Do you remember when you and I used to be able to sleep at night, prior to coming down with CRPS? I can, but it has been quite a few years now, since I've slept through an entire night. And once again you guessed it; last night I didn't sleep a single wink. So, I thought that I would do a little discussion type of survey for those of us that might be interested in finding out how we compare with one another in the amount of sleep we get and our sleep patterns, as patients who suffer from CRPS. Please find listed below a variety of time frames. If you are interested, please tell us which one is the closest to describing the number of blocked hours that you get to sleep. Also, if you'd like please add your own description along with your post to tell us what sleep is like for you. Is it restful, beneficial, do you still feel worn out, etc? That way, we can all respond and compare what is going on with us as individuals or as a group. Here goes:

A. I get the same amount of rest now as I did prior to coming down with CRPS.
I consistently get 7, 8 ,9, or more hours of sleep every night.

B. My sleep patterns have altered some due to CRPS. I'm now getting about 6 hours of sleep every night.

C. My sleep patterns have altered considerably due to CRPS. I'm now getting 4 to 5 hours a night.

D. My sleep patterns have altered a great deal due to CRPS. I'm now getting 4 hours or less of sleep a night.

E. My nightly sleep patterns have been completely erased due to CRPS. I never get any sleep at night. My sleep consists of falling asleep on and off through out the day.

As for me, I used to love night time. But not anymore. I dread the night. For some reason, my pain is better in the morning and much worse after sun down. And I used to be spot on with the amount of sleep I would get per night. I was always right around 7 hours and felt very refreshed, and I never took naps through the day. Now I'm a combination of a couple of the above categories--namely D & E. I get a maximum of about 3 hours of sleep per night, if I am lucky. And when that doesn't happen, I doze on and off through out the course of the day, when either my pain levels go down or when the pain simply gets so bad that I simply fall asleep, because my brain can't handle the pain any longer. When I sleep because the pain gets so bad, I don't wake up feeling very rested though. I feel more like I got hit by a bus, and I drag through the rest of the day. So, when I add all of the total numbers of hours I sleep together, I'd say on average I'm getting about 3 hours of sleep per night and between 3 1/2 to 5 hours of total sleep per night & day combined.


-Spike-