Overnight pain

[Marc]

Hi all, it seems my fibro pain is most common overnight after I've been asleep for a couple of hours. I wake up at 1 am and my body is aching. Needless to say, getting a decent night's sleep is just a fond memory. Sometimes I get up and stretch and walk around which may help a bit. Is this a common fibro situation?

 

[sunkacola]

Yes, it's very common that people with fibro have difficulty getting good nights sleep because of pain.

 

[JayCS]

Hi all, it seems my fibro pain is most common overnight after I've been asleep for a couple of hours. I wake up at 1 am and my body is aching. Needless to say, getting a decent night's sleep is just a fond memory. Sometimes I get up and stretch and walk around which may help a bit. Is this a common fibro situation?

Hi Marc - yeah, so common that it is a typical one.
I now call it "post postural ache" cos it happens to me all day too, from not moving.
(As opposed to post exertional malaise, the Ache/sickness from moving too much.)

It's not necessarily the reason why fibro comes with insomnia tho, cos I've managed to get my night pain very much under control, but am still up 4-6x a night. I used to be glad having to get up, because the less I did, the more pain after. I've managed to improve this too. It's now no longer more of a problem when I manage to sleep 4h in one stint.

For me the question is more what to do about it, rather than blame it on the fibro: What helped/-s me with that night Ache is a 20 second cold shower, NSDR/Yoga Nidra, staying up outside the bedroom until the Ache is down and I'm tired enough again, and generally: looking for other reasons why I may be waking up, praps more sleep supps, looking at the sun early, screen curfew in the evening and more.

 

[Marc]

Thank you Jay! Your description is pretty much spot on (getting up throughout the night etc...) Movement is the quickest short term remedy. I'll definitely explore your other suggestions (except for the cold shower).

 

[JayCS]

(except for the cold shower)

Yeah, we need to be pretty tough for that, or the buzz word for that is: it's "hormetic". Workarounds to distract the nerves could be shower alternate or luke-warm or warm, what works best; or similarly wash arms; or pads; or stroking; or TENS or microcurrent.
(I need the burst of cool to "numb" the pain and sometimes to reset my thermostat.)

 

[ayassresearch]

Yes, disrupted sleep and increased pain upon waking are common experiences for many people with fibromyalgia. Stretching and gentle movement during the night can provide some relief, but it's essential to discuss your symptoms with a healthcare provider for tailored management strategies.

 

[annking66]

I think this is common. Historically mine comes and goes. I finally broke down and bought a really good bed for me. It does seem to help. Stretching before bed helps too (sometimes).

 

[Izzysmom]

Yes, disrupted sleep and increased pain upon waking are common experiences for many people with fibromyalgia. Stretching and gentle movement during the night can provide some relief, but it's essential to discuss your symptoms with a healthcare provider for tailored management strategies.

I’m a new member here (diagnosed with fibromyalgia about a month ago) and just wanted to jump in and agree with this statement. The absolute worst time for me is middle of the night, followed by even more pain when I get up in the morning. Morning is when my pain peaks, and I find that as the day progresses the pain level goes down, regardless whether I take any pain medicine or not. It never goes away completely for me - though I’m hoping to improve on that - but definitely is more manageable in afternoon and evening.

Last night I had a very (typical) sporadic, interrupted sleep because of a combination of insomnia and pain. Lately the pain that wakes me up is numbness and pain in my left hand (and/or pain in my shoulders, hips, arms and upper legs). Pain in that hand turns to throbbing, becomes somewhat intense and remains for quite a while. However, I am only mentioning this because last night I noticed that getting up and walking around for a few minutes significantly improved the pain and numbness. Took me a while to fall back to sleep again, but at least the pain subsided.

 

[sunkacola]

I don't know where you are located, @Izzysmom , but if you are able to get medical marijuana, you might find that taking a tincture with THC and CBD at bedtime will help you with the pain disrupting your sleep. Of course like everything else this doesn't work for everyone, but I have found that it works well for me much (not all) of the time. Just the CBD didn't do a thing for me, although others report it works for them. but a 1:1 combination of CBD:THC, or a tincture f TCH with other factors in it as well like CBG does seem to help a lot of us if we live in a place where we can get it.

 

[JayCS]

last night I noticed that getting up and walking around for a few minutes significantly improved the pain and numbness.

Definitely know this, just usually longer necessary for me. Posture changes for local pains as well as for the overall Ache and stiff hurt, which I now call that "post postural Ache". And just moving about helped me with all kinds of symptoms like stuffy nose.
So it was actually good for this that my bladder wakes me up regularly, and worse when something helped me sleep too "much" by zombifying (which to me is never restorative, so I avoid that at all cost).

Took me a while to fall back to sleep again, but at least the pain subsided.

Having had to be up 4-8x per night means I need good techniques to get back to sleep quickly, like taking care not to move too quickly, esp. going down/up, if necessary, not worrying, but enjoying dreamy relaxation techniques like NSDR/yoga nidra. Now I've improved to 2-3x/n, mainly by reducing screen time after 7pm. That takes me back to the problem of post postural Ache, which I combat with stretching while sleeping....:

pain that wakes me up is numbness and pain in my left hand (and/or pain in my shoulders, hips, arms and upper legs).

Could these all be posture, so influenceable by new sleeping postures, praps with the help of pillows?
That's how I do it, apart from all the stretches and pressing tendinitis points day and night too (generally I now sleep in recovery posture but with a slightly arched back). For hips and thighs I have a lamb skin under them to soften the mattress which otherwise has to be one of the hardest for my backbones, plus a thin soft topper on for my muscles/fasicae.

 

[Hammmick]

Totally agree that the cbd does nothing if taken orally. I do use the oils on my fibro spots and it does seem to help. My only advice is to be careful with the medical marajuana…if you have an addictive personality like me, it will take over your life and you will spend your days in a blissful high not caring about anything. It is very addictive mentally for those who suffer from constant anxiety

 

[sunkacola]

Totally agree that the cbd does nothing if taken orally. I do use the oils on my fibro spots and it does seem to help. My only advice is to be careful with the medical marajuana…if you have an addictive personality like me, it will take over your life and you will spend your days in a blissful high not caring about anything. It is very addictive mentally for those who suffer from constant anxiety

Sorry it has that effect on you, Hammmick. However, even with people who have had a tendency to have addictions to other things it is not generally psychologically addictive. And it is not physically addictive at all.

I personally do not believe there is any such thing as an "addictive personality", and the concept has been debunked scientifically, but it's true that some people are more prone to become addictive to substances than others, and some people are more likely to be psychologically "addicted" to something that is not actually addictive physically.

I do know that it doesn't affect everyone the same way and can speak with authority that even if a person has actually been addicted to an actually addictive drug in the past, marijuana is unlikely to affect them in that way.

I wouldn't want anyone to be afraid to try medical marijuana for that reason.