It's a long article (9 pages) about sleep (and the Sleep Number bed), but well worth reading. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/magazine/18sleep-t.html?th&emc=th
I swear by my Sleep Number bed!
The Sleep Number bed, while expensive, paid for itself the first year -- I was able to work that many more hours as a result of the better quality sleep I was finally getting.
Researchers have proven that you can create fibro-like symptoms in healthy volunteers by depriving them of sleep; the "fibro" goes away when they're able to resume normal sleep. I had the same experience -- near the beginning of this relapse, I was tested for fibro and told I didn't have it; after another year of inadequate sleep, I did. And after a week on the Sleep Number bed, the "fibro" was under control. Technically, I still have it because I still react to pressure on the test points, but that's a long way from being in constant pain, even when lying down doing nothing.
If you haven't tried a Sleep Number bed, I recommend you do -- you can sleep on it for 30 nights and return it owing only the delivery charge if it really doesn't work for you. But in a recent discussion among people I know and trust, the consensus seemed to be "you'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands". Especially if you have either CFS or fibro, it's worth a try. Improving the quality of your sleep is the first step to improving the quality of your life. My first specialist told me that, and my experiences in this relapse have proven him correct -- when no one was doing anything to help me sleep, I got worse. When my sleep problem was fixed, my immune system kicked in and fought off the virus. What I'm dealing with now is the damage done by years of sleeping less in a week than some people sleep in one night. But doctors kept arguing with me that I was imagining things, and wouldn't accept my proof that I really was awake all night (like a scarf that was a ball of yarn when I went to bed the first time, and completed by morning). They just kept handing out the "logic" that "sometimes we think we're awake when we're really asleep" and ignoring my explanations of how I knew I wasn't really asleep. There's a few zillion e-mails I wrote in the middle of the night in that four-year period that prove I wasn't asleep at times I said I wasn't asleep.
Dr. Murphree believes that it takes at least as long to recover from sleep deprivation as it did to dig that hole. In which case, I still have a few more years before I've reached what he thinks will be maximum recovery. Maybe it'll be enough to work those extra hours necessary to be self-supporting. Or maybe some of the damage is permanent because the problem wasn't addressed in time.
And, yes, tonight is one of those nights where the pain is so bad that even my pain pills aren't helping. I proved, once again, that the advice that walking would make my pain better is wrong -- walking on my aching knee made it feel much worse. By the time I got home from a brief shopping excursion, I was limping so badly I barely made it up the stairs. Fortunately, a friend drove me, and he carried my stuff upstairs so I only had to climb up once. Now I wait and hope the pain simmers down enough that I can get a little sleep tonight. Because sleepless nights make the pain worse, starting another vicious cycle: can't sleep because of pain, pain worse because I can't sleep, can't sleep the next night because of pain, pain worse because I can't sleep...
But, there again, doctors seem to believe that because I'm female, I'm a wimp where pain is concerned, and that I call the least little thing "severe", so they disregard both the pain and my description of, at times, passing out because the pain is so bad. Which is actually a blessing, because it gives me a minute of relief.
3 comments:
Here we are two days later, and my knee still hurts, and has progressed to giving out when I try to walk on it.
This is an old athletic injury with post-traumatic arthriitis, which not ONE of the doctors at the university noted. There's a big ugly scar, so if they had looked at the knee, they should have been prompted to ask. But one doctor never even had me take my clothes off because as soon as he learned I had CFS, he "didn't need to" do a thorough physical exam.
If I had walked into the doctor's office with JUST the knee problem, complaining of pain during Rainy Season, I would've gotten pain pills, no question. (Some doctors, at this point, marvel that I can walk on it at all.) But because I have CFS, I was told that all I needed was anti-depressants. Which are proven useless against CFS, and obviously useless against arthritis, and did absolutely nothing except make me sicker.
As a formerly active person, I have lots of old orthopedic injuries that explain a great deal of my chronic pain. As a CFS patient, I'm told by doctors that I say I can't exercise because "you don't enjoy it and don't want to". Completely opposite to the lifestyle I used to enjoy, but the word CFS makes them deaf to anything else.
A week later and the knee is still throbbing.
I have figured out there is a less-painful way to walk on it, so I'm in the process of learning to walk again, balancing my weight differently than I'm used to. The fourth or fifth time that I've had to learn to walk as things inside the knee change and shift. (Another of those things that goes unnoticed by doctors because if you have CFS they cannot fathom that you have other unrelated health problems that could be treated.)
Meanwhile, spending a lot of time with the knee elevated, soaking it in a hot bath, taking pain pills, accomplishing very little because of the pain.
I wanted you to know how important your satisfaction is to me and my fellow coworkers at Select Comfort. Thanks for the glowing endorsement! Don't forget to post your testimonial on consumeraffairs.com or epinions.com when you get a chance. We are all proud to be a part of a product and a company that can bring people like you relief.
I want to tell you about www.beds.com. It's a forum that will allow you to share your story and read about others who may have had similar experiences. Visit the Slumber Party blog to view similar topics and comment on the Times article you referenced here.
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