In the nearly seven years since breaking my neck, I have almost never slept through the night. This article expounds on one of the reasons and a solution I've recently been using.
One thing that many people don't realize about living with a spinal cord injury (SCI) or I assume other neurological disorders, is the effects on the bladder. In addition to the big, visible muscle problems like arms and legs being paralyzed and having spasms, similar issues occur internally. The practical effect is that it's harder to urinate on command and harder to "hold it".
In daily life this can this mitigated by staying near a restroom. During the night, however, it means waking often and dealing with the hassle of getting up and going. Perhaps I'm a little slow, but I've just recently started using a strategy to help: restricting fluid intake late in the day. For me this means the only water I drink after about 8 pm is that needed for swallowing pills. Further, caffeinated beverages have an even greater diuretic effect, so I must avoid them after about 6 pm.
Typically in the past I had awoken at least once to go to the bathroom, and often it was more, sometimes as bad as four or five times. Since consciously limiting my liquid intake, I've gotten up zero or one time. My sleep has greatly benefitted. Unfortunately I still wake up every two or three hours due to pain. Another post will discuss my attempts to deal with this problem.
Photo by vivianejl - http://flic.kr/p/56as3
One thing that many people don't realize about living with a spinal cord injury (SCI) or I assume other neurological disorders, is the effects on the bladder. In addition to the big, visible muscle problems like arms and legs being paralyzed and having spasms, similar issues occur internally. The practical effect is that it's harder to urinate on command and harder to "hold it".
In daily life this can this mitigated by staying near a restroom. During the night, however, it means waking often and dealing with the hassle of getting up and going. Perhaps I'm a little slow, but I've just recently started using a strategy to help: restricting fluid intake late in the day. For me this means the only water I drink after about 8 pm is that needed for swallowing pills. Further, caffeinated beverages have an even greater diuretic effect, so I must avoid them after about 6 pm.
Typically in the past I had awoken at least once to go to the bathroom, and often it was more, sometimes as bad as four or five times. Since consciously limiting my liquid intake, I've gotten up zero or one time. My sleep has greatly benefitted. Unfortunately I still wake up every two or three hours due to pain. Another post will discuss my attempts to deal with this problem.
Photo by vivianejl - http://flic.kr/p/56as3
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