7 Nights Sans Mattress

Well, I completed 7 nights without a mattress and the verdict is in…

My back and hip pain feels 80% better!

The pain is definitely still there but as I am going about my day, it is for sure 80% better. When I bend over and feel into the area I can still feel it but I don’t notice it when I’m not actively paying attention to it.

I am honestly a little bummed it’s helping. Okay hear me out… because that means I don’t get to sleep on my mattress anymore?? At some point when I get a boyfriend who sleeps over is he going to think it’s crazy?

Also, I don’t have much storage space so my mattress is in a strange spot. I am DEFINITELY not getting rid of my mattress – one of my most favorite items I have ever owned. I’ll have to figure out where to store it while I continue this experiment!

Fast Forward to Night 11

I just woke up from night 11 with no mattress. Yesterday my back was bothering me, but only when I bent over or leaned forward. Last night around 8 pm I did a kind of intense cardio workout. It’s not ideal to workout that late but I did it simply because I forgot to earlier. Also, my motivation was to get good sleep.

When I exercise enough, I fall asleep so much quicker and deeper than days when I don’t.

So, this morning, my back feels pretty good (the right kind of exercise really helps the pain). When I lean forward there is still quite a bit of pain and soreness but it’s way better than it used to be. Tonight I will try sleeping with a thinner exercise mat and will let you know how it goes!

Nerve Blockers In My Head

I woke up with a bad headache. I got Nerve Blockers on Friday (today is Sunday) in my head for migraines. I was supposed to use my migraine abortives after that, because being injected with something in your head can be irritating to the nervous system and trigger headaches.

Also, Luna woke me up at 2 am needing to go outside. So that was disruptive to my sleep which could trigger a headache. I didn’t use the most powerful migraine abortives that I have (aka Zembrace, an injectable form of Sumatriptan) on Friday because I was out of them and too tired to pick them up from the pharmacy… (my sleep was messed up by playing a stupid game on my tablet too late for 2 nights…that was a silly mistake, I deleted the game!).

Nerve Blockers Have Been Really Helpful For My Migraines!

Nerve Blockers are injections of lidocaine into specific nerves to numb/block the pain signals from the nerves. This is a temporary fix. But the migraine clinic I go to has always explained to me that all the tactics we use, drugs, neck adjustments, botox, nerve blockers, all contribute to the nervous system getting used to being in a more calm, down-regulated state.

Chronic migraines are the nervous system being in a hypervigilant state. It’s hyper sensitive and always in a state of “wtf is going on here, omg!?!”

So, using nerve blockers contributes to the down-regulation. The system learns what it is like to be at baseline. Nerve Blockers are temporary but without even realizing it, (until I went to my appointment and talked to the doc) I have had longish-term benefits. It seems my headaches have calmed down a bit overall. Also, the day of and after getting the blockers, I felt great. Tired from lack of sleep, but great nonetheless.