concerning sleep

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@Sprung 87, good evening, a great post here! Those are words to live by! I literally shuddered when I read about those experimental treatments you had and how you had to have five surgeries to try to fix it. You are most brave to have withstood all of that and my wish is for you to keep recovering from that uneventfully and as quickly as possible. But you are so right, do what needs to be done to minimize pain and embarrassment and disruption. To do that I am well satisfied with what I wear. I really agree with your comment not to judge others, especially when they come to you for help. Well, help is what we do here. If we didn't want to do that here then we are in the wrong "business." Quite frankly, I'm proud to help out here and it's a great network of mutual support for everyone. And if you read my post of a couple of days ago you know how I feel about beating and punishing a bedwetting child. It ain't happenin' on my watch!
And your idea of keeping some melatonin "chewies" (must admit I haven't seem them yet) on your nightstand will probably help a lot of us here. Thanks so much for your post!

 

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at bill: I can honestly say if I did ever decide to rob a bank it would be for good intentions. I defenetly need the money. lol

 

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My nights are like a nightmare because of my restless legs and wetting issue. I'm lucky to get 2-3 hours of sleep a night. I'm going for my 3rd sleep test tonight to find out what treatment to strat me on and what will work for me. I do understand what most people are going through. As for my wetting at night I just wear diaper that is for night time use. They are from north shore diapers, and I don't have to worry about wet clothes or bed.

 

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@emily91 Hey I'm a bit late but I'm happy to see you didn't let that comment bother you! You are wanted and part of this community

 

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I second the recommendation of melatonin, it really helps me when I'm struggling to sleep. I typically only have bladder issues at night when my sleep cycle is off, I find I am way more likely to wake up wet if I stay up later than normal. Although usually when I do wake up the urge to go is large and depending on how my bladder is deciding to behave sometimes I can make it to the toilet and sometimes I can't

 

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@Sprung87 Did your lumbar/sacral fusion reduce any pain for you, or did it make it worse? For my aunt, it made it much worse. I’ve considered having it done but my spine is actually self-fusing from S1-L1, which is supposedly better, though it curves 17’ to the left now.

 

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Hey Snow,
I’m glad you asked as sadly I’ve got a wealth of info on this topic. The first injury actually healed the muscles, tendons etc. once my hip & pelvis were repaired. Similar to you it healed like any broken bone. The problem was the nerve damage was mostly permanent. The second one in 1990, I spent 3 months in traction before the surgeon did a partial laminectomy at L-3. I came out of that FABULOUS! No pain, NO PAIN! Had the surgery on Thursday and was swimming laps in a pool with a PT 10 days later. I fell through a floor in 96 and broke a bunch of stuff and tore L4-L5/S1. 4 surgeries to repair it including a bone graft from my hip at L4-5 all failed eventually. I went in for a spinal cage at L5-S1 in 2006 and the DRUNK EXPERT did the completely wrong surgery/ wrong person which amongst other things left me in excruciating pain. It is so bad he connected a rod from S1 to L4 instead of L5 because it was too long to fit, but that didn’t stop him.... 4 years ago the pain was so excruciating I was up to almost 550 mg of morphine per day. No greedy pill mill, the top neurologists & neurosurgeons at Northwestern & Cleveland Clinic were out of other options. Over the last 4 years of physical therapy and another surgery on my cervical spine I’ve been able to reduce the pain meds by more than half, my brain was turning to Jello! If you can live with the curve, please do. Your surgery would already be complicated due to the curve, no need to make it worse if you can live with it. I’m really sorry to hear you’re going through this from former athlete to former athlete it can be especially hard mentally (I miss the Ring & Dojo HORRIBLY!) to make this adjustment. Please feel free to PM me anytime if I can help...

 

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@Sprung87 Oh my goodness, what horrors you’ve faced! I can’t believe what the Drunk Expert did to you! I’m sorry you’ve had to survive so many back injuries and insults. I shall take your advice and remember it well! Thank you so much for your advice! And good job surviving through all of the hell, including your recent pneumonia, which my mother barely survived in 2019.

 

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@Sprung87 You are far braver than I would be, I'm sure! But you have fought through this thing and have survived! I literally shuddered when I saw "drunk expert" and then "wrong surgery and wrong person" written in your post. Well you do have my admiration for how you've worked to come back through physical therapy, etc. I think your advice applies to anyone who is contemplating any type of spinal surgery.