I have found that Magnesium flakes in the bath are really good to settle down all my muscles and remove any restless tension that can build up.  I agree whole heartedly with Sean that exercise is the key, and that your sleeping position will not feature so highly once your body is loose.  

I'm a AS sufferer and have been for the last 10 years, I'm now 34.  The last few years it has been chronic and I now take Anti TNF injections (Enbrel) to allow me to exercise and try and help myself.  I'm a member at a gym, and my morning sessions are so key to how I sleep.  I use the pool to do exercises I was shown in hydro therapy (deep squats, twists, walking, leg lifts for my abs whilst holding the corner) and I also do some really light weights to strengthen my whole core including abs, lats, shoulders etc.  Before this period on Enbrell I couldn't sleep at all, was in constant pain and in a really bad spot.  The injections plus exercise have transformed my life.

Good luck with it

Paul

Well I tried sleeping on my back last nigth with my legs elevated I woke up at about 5am with horrible aching pains under my left shoulder blade which didn't go away for abour 2-3hrs even after some over the counter Paracetamol so looks like that ones not for me currently

Hi Carl

Sorry to hear that - I am aware of that same feeling in my back shoulder blades.  Sticky, hot, sore, crunchy is what I remembered.  Like a mixture of molten glue and seaside shingle - with a few pebbles thrown in.

I am going to post a separate link in a next post - I mentioned that kickas website and the rest of my story about my diet change 22 years ago might help you!

I popped into the doctors on the off chance this afternoon and the receptionist told me that both my blood and x-ray results were normal... so I think I will speak to the doctor when she's back and get a referral to see a rheumatologist who then might be more willing to proceed with further diognostic testing as I think I'm correct in that only prolonged AS will show up on an X-Ray? I've only been in pain for about 2-3yrs however I'm stumped as to why they couldn't detect any signs of inflamation in my blood test? surely there must be inflamation for the NSAID's to be working so well?

My inflammatory markers didn't show up with any signs of swelling several times when they suspected me to have AS. My aunt works in rheumatology and was adamant that I had it so I kept persuing the investigations, much to the displeasure of my GP who though I was 'looking too hard' for answers. I can't remember now if it was an X-Ray or MRI that showed up he inflammation but it was all around my SI joint in my hip. If you're in this amount of pain for 3 years I'm sure there will be some inflammation, AS is just so difficult to diognosed I'm told...

Well I had an MRI which led to a confirmed diagnosis of AS