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Posted 10/9/2007 9:14 PM (GMT 0)
Does everyone wake up between 3am and 5am and have to empty their bag?  I haven't had a full nights sleep in months....since the surgery.  I've read about other people's nighttime anxieties, which I also share, and wonder how you deal?

I'm thankful that I wake up, it would probably be disasterous if I didn't empty the bag. 

I know it would help by not eating late at night but my schedule does not permit that.....12 hour shifts.

Posted 10/9/2007 9:50 PM (GMT 0)
I don't suffer from anxieties but I do wake up every day very early to empty. Sometimes I try laying flat on my back so I won't feel the bag but it generally doesn't work b/c I'm not a back sleeper.
Posted 10/9/2007 10:02 PM (GMT 0)
My ileostomy is very slow to react. I eat dinner at 5pm every night and I do not eat after that. My bag usually wakes me up between 1-3am. Sometimes I wonder if I could just sleep til morning b/c it is only 1/4 - 1/2 full but I do not chance it. The problem is when I get out of bed, my doggies wake up too and then want me to take them out to pee. So, my nights are always a bit frustrating.

I am not sure what to do to help this situation so I am just dealing with it the best way I can.
Posted 10/10/2007 12:40 AM (GMT 0)
Nights were always busiest for me. I was up every 2 hours emptying. So I got very little sleep at night and was sluggish during the day. It was a blessing though because if I slept straight through I would have sprung a leak. I would rather get up 3 times a night rather then change my sheets and take another shower.
Posted 10/10/2007 12:46 AM (GMT 0)
I usually have to pee around 2:00 a.m., so I'll get up and empty the bag then. I'll stay up for a half an hour to watch a little bit of Conan O'Brien and then go back to sleep. If I didn't have to pee, I probably wouldn't get up.
Posted 10/10/2007 1:44 AM (GMT 0)
i always eat right before i go to bed, i know you arent' supposed to do that, but if i dont'; i starve! anyway, i don't have any probelms until about five or six, and then i usually can just burp it, but since i have to either get up to pee, or do something with my crazy kid, it doesn't bother me, I am not paranoid cause i sleep on that pad, my little boy calls it my placemat
Posted 10/10/2007 2:34 AM (GMT 0)
Many nights I wake up in the middle of the night thirsty, hungry, or the neighbor's dog barking wakes me. So, it is just as well I take care of business too!! Last night, I went to bed at 11:30 and slept straight thru to 6:00 w/o waking up. I was pretty tired tho, and the bag was fine when I got up. Sleeping on a "placement" does help piece of mind and you may get a little more rest. I'm wondering if eating a couple marshmallows in the evening might be a good trick to try - dessert and slow output at the same time!
Posted 10/10/2007 2:43 AM (GMT 0)
Before I had surgery, the Crohn's would wake me up every hour all night long, so I never got a good night's sleep. I was also on prednisone, which caused night sweats, and those were terrible! Sometimes, I would shower twice during the night. Wow, bad memories... sad

 

So, now if I get up once in the night with a full bag, that's okay with me. :-)

Posted 10/10/2007 10:00 AM (GMT 0)
I would rather lose a little sleep emptying bag during night than months of misery suffering with the crohn's, and the side effects of the preds.

Empty, go back to sleep............pain free :-)
Posted 10/10/2007 12:40 PM (GMT 0)
Are you waking up specifically because your ostomy needs emptied or are you just waking up? I've found that since before my surgery and being on Prednisone that my sleep patterns are completely messed up again (happens every time I go on Prednisone). I just asked my doctor (yes, my GI) for a sleep aid and he prescribed Ambien (not the time release formula) which has helped a lot.

If I have to get up to use the bathroom, I still do, but I'm able to go right back to sleep. I've stopped waking up as frequently also, and some nights not at all. It hasn't been a problem with my ostomy, haven't had any accidents in bed yet, my appliances are holding great.
Posted 10/15/2007 9:38 PM (GMT 0)
Count me in as one of late night/early morning wakers. I am going to give the marshmallow therapy a try!
Posted 11/4/2007 6:11 PM (GMT 0)
Hi crohned, you know what I really miss, sleeping on my stomache, I have always slept that way, now alls I do is toss and turn through the night, draining my bag, yeah you think they could come out with a mattress

that has a whole where the stomache goes? It would make for a good night sleep don't ya think? Bluz yeah

Posted 11/4/2007 7:01 PM (GMT 0)
If you've ever had a massage, you know the table they use, where your face goes in a hole. I always thought I should invent one where you could put the hole in the middle of the table and it's able to be moved from the right to left depending on where your ostomy is.

Not sure if the investment would pay off though, lol.
Posted 11/4/2007 7:21 PM (GMT 0)
So far I have not woken near as often as I would have thought. I can get about five or six hours of sleep and not have a problem. When I do wake up to mt, I do so and then go back to bed and can fall asleep with in a few minutes. So far I have not had to change the sheets on the bed and have not sprung a leak till last night. Fortunately I caught it when I went to mt out.
Posted 11/5/2007 2:36 PM (GMT 0)
Judy that sounds ingenious, I think you have something there,You could become a millionaire, I know I would buy one. Better start planning, you'd make all of us ostomites so happy and well rested, and we be forever grateful no doubt! yeah Bluz
Posted 11/13/2007 1:48 AM (GMT 0)
i think one of the ladies mentioned this before, but if you pull your right leg up a little it, your leg will give you some space and it will cushion your stoma a bit and allow you to "kinda" lay on your belly. Not as good as the good ol days, but sometimes it is all I can do to stop shifting around as much.
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