Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Just how DO you get out of bed?

Tuck and roll...
oh, and grasp onto night stand or crib to pull myself up. Weekends is easier..I have my "servant boy" Art help me out of bed. Then I crab walk till I can see straight and then stretch a bit.

Mornings are the pits...shower always helps though...nice hot shower..


Buggy

Seems like elevated mattreses and hot sowers win the vote. I stretchbigtime before I effort getting out of bed. I do same stretch every time I get out of my car out of a chair or out of bed.

Its actually more upper body stretch than lower although my lower back is what ails me most now. Extend arms out side to side as far as posssible and feet downward and out as far as possible and then think like a cat stretching the way it curls it spine.

Next my mattress is so high I am standing once I swing my feet to floor. Then its penguinwalk to hot shower.

If none of that works then I use a lot of foul language. Its not very mature and it doesn't relieve the pain but I figure its my world and if I;m not going to go off to work feeling pain free then I may as well be as ornery as possible.

 
stevec-they also serve who stand and wait

Hi Maxine,

Two things help me: 1) I keep my bed raised up on boards that add 10-12 inches height to the bed. I guess that doesn't really fall into the "how do you get moving" category, but without the extra height, it wouldn't matter how well I was moving--I would just plain be stuck. When I swing my legs off the bed and to the floor, it put's me in darn near a standing position, which is great. I know the AS kickers who are nurses will back me up on this one--whenever I'm in the hospital, any nurse who is helping me get out of bed for the first time automtically lowers the electric bed as far down as it will go. This is how they are trained, I'm sure (that's what I need back-up on--that is true isn't it?) because they don't want patients to fall out of a bed that is raised up. I always stop them and ask them to do the opposite. All of them are skeptical, and some even refuse to do it at first, but when they see how I let the power of the bed do the hard part of standing up for me, they are all surprised and say "wow, I wonder why I never thought of that" or some variation thereof.

2) I don't know if you take pain medication on a daily basis, Maxine, but I do, and I keep it bedside. A half-hour to an hour before I need to get up, I take my pain medication and let it kick in, which always makes me feel better and thus makes it easier to get up. Because I am often half-asleep when I take it, I had to start turning the bottle over on it's lid, bottom side up, to serve as my reminder that I had indeed taken it. There are many mornings I wake up that second time and think "Did I remember to take my medicine or not?" and if it weren't for the bottle being upside down, I would never be sure (the boost I get from the pain med sometimes clues me in, but other times it's too fine of a line to be absolutely sure.)

Good luck,

Brad

Hi Maxine,
I also always take my pain meds at 6:00Am and then go back to sleep until about 07:30.That really has helped/I leave them out beside my bed every night, so I will know if I took them in the morning or not, so I don't double up by mistake. If you have children I realize you can't keep them just sitting beside your bed, but you could just put what you need in a childproof bottle at your bed each night.

Sincerely,
Janet

y'now Martin... that was a question the doc gave me one day. We were trying to determine how long it would take me to get out of bed... then he asked "if the house was on fire, and your kids were in it.. how long would it take you?"

Adrenaline is wonderful... I wish I had it every morning... (and I think I failed the "how far can you walk test when I said.... immediately [grin[)

Seriously, and I've done this. In the case of an emergency things happen. Not too long ago, my son pulled the microwave down on top of him (I had just moved it and the electrical cord was hanging down the front of the counter)... I managed to pick up the microwave with my right hand/arm while I pulled him out with the left. Sure... about an hour later it hurt like heck, but the moral of the story is that you just don't think... and you just do it. Of course.. payment comes later! Don't worry about emergencies... adrenaline will be there!

Maxine



May the roof above us never fall in, and the many friends gathered below it never fall out.

whaddya mean little people??? Make me sound like a hobbit!!

(good job I love ya and can forgive you anything!)

Max

May the roof above us never fall in, and the many friends gathered below it never fall out.

seems a lot of times i never get to bed but spend the night in the recliner, fall to floor slowly crawl up the front of the tv!!

bummer... we ALL KNOW what that is like!!! Use lots of cushions.. get comfy...

May the roof above us never fall in, and the many friends gathered below it never fall out.

Hi Maxine,

I don't have any new ideas, I too have the bed high off the floor. I was given a new bed for Xmas from a very good friend who knows I have AS and didn't have the money to get a much needed new one. So to make it higher I just kept the box spring from the old mattress and use that underneath the new one. I have to slide slowly out of bed and stand and do some stretches before I can slowly walk to the coffee pot.

Just keep puttin one foot in front of the other!

Tiffany