Sleep problems associated with ideopatic scoliosis?

[darrin90]

For a week now I have had problems with my sleep. I sleep on my side and get to sleep in no time, but I keep waking up 5-6 times each night. This is really annoying and keeps ruining my sleep quality. I often feel very sleepy early in the evening and I feel irritated and angry because I am so tired. Does this have something to do with my scoliosis?

[tonibunny]

If you've only had sleep problems for a week, and have had scoliosis for some time, I would doubt that they are connected. Haven't you also just made changes so you're now sleeping on your side rather than on your front as you were accustomed to? That could easily explain your disturbed sleep.

[LindaRacine]

Darrin...

As far as I know, there's never been anything published about a correlation between scoliosis and sleep disorders. I agree with Toni's logic.

Sleep disorders are really common in adults. You should report your problems to your primary care doctor. I had a similar problem starting in my mid-30's. I started taking a low dose of nortriptyline, which I continued taking for about 25 years, and it resolved the problem. I would still wake up a lot, but I'd go back to sleep almost immediately.

Regards,
Linda

[jrnyc]

hey Darrin
any chance you are in pain...and that what is causing it...?

jess

[Karen Ocker]

As my curves increased I woke up in pain and had to change my position. I needed to put a small pillow under one hip to open up the space where the nerve was squeezed.

[darrin90]

Thank you all for replying to my post. tonibunny that is correct, I have just started to sleep on one of my sides and I believe that it is really difficult for the body to maintain this position during deep sleep, because its not used to it.

The reason why I stopped sleeping on my abdomen was that it created a lot of muscle tension in my upper back which lead to daily pain. Sleeping on my side is a bit harder, but my pain is decreased and I don't have very much pain in my upper back anymore (I still have pain from rib-rotation = mr. gibbus)

LindaRacine I agree that my scolisos may not have nothing to do with my sleep problems, but I just wanted to know your experiences with it. Actually last night I did a kind of freaky thing, I literarlly took two pieces of rope and tied them on my leggs and ancles, so my sleep movement were restricted. Believe it or not, it freaking helped! I slept like a baby for the whole night.

jess, regarding my pain I am still in some upper back pain. As mentioned in an another topic I am very hypokyphotic and I got a moderate gibbus, in addition to a 6 mm anatomic leg length difference. I think these three might be the reason for my pain, but only God knows for sure :)

Karen Ocker I can see from your signature that you had a very severe curve(100 degrees cobb's angle) and I think that is a little bit different than my moderate 40 degrees curve. But still I could try to adjust my hips using pillows. I think the most important thing when you sleep on your side is that your back is straight and that you don't feel any pain.

[hikerchick]

Sorry you are not sleeping well. When I sleep on my side I have to sleep with a ton of pillows or I am in a lot of pain in the morning.

I use:

1. between my knees to support the hips
2. in front of my chest, to support the chest so it doesn't sink in (I have dislocated rib issues due to scoli)
3. behind my back, pressed up against it
4. under my head like a regular pillow

Seems like a crazy lot of pillows but I got used to it quick and sleep like a baby! If I move around in the night I automatically move my pillows around with me. My poor husband! luckily we have a king sized bed :D

[cokafor]

Hi:

I doubt that your pains are caused by your scoliosis. If you dont mind me asking, do you wear a brace? If you do, do you need to wear it to sleep? If so, that may be the reason why. I remember when I first got my brace it hurt big time to sleep with it. It felt so uncomfortable. But I got used to it.

Anyways, it may be the way you position yourself to sleep. Try, just before you fall asleep, to position yourself differently than what you do now. Don't curve your back, keep it planar.

As always, seek medical advice if nothing you try works.

Hope this helps.

[darrin90]

Hi:

I doubt that your pains are caused by your scoliosis. If you dont mind me asking, do you wear a brace? If you do, do you need to wear it to sleep? If so, that may be the reason why. I remember when I first got my brace it hurt big time to sleep with it. It felt so uncomfortable. But I got used to it.

Anyways, it may be the way you position yourself to sleep. Try, just before you fall asleep, to position yourself differently than what you do now. Don't curve your back, keep it planar.

As always, seek medical advice if nothing you try works.

Hope this helps.

I also use a lot of pillows during sleep. Lately I have been sleeping on 3-4 pillows for neck support. My cervical spine is to straight and because of this I don't have the normal thoracic curvature. I believe forcing my neck to bend, and therefore getting a higher cervical degree might make my thoracic curvature bend more, so I will get a more S-shaped spine in the sagittal plane.

I do not use a brace. Unfortunately my mother didn't notice my scoliosis until it was to late. I was 18 and full grown, so I couldn't do anything. Since my doctor don't give a shit about my well being, I'm trying to find my own experimental ways for threating my spine, like Katharina Scroth did in the 1920s. I hope I will succeed.

[Pooka1]

Darrin90,

If your surgeon seems like he doesn't care, it make just be that he doesn't think you need treatment. Is that possible/

If you have a T 40*, hypokyphosis, and pain, you need to ask some surgeons if they think fusion will help you. It may not. PT might. Who knows.

Based on testimonials on his blog, I think Dr. Hey in Raleigh has fused people with curves as small as 40* who have pain.

Good luck.