Sleep position

Please share your experiences, successes, and failures in using non-drug therapies for RLS/WED (methods of relief that don't involve swallowing or injecting anything), including compression, heat, light, stretches, acupuncture, etc. Also under this heading, medical interventions that don't involve the administration of a medicine to the body (eg. varicose-vein operations, deep-brain stimulation). [This forum contains Topics started prior to 2009 that deal with Non-prescription Medicines, Supplements, & Diet.]
Wayne
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Sleep position

Post by Wayne »

Not really a remedy at all, just something happening to me and thought I'd share.

Lately I've been going to bed with my legs buzzing as usual and yet falling asleep anyway while lying on my stomach (without taking the bedtime dose of Xanax). I awake 1-3 hours later, without the buzzing, hit the bathroom and try to remember if I took my med, realize I didn't, take it, and go back to bed, but am still amazed that I fell asleep at all and sometimes feel like I could probably go back to sleep without it. Have to try it on a weekend.

Does anybody else have that certain position they can get in that's comfortable enough where the symptoms fade away? Laying on my stomach is comfortable enough for me, but I don't sleep all night on my belly, I usually end up on my side.

Polar Bear
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Post by Polar Bear »

On my tummy with legs bent at the knee and feet in the air.
If you shuffle down the sofa until your knees touch the arm rest, the arm rest helps to prop up the knees.

Not great for sleeping, but helps when lying on the sofa to watch tv.
Betty
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badnights
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Post by badnights »

Frog position: on belly with a big pillow under the stomach and legs splayed out to the sides and bent at the knees.

ViewsAskew
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Post by ViewsAskew »

I can't believe I fall asleep this way...

Lay on back.
Move calf into hurdle stretch position (ankle by knee, putting severe stretch on the quads).
Fall asleep.

It hurts a heck of a lot when I awaken. But, it's the only consistent position that works.

If mild, I can also hug the knee to my chest and fall asleep.
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

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Wayne
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Location: Virginia (USA)

Post by Wayne »

Polar Bear wrote:On my tummy with legs bent at the knee and feet in the air.
If you shuffle down the sofa until your knees touch the arm rest, the arm rest helps to prop up the knees.

Not great for sleeping, but helps when lying on the sofa to watch tv.


I do that on the couch too. But I don't have to shuffle. :)


ViewsAskew wrote:I can't believe I fall asleep this way...

Lay on back.
Move calf into hurdle stretch position (ankle by knee, putting severe stretch on the quads).
Fall asleep.

It hurts a heck of a lot when I awaken. But, it's the only consistent position that works.

If mild, I can also hug the knee to my chest and fall asleep.


Wow. You can maintain holding your knees to your chest for however long it takes to fall asleep or do you maintain it even when asleep?

The hurdler I could probably do, but I'd be afraid of moving/turning during sleep and twisting something the wrong way.

badnights
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Post by badnights »

oh ya. I used the hurdler a LOT before I got diagnosed and medicated. Not so much now for some reason.

ViewsAskew
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Post by ViewsAskew »

Wayne, bizarre, isn't it? I can only hold one knee at a time, though, so if it's in both legs, it doesn't work. Not sure how I do it. I probably don't do it for all that long, but it's enough to fall asleep. Sometimes I stay asleep and move on my own later, and other times I wake up in that position with my hands numb and my hip stuff, then move into another position.
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

fraujoolie
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Post by fraujoolie »

I do the hurdler stretch, too. But sometimes my back hurts too much to sleep on my back, and now that I'm pregnant, you're supposed to lay on your left side starting second trimester.

So on my left side, I wrap my right leg over my left, and tuck my left foot under my right knee, pressing my toes into a point. I usually wedge a small pillow under my right knee. Then I twist my left leg (outstretched) around, so although my knee is on its side, the top of my foot is mushed into the bed. Ridiculous.
Julie

Wayne
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Post by Wayne »

fraujoolie wrote:So on my left side, I wrap my right leg over my left, and tuck my left foot under my right knee, pressing my toes into a point. I usually wedge a small pillow under my right knee. Then I twist my left leg (outstretched) around, so although my knee is on its side, the top of my foot is mushed into the bed. Ridiculous.


I use a small pillow between my knees which seems to help.

Laurachrissy
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Post by Laurachrissy »

When I was a child I could cross my legs and sleep bent over a pillow in my lap....that's why my parents thought I needed a chiropractor- thought it was lower back issues.
Now that I have the symptoms in my back and arms and one hand I don't get any relief lying down.
Inversion table therapy helps but only when I am fully inverted.
RLS sux

Wayne
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Post by Wayne »

Laurachrissy wrote:Inversion table therapy helps but only when I am fully inverted.


Had to look inversion table up. One of those benches that lets you hang upside down. Those, and Gravity Boots were popular when I was a teenager. I haven't heard much about them in a while.

Do you actually sleep on one of these devices or just use it to ease the symptoms?

Laurachrissy
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Post by Laurachrissy »

Wayne:
I just use it to ease the symptoms....as soon as I get off and get still again it starts up again.
I will use one to ease things while I'm waiting on the Requip to kick in if I'm late getting that dose in b4 bedtime.
Last edited by Laurachrissy on Fri Sep 02, 2011 7:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
RLS sux

Wayne
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Post by Wayne »

Because laying on my stomach has been working so well, I've been doing it just about every night now.

Thought I'd add this and see if anyone else has the same experience. I'll got to bed with my legs buzzing, laying on my stomach and then as I start to relax, I will feel a twitch, not always in the same spot, sometimes the lower back, other times one of my calf or thigh muscles, usually it is low on my right side (kidney area).

Most times it's not a muscle twitch but just a pleasant wave that starts in my center upper chest and travels in a line up into my neck/throat (I'll describe it similar to an orgasm, but without the euphoric intensity.)

Anyway, when one of these events happen I will be asleep within 5 mins. Happens every time, unless I get up and move around and wake myself up.

Anyone else experience this? And what is this non-orgasm feeling? Can't complain as it is a pleasant way to drift off.

Laurachrissy
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Post by Laurachrissy »

Maybe you are aligning your back in that position. The sensation may come from a disc lifting off of a nerve or perhaps you have a trigger point that is releasing.

This is why I invert.....I snap, crackle, pop and occassionally I will just feel a muscle let loose and relax. Sometimes it is an intense pop followed by a euphoric feeling and it does feel like my nerves in that area loose that electrical itch.

When the Requip hasn't kicked in cause I waited too late, I can invert but the itch comes back when I'm finished. It's just relief til the Requip does kick in.

You don't hear or feel a pop, snap, or have a pulling sensation?
RLS sux

Wayne
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Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2009 1:50 am
Location: Virginia (USA)

Post by Wayne »

Laurachrissy wrote:You don't hear or feel a pop, snap, or have a pulling sensation?


No pop or snap, but the twitches could be described as a pull, albeit quickly.

Last night is was the relaxation in my chest and neck, while on my stomach and sure enough, the next thing I know it's 3 am and I'm on my right side. And I didn't even take the Klonopin that I usually need to fall asleep.

I did take the Gabapentin around 9:30 and went to bed around 10.

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