What are your best tips to get sleep with RA?
Getting quality sleep with RA can be challenging. In your experience, what tips have worked for you?
I am typing this on my IPad in bed. Today was a beautiful Spring day in GA. So why do all my joints hurt so much today? A random bone in my foot is throbbing. It feels like a stone bruise. My bad knee hurts even after Meloxicam, Tylenol. I have 2 king size down pillows as lateral support. My bad leg is elevated on a pillow, no relief. The ball of my foot on the pillow hurts. I can not seem to find a pillow that feels right for my head and let me tell you, I have tried many! My reading glasses are lightweight titanium and the nose piece hurts my nose; it feels to heavy, multiple adjustments and still no relief. My husband has been asleep 1 1/2 hrs and I squirm because I can’t get comfortable! No wonder I live exhausted!
This is the life! Anyone got any suggestions? I am desperate for peaceful slumber.the Tylenol is in addition to my regular RA meds.
Thank you for some great tips here. Never thought about more pillows to help with joints. Godbless you all. I keep reminding myself of all the meds we have now as well as advice compared to my poor Grandparents who suffered horribly.
The fatigue is one of my top complaints too.
, thanks for sharing these tips! They could be really helpful for other community members, including . I am glad you have found some things that help you sleep a little better and with less pain.
Best, Erin, RheumatoidArthritis.net Team Member.
It is crazy how the forum discusses things I'm currently thinking about. I finally started tracking my sleep with my fitbit, since my fatigue is getting the better of me. After tracking my dismal results for 20 days I've decided to sleep in a different room then my husband. He watches TV at night that I fall asleep to, then so does he, but it stays on for hours. I eventually awaken and turn it off but those hours before hand were only light sleep. Also, he snores and I find it incredibly difficult to fall back asleep once awakened. I have a big sectional in the living room that I bought a mattress pad for, Im heading out there for awhile. He will probably be happier too, he wont have to deal with my late night screaming session as some joint pain shocks me awake. 😀
Hi
. Glad we had a Forum discussion going on the topic at the forefront of your mind and RA issues. I'm a big fan of being willing to try different things to see what might work. I'm tagging our patient leader because I know he may also have some thoughts on trying different things and doing what works for you.
I noticed that you mentioned tracking your sleep on your Fitbit. Did it actually give you data on when there were sleep issues or when you were getting good sleep, so you could isolate the tv as a problem? I ask because that would be pretty cool. My wife, Kelly Mack (a contributor here), uses an AutoPAP which gives her data on the number of "instances" a night, but I don't think it breaks it down by time.
Hope your new sleep experiment helps and please feel free to keep us posted. Also, feel free to let us know if there are other Forum discussions you would like to see or just start a new one. Best, Richard (RheumatoidArthritis.net Team)Try sleep hypnosis YouTube videos with headphones for sleep. I can get to sleep this way but do wake up numerous times a night. Michael Sealey is really good. His voice is soothing. I use a Bluetooth headband I got on Amazon so I don't have to wear ear buds in my ears.If hubby snores really bad he needs a sleep study. He might have apnea.
Richard, yes my fit bit tracks the sleep at 4 levels, awake, rem, light, and deep. When the TV is on I never reach deep sleep, it's mostly light sleep. It also tracks my blood oxygen saturation, thankfully that is normal for me. The data is tracked on a time line. I've always had the capability to track it but never have so I have no baseline before RA.
thanks so much for sharing the specifics about your fitbit. (I'm tagging here so that we make sure he sees your response also.) It's so interesting and amazing all the things technology can do for us. There are plenty of not-so-great to terrible things technology does for us, that it's nice to have this reminder of some of the positive things it can give us as well. Also, I just wanted to check in, I realize it's only been one day since your original comment but have you had a night in a different area than your spouse (and the tv)? I'm curious if you noticed a difference in your sleep? Sending you gentle hugs and hopes for some restful sleep! -- Warmly, Christine (Team Member)
It's been two nights since my experiment. The first night I reached my fist "good" score, 81. The second night was satisfactory, 78 but I went to sleep late so I suspect it would have been in the 80s again if I went to bed ontime. So far, so good though two nights is definitely not enough data to say for sure.
that's great news that your sleep seems to be improving! Thanks for the update. I'm crossing my fingers that it continues to move in a positive direction, and, most importantly, that you can feel a difference in your body! -- Warmly, Christine (Team Member) 
Just wanted to check in and see if you're still seeing progress since it's been a while since you started your experiment. We'd love to hear more about it! Kindly, Latoya (Team Member)
