Hopeful, I am really sorry to hear what you just went through! Keep with the pain meds, and give it some time. I had a day of horror in PT one time, spent two days where my ENTIRE body was in agony. I couldn't even (literally) move a foot as my body would start to spasm and my shoulder would go crazy, it was horrific! I went for weeks where just as I started to doze off, the muscles around my armpit would JERK HARD, that would cause extreme pain, talk about fear of falling asleep. You need to find some way to prevent yourself from repeating the couch episode though! Take the cushions off, pile the couch with stuff, do whatever it takes.

Your moods are going to be ALL OVER the place, and that is okay, don't be hard on yourself. Just try to not get angry at your body, keep sympathy for that poor shoulder and be kind towards it. If you let yourself feel angry, sad, frustrated or whatever negative mood, then it will pass faster and you can get back to working on getting better. I found if you fight the "bad" moods, they just hang-on longer. Everytime you have even the smallest (and they ARE small!) move forward, hold on to that and appreciate it. This is a very looooong trip, and not fun for one moment. I also found gallons of ice cream really are wonderful therapy!

Sky

After my surgery I was prescribed Naproxen for pain and another medication named Hydroxyzine for itching as well as an anti-infection medication medication. I would take my dosage of these drugs every 6 hours or so. These drugs made me very drowsy and essentially made me sleep like a baby. I also found it more comfortable to sleep in a chair the first few days after surgery. When sleeping in a bed i now prefer to sleep flat on my back.

Hopeful, I'm so sorry to hear what you had to go through! I fear rolling on to my shoulder at night (had SLAP surgery 2 weeks ago), and I can relate to your sleeping issues. I hope you are doing better!

I noticed for me it took me a few days and nights after taking the pain meds for my body to adjust and for me to get back to sleeping "regularly". I was taking Vicodin for pain and to sleep at night. I am normally a great sleeper, but after stopping the pain meds it took me a good 3 or 4 nights until I was back to a normal sleeping pattern. I hope you have figured out what works for you.

The other thing that helps me A LOT is I have my husband "tuck" me into bed at night. I use a bunch of pillows to prop me up on each side of my body so that I am sortof "wedged" into bed. It has worked really well and prevented my from rolling onto my shoulder. In the beginning I actually had him wrap an ace bandage around my body and the pillows so I couldn't roll around, and if I did, I was so padded down...

I really hope you are doing well. Take care.

~Lyn

Aww
Thanks for all the suggestions.
I might have to try that tucking in suggestion.

Last night we went out to dinner, which was so nice, since
I've been stuck at home for the past 2 weeks.
I came home and lay down on the couch and fell right to sleep
at 6pm.

And.. I slept thru the night.
Yikes, forgetting my pain meds- the last dose had been 3pm in the afternoon.

I woke up at 4am in terrible pain.
I mean, it was just .... indescribable.

Well, for one thing, it was still warm in the house when we got home, so I only had a little decorative couch throw over me when I fell asleep but the air conditioner overnight was left on and it got down to 67 degree's in here. BRRRRRR...

Hubby didn't want to disturb me since I was sleeping peacefully- to get me to move to the recliner so he just let me be on the couch.

Anyway, by the time I woke up- having missed 3 doses of pain meds- My arm and upper shoulder were spasming like crazy- and my shoulder - I don't even know the words to describe that really aweful deep bone pain.

I couldn't even get up from the couch-
Luckily my Hubby was awake and came over and got my pain meds and something to drink and a nice warm blankie for me.

I'm starting to feel a little better, I'm tempted to just take another pain pill to try to catch up but-
This is a prime example of what everyone here has said about
NOT getting behind on the pain meds and it taking time to catch up once the pain has gotten out of control.

It's also a good way to gauge the need for pain meds as someone recently asked how do you KNOW if you still need to take the pain meds or regarding the frequentcy.

Well on the flip side, I REALLY DID get a good nights sleep, for once.
That was a plus.

On another note-
Pysical therapy is going well.
PT says my range of motion looks really great but
I'm a bit discouraged that while I can lift my arm up
high and behind my back that it seems my shoulder gets
stuck right out to the side-
Like if you put your arm out in a chicken wing position.
It gets stuck and starts shaking and hurts.
I find myself leaning over sideways to try to get my arm up.
I really need THIS arm position to be strong as thats the position I use for work the most.

But, maybe I'm expecting too much too soon.


Well, I think I can make it to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee now.

I'm so thankful for this board and all of you.
Who else could I talk to at 4 in the morning like this?

Hope everyone has a great day!!!

Recliner, recliner, recliner.

In a bed gravity is totally against you. It wants to drop that shoulder back into a painful position.

Not to mention bigger room means potential for rolling over on it as well as spouse banging into it or something similar.

Anyone who doesn't have a recliner who is about to get a slap repair should get one.

To me it's not even an option not to have one.

It still sucks those first few weeks.. but it's the best option.

+1 on the recliner- slept in mine for about 6 weeks- forget about laying down. You don't have to worry about disturbing your mate and them bumping into you.

Your bed is still useable for other things - you just have to be creative about how you go about it.Especailly after only 3 days post op