Wellness

[hckynut]

@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 

[I am still oxox]

@hckynut 

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

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@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 

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[SeaMaiden]

@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!

[Q4u]

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.

[hckynut]

@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 

[mousiegirl]

@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.

[I am still oxox]

@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.

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@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.

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[furbabylover]

@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.

[Mindy D]

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@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

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@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. 

[Growing]

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.