When could you lay on your stomach?

[rich1752]

I am 3 months out from surgery and tried to lay on my stomach the other day in order to play with my kid, but it felt very painful. When can you? Will it always hurt?

rich

[allycat]

Hi Rich,
I'm fused T-10 through L-5 so we're almost identical, but I'm 21 months out. I've been a stomach sleeper for as long as I can remember so I thought learning to sleep on my back or side post op was going to be next to impossible but once I tried and found how difficult and painful it was, I managed.
If my memory is correct, I was finally able to get comportable in my modified stomach sleeping position about 5-6 months out. When I say modified, I mean I lay on my stomach but I have my left leg bent with a pillow under my knee. I never realized how odd that sounds until I wrote it on here but it seems to be the only way to get comfortable on my stomach. I actually sleep on my sid more now than any other position. Seems to suit me best these days.
Give it a little more time and it will get better.

[jsully]

I too am a stomach sleeper! I will miss it, however; I was able to manage for 2 pregnancies, guess I will again.

[titaniumed]

Rich

I will ditto Becky with the "modified" position. I think it took me about 8 months, but my right shoulder was broken. Stuff happens.

I basically slept on my left side for 1 year.

I have no problems sleeping at all now.
Ed

[Singer]

Never tried it and I don't think I ever will.

[doodie]

Pre-surgery I was a 100% stomach sleeper and believe it or not this issue was one of the things that most worried me about my surgery!

Post-surgery I slept only on my back (I never would have believed that to be possible) until after I was off the pain meds at the end of 4 months.

Now I sleep on my left or right side with no pillow, or just a small pillow under my neck. We have a memory foam kind of mattress which is heavenly!

When I try to lie on my stomach it just doesn't work. But I don't really miss it!

[jesscv]

same here... i was a stomach sleeper my whole life and i was worried about sleeping on my stomach again post-op (esp. since sleeping on your stomach isn't good for anyone's back!) i now sleep on my side; it's just more comfortable. sometimes i do miss sleeping on my stomach and find myself flipping over into that position, but within a couple of seconds i realize it just doesn't feel the same...it doesn't feel comfortable and it also forces my lumbar spine (only fused to L1) to arch, which isn't good. side sleeping w/ a pillow tucked between the knees is the best way to go...for anyone.

[debbei]

I still don't. I tried but it just doesn't feel right. My favorite position now is my left side (just like when I was pregnant.)

I always LOVED to sleep on my stomach, and I do miss it, but it's just not the same anymore.

[megz]

I think you had the surgery a week before me rich, and I am now able to sleep on my stomach..It took me a little while but I find I am comfortable on my stomach than on my back. Maybe because I was always one who slept on my stomach idk.

[chello_ns]

Hi Rich,

I was able to be on my stomach in a "playing with kids" posistion at about 9 1/2 months. However, I'm not sure how much "playing" I could have done.

I'm a year plus half a month now and I just got down onto the floor to check it out and it's better!

Hang in there, one day you'll realize that it's doable once again!

[rohrer01]

I guess I really never knew this was an issue. Goes to show my ignorance! Doesn't it hurt to lay on the spine? Sorry if that sounds stupid. I'm a side sleeper anyway, so hopefully if/when I get my surgery it won't affect me too much.