Can't sleep.

[JTL]

Went to bed around midnight slept till around 2am when pain woke me up once again.
I'll be up till who knows when but at least 4 am I'm guessing from past experience.
Even had a valium or two but they din't help much.

 

[kitedoc]

HI @JTL,
Could you expand a bit on what this pain that woke you up is like?
Things like:
any past opinion one what it is, what causes it
how long it has been bothering you
where is it located, how often does it happen and how long does it last.
what provokes it or starts it off and what relieves it.
what is its nature - throbbing, sharp, dull, burning, spasmodic
any other symptoms
how often and how does it affect your life.?
Best Wishes

 

[JTL]

HI @JTL,
Could you expand a bit on what this pain that woke you up is like?
Things like:
any past opinion one what it is, what causes it
how long it has been bothering you
where is it located, how often does it happen and how long does it last.
what provokes it or starts it off and what relieves it.
what is its nature - throbbing, sharp, dull, burning, spasmodic
any other symptoms
how often and how does it affect your life.?
Best Wishes

I have tumours on my spinal cord.
The tumours aren't going to kill me as they aae benign but they give me a lot of pain of every kind you describe and more.
Sometimes I can't sit.
Sometimes I can't lay down.
Sometimes I can't stand up.
Sometimes I can't walk sometimes I have a mix of all those going on.
Sometimes I go numb and lose feeling in most places below the waist and it can get very difficult then,
I also have bad arthritis in my spine and growth spurs.
I also have recurring spondylolisthesis which is where a vertebra moves out of place .... out of line with all the other vertebra,
I can tell when it happens ... my wife can see and indentation and when you feel slowly down my spine you come to a gap of soft material where there should be bone.
It can be excruciating as the body tries to pull it back into line.
Did one of the discs go with it two maybe or none at all?
Are the discs going to scrunch up while the bone goes back into place over a few days?
I also have trigeminal neuralgia which the Americans call the suicide disease. Thankfully I only have about three attacks a year at the moment.
On top of all that I'm coming off five years of powerful opiate pain relief because the supply cannot be guaranteed with this Brexit nonsense so I decided to come off now in a controlled manner rather than be left hanging without warning and have to cold turkey like some mad junkie
So at the moment the pain is increasing but I have to say not by as much as I thought.
Despite all that I'm a happy positive kind of person mostly.
This is the drug I'm coming off ..... http://www.awmsg.org/awmsgonline/app/appraisalinfo/651

 

[JTL]

Sometimes I just lie there tossing sand turning or not moving at all just staring at the wall with a relenletless deep throbbing with the occasional electric stab of violence then back to the endless throbbing or pain thats abot a hundred yards deep .... impossible I know but that's how it feels.
I have a hobby of creating sounds and then trying to make them into some kind of music and I tried to depict lying there with this endless pain. Not nice music not full of screams either because that's not how it is.
How to paint that picture with sound?
This was my latest attempt at it ...... https://soundcloud.com/user-415600108/the-pain-train?in=user-415600108/sets/the-weirder-stuff

 

[kitedoc]

So sorry to hear of your predicament @JTL.
Are there no painkillers not threatened by Brexit??

I recall reading about a substance called PEA, distributed by a company called iHerb,
one outlet is in Brussels and not being on a drug schedule whether that is at least worth a try.?
Not a powerful drug but one that has apparently helped some with neuropathic and other pain.

The following is from my recollection, and not intended as medical advice or opinion:

An experimental treatment in some quarters but used in the US for some tumours is Photodynamic
Therapy or PDT for short. It involves use of a chemical and a laser device.

I was involved in some experimental use of it in Australia years ago (around 1996) but have no affiliations,
financial or material interest in it.

Its main use is in treating cancerous and other skin lesion where a photo-sensitizing agent is applied
or injected into the skin lesion and a laser of a particular wavelength is applied.
Dermatologists use this form of therapy today.
The agent is readily taken up by the lesion's cells and the the interaction between agent and laser causes
the cells to die without affecting surrounding cells.

In US it is approved for treatment of cancers near the surface such as in the oesophagus (foodpipe)
and lung. (the photosensitising agent is injected into the blood stream so that it can congregate at the
tumour site then through a scope the laser can be applied).

It has also been used to treat brain tumours experimentally (in Melbourne, Australia) and for skin secondaries of
breast cancer in Adelaide, South Australia.

I seem to recall it was used in the UK experimentally for treating dental gum disease so there may well be
laser devices and where-with-all to make photo-sensitizers at one or more Universities in UK.

So, to best of my knowledge, it has been used for treating infection as well as benign and cancerous cells.

Side-effects of the form where the agent in injected into the blood stream can include extreme sensitivity to light
over all skin and particularly the eyes. Effects last ? 2 to 3 weeks
Also strong lasers cannot be used near the eyes in general.

I offer the above not as a absolutely guaranteed surety of help but to help ensure there is no stone left unturned in
trying to solve, ease or mitigate your plight.

My Best Wishes go with you.

 

[Zaeeryas]

I don't recommend sleeping pills, but you can make some changes,soak your feet in warm water.