Side and back pain ruining sleep.

Hello Everyone,

I was referred to this portion of the forum by Sherrine (thank you).

This is my first post online related to my on going pain issues. I have gone through various testing with doctors (will detail below) and no solution has been found. Not sure where to go from here. I am a 31 year old male (not sure if this information is relevant to the topic but may as well add it in there).

For about a year and a half now I have nightly pain that disrupts my sleep. The location of the pain oddly shifts from time to time. The only constant is that sleep is awful and I honestly somewhat fear going to bed every night as I know that it will not be a good nights rest.

Currently the pain is being experienced beginning only a few hours after initially falling asleep. As an example, i go to sleep around 11pm, I am awake tossing and turning by 2am. The pain experienced is relative to the position I sleep in. Lay on my right side, wake up with right side in pain. Turn to left side to change positions, fall asleep, wake up 20-60 minutes later with pain on that side. All of this adding up to my lower/mid back in pain. So there is no option but to just toss and turn between various positions relieving pain for small amounts of time in each position.

I also notice that my stomach is somewhat disturbed in these times. Once I finally pull myself up to go to start my day, I always have to relieve my stomach with a bowel movement. Once I have done this, showered and moved around (from apt to car, to office), the pain simmers down. Though can still be present throughout the day, just nowhere near the level it is in bed.

I have had numerous blood tests for what I perceive is every issue imaginable, not one thing was off here. As a matter of fact the doctors (have seen three) all come back saying the results show that I am very healthy and have no indication of disease causing the issues. A gastrointestinal doctor performed a colonoscopy and found nothing. I have had an MRI for lumbar and thoracic areas of the spine which came back completely clean. Ultrasound resulting in no findings. CT scan also came back fine.

I apologize for the lengthy post. I am lost right now and have no solutions to get any better. I just want to have a normal nights sleep for once!

Thank you in advance for taking the time to read.

HD

Hi Hwerd:

Welcome. I know how frustrating it is to do so many tests and not find a reason for chronic pain.

There really is no test for Fibromyalgia. Doctors must rule out other disorders that can be tested. Yes, Fibromyalgia can create sleeping problems.

I, of course, cannot say for sure that you have Fibromyalgia. Have you been to a sleep lab? I went to one but it was summer and I could not fall asleep as there was an A/C blowing into my head. The room was too cold also. I tried to sleep under the covers. It is also hard to sleep with so many wires attached. I did sleep for 3 hours I was told. That you are being woken up by pain may not be detected in any way at a sleep lab but I am not sure. You could find out if it would be useful in anyway. The Doctor in the end said I have many reasons why I can't sleep. It did detect sleep APNEA but not bad enough to require a machine. He said sleeping pills would only make my situation worse. You can become dependent on them over time.

In the daytime your pain comes down and you can manage. When we move our bodies create endorphins, I have read, and that may be a reason for your pain not being so bad in the day. What do you do for a living? Anything that might cause muscle pain? When I used to work in my garden I could work for a long time and I never felt pain. When I went to bed the pain would start coming out. I cannot work so hard now.

These are just thoughts, I am not a Doctor. I do have neurological problems and yes, you can have pain at night.

I do take a Magnesium Supplement before bed. It is called Magnesium Calm. There are other types of Magnesium also. Magnesium is used for many functions in the body. Ask your Doctor if it might help.
I also use a muscle relaxer and an anti-depressant. The anti-depressant puts me into a deeper sleep. It was prescribed for Neuralgia. Lately, I go to bed and it takes a long time till I fall asleep and I am, of course, very tired in the morning. Medications are not perfect.

I am sure others will provide suggestions.

Loring

Osteoarthritis in Multiple Joints, Fibromyalgia, Neuralgia, Chronic Daily Headaches, I.B., Hard of Hearing...

You can also try a nice foam topper for your bed. I have to use a good value memory foam topper on my bed. I currently use a two inch one, but I've been considering adding another on top of it.

I use to have hip pain at night, but bought a sleep number bed and no more hip pain...but if its not practical to to buy a new bed... I know people who use the padded toppers on the beds and love them....but it also sounds like you couod use a medication to improve those nights...so i hope the docs will help you work this through....

Thank you everyone for your input!

Unfortunately bedding does not seem to be the issue. My wife and I have changed beds a couple of times over the past couple of years with none of the setups being better/worse than the other. I have also tried sleeping on our couch and my wife's massage table for periods of time to see if any of those surfaces were any better.

The pain that I experience at times feels like a burning buildup in my sides, only a very sharp burn. At these times I can also feel my stomach acting funky. At one point the stomach issues I was having were more of a bother than the pain in my sides and back (this is why I saw a Gastro doc). Lots of gas and bloat feeling throughout the day. Took a regiment of fiber, vitamin D, probiotics and miralax for many months with little to no affect on the overall day to day feelings. Also went dairy free for a couple of months just to test that, again to no change.

In a single night the stomach stuff simmered down a bit and the pain came in stronger, no change in diet or routine triggered the change. Nothing seems to be consistent. One time frame can be more stomach issue, another can be mid/low back pain, and another can be a combination of stomach and back with sides acting up. The common part here is that my stomach always will have some level of irritation (bubbling feeling). This week I have been taking a couple of Advil at night to try and curb any of the pain, those seem to work minimally if at all.

I am going to bring up sleep study and rheumatoligist to my PCP this coming Monday and see what my options are in those two fields. I see magnesium, muscle relaxers and antidepressants have been mentioned a couple of times, would like to get more information on those from my doctor. Going to also try the heating blanket mentioned above, had not thought of that.

Have you done any kind of stool sample to check for parasites, salmonella, c. diff., etc.? Have you tried going gluten free (perhaps you have celiac)?