I'm having a bit of a life crisis, coping with the high mileage of my physiology. The gist of it; I rarely sleep in a tent anymore, and it's not for lack of trying. I *love* sleeping in the outdoors, but my last night out, I spent a collective 2'ish hours sleeping, the remaining 6 spend pondering the mysteries of the universe and the painful complexity of the human shoulder joint.

I've got a Big Agnes that puffs me up about 2 inches off the ground, which really helped my back over the years. But anymore, it's not enough. By nature I toss an turn, invariably ending up on my side, and eventually being woken by shoulder pain.

I'm past the "Tough it out" point, since this degree of sleep deprivation can be dangerous when climbing. Any sleep aid beyond Aleve seems like a similar gamble.

Anyone else out there with beat up old bodies have similar problems? Better yet; Any solutions?

See a physical therapist about your shoulder. I was at a point where I was considering surgery, but a therapist showing me a few simple exercises put me right in a few weeks.

I'm a side sleeper too; I find that the right thickness of pillow is crucial to getting a good night's sleep. But that was unrelated to my shoulder injury.

I know some off-label sleep aids that are safe and effective (much of what's marketed specifically for sleep is utter crap) but you need to address the shoulder problem before you put your body weight on it all night long.

PS Two inches is very thick for an air mattress. Thick air mattresses are not very stable, and they suffer from displacement - your shoulders and hips can poke right through to the ground. A thinner mattress may actually work better for side sleepers as there's less room for the air to move into, but sadly air is pretty compressible (and shrinks when temps drop overnight). Try a thinner air mattress over (or under) a foam pad (egg crate type).

Yeti wrote:... the remaining 6 spend pondering the mysteries of the universe ...

Did you make any headway solving them?

I too am a side sleeper and anything hard produces a sleepless night for me. I've never been injured but a lifetime of wear and tear along with arthritis has taken its toll. I sleep on a memory foam mattress at home now and it's heavenly but way to heavy to consider carrying into the mountains. Even my 2" Therm-a-Rest camp mattress causes me problems now so I might try one of the Therm-a-Rest NeoAir mattresses next. And as mentioned above, I need a good pillow too for head support or I suffer.


Bob

A great place to start would be with a proper evaluation of the shoulder to see what is actually going on there. Is there anyone in your area who specializes in the shoulder be it an MD, ortho, chiro, or PT? A rehab specialist could provide you with some guidance for home care once a diagnosis is made to see if the shoulder can heal naturally. Using a pillow is a great suggestion as poor spinal support for side sleepers can aggravate shoulder conditions. You might also try re-training your body to sleep on your back. This is generally the preferred sleeping position for hip and shoulder issues although it requires quite a bit of determination and dedication to make a change in your sleeping position habits. You'd need to start at home, but once you get it down it will make camping on an air mattress much more comfortable. Good luck!

I did physical therapy for my shoulder for years and was able to continue to play tennis. Finally the joint just got too bad for PT to do much good. I had shoulder replacement surgery and it was a great success. It probably would be good to get xrays to see just how bad the shoulder is and then pursue physical therapy if the joint is not too bad.
What do you drink before you bed down?

Thanks for your suggestions, everyone. To address the most common response; the shoulder.... I have a high-deductible health plan, whihc is to say; I have zero health insurance until I spend $6 grand out of pocket. After that, they only match half until I get to $11,500. So whatever professional help I get, I'm paying for out of pocket, which has made that cost prohibitive.

To answer the So What: I have trouble getting enough sleep in a bed, meaning I go into the wilds pre-sleep-deprived. Compounding that is a lil piece of hell. Keep in mind; Sleep Deprivation is an official form of torture.

Taking a step back to the Thermarest is an intimidating prospect, but simple enough to try. Mu pillow tends to just be a Tshirt stuffed with all my other clothes, simple enough to add or subtract loft.

I've also been considering this ultralight cot, the back size/weight is surprisingly low, though I don't know anyone who's slept on one. Added bonus; no more laying on my back in a half hour huffing session, blowing up the matress at altitude. lol
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Hammocks are repeatedly recommended by online sources, though they're useless without a couple trees, or a crag and some pro.

Initial consult should be free, a therapy session will set you back the price of a couple of cams, and you should be able to exercise on your own after that plus a few follow-up visits. Well worth it.

I thought I was the only one who couldn't go to sleep, at least the first night, in the mountains! I also toss and turn and have one very bad shoulder. One thing that has helped my shoulder tremendously is having the right kind of pillow. I had to design and make my own pillow. An old idea that has been refined has turned into a nice pillow. The pillow that is small enough to fit inside the sleeping bag, big enough to support the neck and the lower part of the head, has no- skid material on one side, feel soft on the face, and collapsable to be used as a stuff sack would fit all the criteria I was looking for. Here's how:
1- make it cylindrical with a draw cord and cord lock, or even a zipper. Stuff it with all your extra clothing and stuff. I like my pillow hard as rock to support the weight of my head. This has taken care of my stiff neck problem as well.
2- It should have an inner and an outer shell. Use fleece material for outer shell to feel comfy on your bare skin.
3- Find non-skid material, like the palm of your skiing or ice-climbing gloves, for the bottom of the pillow. You don't want to be chasing your slippery pillow all night long.
4- Try not to nap in the afternoon and several hours before crawling into your bag.
5- Finding the right kind of materials may sound a hard task, but any fabric store may have everything you need.

Anyway, using the right kind of pillow has helped my bad shoulder and bad sleeping habits in the mountains. I hope that it will help you too.

Are there many things more valuable than a good night's sleep? For my job I switch between two different shifts often twice in the same week, so I am also frequently obsessing about the same question. At home I sleep on a five inch air mattress placed on the floor with a three inch layer of memory foam on top of that. It is very comfortable and seems like it would be easy on a sore shoulder Perhaps you could get a thinner piece of memory foam and place it over your air mattress for backpacking. Memory foam does get hard in cold weather, though. I'm sure you have done research on proper sleep hygiene. One thing I do which helps is some light reading just before turning the lights out. Good luck!

I have a cot like the one in the link and use a Therm-a-Rest on top of it. Without insulation cots can be very cold to sleep on. My cot is the wide kind. I found narrow cots have a tendency to squeeze me into a narrow valley and my shoulders get sore. But, I only use it for car camping in that it's just to heavy for light weight backpacking.

As for sleeping on my back, I can't do it unless I've had a lot of beer. And my friends would put a pillow over my head because I snore when I'm on my back.

Bob

Yeti,

You are too young to let the shoulder thing go - you could end up with a life long problem that cannot be solved. You should at least spring for the diagnostic test - MRI with contrast - to determine exactly what the problem is.

I have a neighbor whose shoulder injury was "made better" - eg pain free - with PT. By the time that he re-injured it and got it worked on, the muscle involved, which was completely torn, was so atrophied that they were unable to make the needed repairs.

If what you have is a labral tear, the shoulder joint can be unstable enough to result in severe arthritis later on....

I have been talking to shoulder people about this - I had my L shoulder repaired 10 years ago - a complete tear of the supraspinadus and a labral tear. In July they will be doing my R shoulder - >50% tear of supraspinadus, and a labral tear along with another partial tear and a bone spur. Even at my age (67) they say fixing things is important.

My shoulder seems to be a degenerative disorder. Illustrating my boneheadedness; The soreness began almost 15 years ago, when I held a fairly physical factory job. I was slinging hundreds of 40lb aluminum cylinders all day, one in each hand. It effected my elbows, too.

It's only recently that it;s been getting bad enough to be deemed more than "just sore". I'm sure it merits a professional look, it's just my worrisome monkey brain that keeps me out of the doctors office.

Holy crap, you aren't old. Get a recommendation for a REALLY GOOD physical therapist. Yep, $65 a session without insurance, but it's amazing what they have done for my wife in just 4 sessions.

Maybe try something a bit... stronger when you are outdoors, so you will stay on your back? Lunesta, Temazepam, etc.