United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Does anyone have any problems sleeping at night? My son has trouble gettint to sleep and then sometimes when he does fall asleep he wakes up often. What can we do to better comfort him? He is on Pain meds and Amitriptyline before bedtime. I have tried to prop him in a more natural position but he moves alot in his sleep. Does heating pads help or will that burn his skin?

Stacey, sorry to hear aobut this! Sleeping for me took some time to do it "right" again. Im not sure about heating pads, has anyone tried them? I will say BE CAREFUL as the BPI arm cant tell how hot it is and you could burn the skin very easily!!! Watch out for that! Early on, I ofund sleeping on my back with my arm propped up on pillows was the best. Now I find that sleeping on my right side (BPI side) takes away a ton of pain. In the begining I would have NEVER thought of sleeping on the arm. Its somethign that you jsut kind of have to use trial and error for I think. Maybe other will have advice for you. Good luck!

COurt xx

Is there a better medicine I can use at night so Brandon can get a good nigts rest. Stacey

I use Vicodine some nights to help me sleep better but I dont recomend it, I would talk to Brandons doctor about it, that is really your best bet.

COurt xx

I used a heating pad in the beginning when I slept until I burned my arm badly. I still have a nice scar on my shoulder because of it. I still use a heating pad, but only when I'm awake. You might want to try to have him take a hot bath with epsom salts and a few drops of lavender or chamomile right before bed. It's also said that eating hot oats helps eleviate nervous exuastion and poor sleep. The herb Valerian is a natural sleep inducer. Also, Hops (Humulus lupulus) is a great sedative. You can put dried hops in a sachet and place it inside your son's pillow or steep some in some water and have him drink it right before bed. You also might want to cut out TV, computer's, video games, etc. an hour before sleep. Have him take a bath then do quiet things in his room til he falls asleep.

Hope some of this helps and good luck!

LOVE SUSAN

Everything is different for everyone but I'm only 9 months from injury so I have a lot of pain and a lot of trouble sleeping. The best for me to sleep is 1 nortripelyne, 1 vicodin and 2 neurontin. That's the only way I can sleep and even then I wake up in pain sometimes.

Stacy

I am almost a yr into it now...sleeping was/and still is hard. I always had pain and hard time getting comfortable try back, elevation, sides...but when i would go lay down in the day when my arents where working in their waterbed could fall asleep very easy, the water supports shoulder ad arm at right height and neck is supportive. They just got me onee for x-mas. I was on elavil amtriptline at first for sleeping but I would have the most intense real life dreams...after awhile i thought I was wakeing up and it turn out i was stillin another dream after i though i woke up from one....now for sleep besides all my other pain pills i take doxepin 25-50mg a night.

Also I have two bad scars from falling asleep on a heating pad dont suggest doing it.