topic Re: Post Hip Replacement Sleep Issues in Wellness

Post Hip Replacement Sleep Issues

I am still oxox — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 18:39:16 GMT

Hi all I am 5 weeks post op with a total hip replacement, I am still sleeping on my reclining sofa, have not yet conquered the bed. Thing is I am sleeping like a wooden solider, flat on my back with a pillow between my legs, sleep mask since it is fairly light in my living room and my I pod on my chest playing sleepy time music. I also have a fan blowing on me.

I wake with a headache and neck and shoulder pain daily.

I can not seem to find a comfortable position.

I have a neck pillow on order with help that will soften my issues

Any help would mean the world to me, thanks all

Re: Post Hip Replacement Sleep Issues

Reconnaissant — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 18:46:52 GMT

@I am still oxox

Would you be able to place your IPod to the side? One of your pillow’s positioning sounds like the problem. Are you stiff because you’re focused on where everything is positioned also?

Re: Post Hip Replacement Sleep Issues

tucsongal — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 18:51:09 GMT

Did you ever start home health therapy? Your PT or OT can help with bed transfers if that’s a concern.

Re: Post Hip Replacement Sleep Issues

I am still oxox — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 18:52:50 GMT

@Reconnaissant

I have no pillows at my head, only one between my legs to keep me from crossing them pillows at my head really mess with my posture, which is a part of the issue, moving the phone will not change anyrhing

@Reconnaissant wrote:
@I am still oxox
Would you be able to place your IPod to the side? One of your pillow’s positioning sounds like the problem. Are you stiff because you’re focused on where everything is positioned also?

Re: Post Hip Replacement Sleep Issues

Betsey Ross — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 19:14:53 GMT

I have had both my hips replaced. Right hip in 2016 and left in 2019. I would check with PT. I slept in my bed immediately. Sleeping in a recliner was not recommended for me, I had my legs elevated with a large wedge pillow while resting. I am a side sleeper. I slept on the opposite hip that was replaced with a pillow between my knees. I still use a pillow between my legs to this day. I wish you the best of luck. I am 58 years old.

Re: Post Hip Replacement Sleep Issues

Roscoe the Rascal — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 19:17:37 GMT

My friend had a hip replacement and she is like you. She can't sleep in her bed and in a recliner.

Re: Post Hip Replacement Sleep Issues

Mimi 1883 — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 19:30:11 GMT

@I am still oxox It sounds like you're having a very difficult time. The help you're seeking would be best coming from your doctor. With the headaches and additional pain in neck and shoulders, you should consult him/her.

Five weeks and you're still sleeping (barely) on a recliner? If you're flat on your back, not sure what help a pillow 'between' your legs provides. They may suggest that you sleep in a bed. May even prescribe a sleep aid, or suggest one from over-the-counter. Hope you feel better soon.

Re: Post Hip Replacement Sleep Issues

I am still oxox — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 19:32:21 GMT

@Betsey Ross

Sleeping in the recliner was recommended by my PT and my doc. I will talk about the bed with my PT when he is here again on Thursday

@Betsey Ross wrote:
I have had both my hips replaced. Right hip in 2016 and left in 2019. I would check with PT. I slept in my bed immediately. Sleeping in a recliner was not recommended for me, I had my legs elevated with a large wedge pillow while resting. I am a side sleeper. I slept on the opposite hip that was replaced with a pillow between my knees. I still use a pillow between my legs to this day. I wish you the best of luck. I am 58 years old.

Re: Post Hip Replacement Sleep Issues

I am still oxox — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 19:34:37 GMT

@Mimi 1883

I have a follow up with him next week, and this will be a good part of the disucssion.

Sleep is so important I do try to nap during the day

@Mimi 1883 wrote:
@I am still oxox It sounds like you're having a very difficult time. The help you're seeking would be best coming from your doctor. With the headaches and additional pain in neck and shoulders, you should consult him/her.

Five weeks and you're still sleeping (barely) on a recliner? If you're flat on your back, not sure what help a pillow 'between' your legs provides. They may suggest that you sleep in a bed. May even prescribe a sleep aid, or suggest one from over-the-counter. Hope you feel better soon.

Re: Post Hip Replacement Sleep Issues

Mimi 1883 — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 20:49:28 GMT

@I am still oxox wrote:
@Mimi 1883

I have a follow up with him next week, and this will be a good part of the disucssion.

Sleep is so important I do try to nap during the day

@Mimi 1883 wrote:
@I am still oxox It sounds like you're having a very difficult time. The help you're seeking would be best coming from your doctor. With the headaches and additional pain in neck and shoulders, you should consult him/her.

Five weeks and you're still sleeping (barely) on a recliner? If you're flat on your back, not sure what help a pillow 'between' your legs provides. They may suggest that you sleep in a bed. May even prescribe a sleep aid, or suggest one from over-the-counter. Hope you feel better soon.

@I am still oxox Good to hear. Be sure the doctor everything you're experiencing. I am all too familiar with poor sleep. I am Lucky if a get a total of five hours a night. Naps are a thing of the past. My doctor did prescribe a sleep aid, but doesn't work very well and I'd rather not get anything stronger. I see mine next week, also.

Re: Post Hip Replacement Sleep Issues

hckynut — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 21:05:25 GMT

@I am still oxox

Is this "sofa" you mention the same as a chair recliner? I have been sleeping in a recliner(chair) for going on close to 30 years now. This is because mainly because of my back issues.

Over the years I have tried different mattresses, including a water and sir mattress. During that time I also bought an adjustable bed. All to no avail. The bed did help for some injuries, to elevate my legs periodically during the day. But sleep, no go.

My good friend is a Spinal Surgeon and did my last disc removal of my L-3 lumbar disc. I have asked him if he has any suggestions. His reply, "if you can wake up pain free in your recliner, keep sleeping in it".

I have had several different recliners over those years. 1 or 2 needed some sort of change in how I used them, others were just fine, as is. Those couple required a shift mostly in my butt, lying more to 1 side or the other.

All those were "manual adjust te liners", your feet were either parallel to the floor or at a 90° angle with the floor. I was pretty limited on angles of recline and also of degrees of leg angles to the floor.

We now have 2 powered recliners that have infinite positions of both angles of degrees of legs to the floor, and also any angle of recline close to almost perfectly parallel to the floor. The back also can be adjusted to how straight you want to sit. Not a lumbar support, more upper body and head support positions.

These work great for me. I have tried sleeping in my wife's bed, even with a new mattress she bought from HSN. After a couple hours I wake up and my spinal erector and oblique muscles are so tight it is hard to get out of the bed. And standing straight again is a process.

While during my many hospital stays of weeks, even over a month at times, the only time I slept in a bed was when I spent days in the ICU. Once moved into post ICU, than a regular room, I always slept in a recliner. And I knew which ones worked for me, even if I had to hunt the whole floor to find one.

I will stick with my recliners. Maybe this novel length post gave you some ideas. All I know is there is no bed for me, of any kind.

hckynut

Re: Post Hip Replacement Sleep Issues

I am still oxox — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 21:09:31 GMT

@hckynut

Hi and yes it is a double recling sofa, the is living room sofa

@hckynut wrote:
@I am still oxox

Is this "sofa" you mention the same as a chair recliner? I have been sleeping in a recliner(chair) for going on close to 30 years now. This is because mainly because of my back issues.

Over the years I have tried different mattresses, including a water and sir mattress. During that time I also bought an adjustable bed. All to no avail. The bed did help for some injuries, to elevate my legs periodically during the day. But sleep, no go.

My good friend is a Spinal Surgeon and did my last disc removal of my L-3 lumbar disc. I have asked him if he has any suggestions. His reply, "if you can wake up pain free in your recliner, keep sleeping in it".

I have had several different recliners over those years. 1 or 2 needed some sort of change in how I used them, others were just fine, as is. Those couple required a shift mostly in my butt, lying more to 1 side or the other.

All those were "manual adjust te liners", your feet were either parallel to the floor or at a 90° angle with the floor. I was pretty limited on angles of recline and also of degrees of leg angles to the floor.

We now have 2 powered recliners that have infinite positions of both angles of degrees of legs to the floor, and also any angle of recline close to almost perfectly parallel to the floor. The back also can be adjusted to how straight you want to sit. Not a lumbar support, more upper body and head support positions.

These work great for me. I have tried sleeping in my wife's bed, even with a new mattress she bought from HSN. After a couple hours I wake up and my spinal erector and oblique muscles are so tight it is hard to get out of the bed. And standing straight again is a process.

While during my many hospital stays of weeks, even over a month at times, the only time I slept in a bed was when I spent days in the ICU. Once moved into post ICU, than a regular room, I always slept in a recliner. And I knew which ones worked for me, even if I had to hunt the whole floor to find one.

I will stick with my recliners. Maybe this novel length post gave you some ideas. All I know is there is no bed for me, of any kind.

hckynut

Re: Post Hip Replacement Sleep Issues

SeaMaiden — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 21:28:02 GMT

@I am still oxox It just takes healing time.....

with both my surgeries...both hips and both knees replaced, had sleeping issues and could only lay flat on back for several months after each of the surgeries. Then there just comes a time when sleeping on your side is OK again. It is just a "time " thing. Hang in there!

Re: Post Hip Replacement Sleep Issues

Q4u — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 21:49:02 GMT

Seamaiden, thank you for your post, good to know.

DH had his right knee replaced 8 weeks ago. He's done very well with it all except he tries and tries and can't seem to make the transition back to the bed. He keeps trying but is uncomfortable on his side or back. He's slept in his chair for months prior to surgery for several reasons, his knee and some congestion on and off. But now he wants to go back to his bed but is having a lot of trouble. I keep telling him to try and that (as you said) one day you are just "ready" .... so his other knee needs doing next but it'll have to wait until the local Hospital goes back to doing elective surgery because of Covid.

Re: Post Hip Replacement Sleep Issues

hckynut — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 17:17:13 GMT

@Q4u

My wife had he Right TKR about a year ago. She slept in the other recliner, just like mine, in our patio room. That was for only the first 2 days.

In 1 of our bedrooms there is an Adjustable bed I bought years ago, so she decided to give that a try. It is a little higher off the floor than her regular bed so I had to pick her legs up to get them onto the bed.

Left her walker where she could reach it if she needed to get up. Our phones have an intercom, so she could call me if she needed help. She slept there because in her room there were 4 of out cats, not conducive to someone with limited movement.

She said it hurt to sleep in the bed but she wanted to adjust to it despite the pain. After about 10 days she felt good enough to give sleeping with our 4 cats, and Lily, our dog.

It took her maybe 2.5 weeks of pain sleeping in the bed, but little by little it improved. She doesn't have "congestion" as does DH, but she wasn't pain free adjusting to sleeping in a bed.

Hip replacement surgery is much different than a TKR because the hips function is much different than the multi-functional of the knee joint.

My Ortho Doctor friend, who does only hip and knee repair and replacement told me this. A hip replacement surgery, for most of his patients, is a much faster and easier recovery than a TKR.

I ice skated last year with a lady that had both hips replaced, and 1 knee. She told me her hip replacement recoveries were a breeze in comparison to her knee recovery. Yep, she was skating, and pretty darned well.

I agree with you and @SeaMaiden, he has to keep trying if that is his goal. Unless he just wants to "settle", he just might have to bear with the discomfort, and ride it out.

This is because the knee joint has to be able to flex in many different angles in comparison to the hip. Hip movement is minimal and a knee has to move in many different directions.

But sleeping on a THR is usually more difficult for many of his patients because of the direct contact of the replaced hip with some sort of a fixed or solid surface. A knee can be elevated for less direct strain, a hip cannot.

hckynut

Re: Post Hip Replacement Sleep Issues

mousiegirl — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 00:24:46 GMT

@I am still oxox I slept in bed, but my back was propped up with many pillows and rests, and I had my leg on top of a pillow because since it was dead weight, the weight on the heel of that foot on the mattress was very uncomfortable. I was able to roll slightly to the other side of my body to sleep, as I am a side sleeper, but wasn't allowed to sleep on the other side.

The first three weeks or so, DH had to help me out of bed whenever I needed to take care of business, he was sleep deprived as we had a thirteen month old daughter that he also had to take care of, did this for three weeks, then went back to work and I then took over, could write a book as to how I managed taking care of her then, lol.

Re: Post Hip Replacement Sleep Issues

I am still oxox — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 00:35:03 GMT

@mousiegirl

Thank you and I want to avoid walking Dh up every time I need to go, which is one of the many reason I am on the Recliner sofa.

@mousiegirl wrote:
@I am still oxox I slept in bed, but my back was propped up with many pillows and rests, and I had my leg on top of a pillow because since it was dead weight, the weight on the heel of that foot on the mattress was very uncomfortable. I was able to roll slightly to the other side of my body to sleep, as I am a side sleeper, but wasn't allowed to sleep on the other side.

The first three weeks or so, DH had to help me out of bed whenever I needed to take care of business, he was sleep deprived as we had a thirteen month old daughter that he also had to take care of, did this for three weeks, then went back to work and I then took over, could write a book as to how I managed taking care of her then, lol.

Re: Post Hip Replacement Sleep Issues

furbabylover — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 01:00:00 GMT

@Mimi 1883 I, too have real sleep issues, thanks to withdrawing from a medicine that is infamous for causing this once you stop it. I have been experimenting with different supplements and herbals, and have found that a balanced magnesium/potassium formula helps and Herb Pharm's Hops extract. I'm sure you know there are so many non-drug options, its pretty much trial and error.

Re: Post Hip Replacement Sleep Issues

Mindy D — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 01:09:01 GMT

@I am still oxox wrote:
Hi all I am 5 weeks post op with a total hip replacement, I am still sleeping on my reclining sofa, have not yet conquered the bed. Thing is I am sleeping like a wooden solider, flat on my back with a pillow between my legs, sleep mask since it is fairly light in my living room and my I pod on my chest playing sleepy time music. I also have a fan blowing on me.
I wake with a headache and neck and shoulder pain daily.
I can not seem to find a comfortable position.
I have a neck pillow on order with help that will soften my issues

Any help would mean the world to me, thanks all

@I am still oxox @Soft 100% down pillow can be moldable to give a little support to the right places. Try Pacific Coast Down. They have a smaller airplane pillow too, but the regular size pillow might be better. You might need two.

Re: Post Hip Replacement Sleep Issues

Growing — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 02:20:20 GMT

What is it about your bed that is so painful that you still have to sleep in the recliner? Or is it that your doctor or PT/OT told you to? If it's too painful in bed, I am wondering if your bed is too hard or too soft. I just replaced our 3 inch latex foam mattress topper with a my pillow 3 inch topper. It's a little more firm than the old one but causes me less pain. It's cooler though. I feel more of a supportive cushion rather than the sink down cushion of the old. Just thought I would mention that sometimes it's our mattress or sleigh beds that are high up. I hope you figure this out so you don't have the neck and head aches anymore. Sounds awful to wake up like that. I think I'd sleep where I sleep best if it were me, I can not sleep in a recliner ever.