Waking up feeling as though I haven't slept a wink with sore neck and shoulders

[NutFree]

I've had this problem since my youngest was born nearly 2 years ago. She was a horrific sleeper. She was still waking an average of 8 times a night till she was 18m.

I was at my wit's end. Dh sleep trained her whilst I slept in the spare room. Sods law I ended up suffering with insomnia for nearly 6 weeks before I started sleeping through the whole night. Yay you'd think but no.

I wake up feeling tired as though I've not slept a wink despite not having woken up at all in 8 hours. My neck and shoulders feel really sore and achy and many times I wake up with a headache. I think I'm clenching my teeth too as my jaw feels weird.

All this has resulted in me feeling like shit during the day. I'm tired and my brain feels broken. I can't think. I forget things. I feel stressed and I've aged ten years and look like hell. I think it's even affecting my immune system as I'm always catching something or another.

It's getting me really really down. I don't know what to do. I don't know if i need to take some meds / vitamins. Out of desperation, I'm even considering some sleep gadget that emits some waves to help with sleep! I'm desparate to sort this out before it starts affecting me in other ways.

I would be grateful for any advice. Has anyone else been through this.

Yoga with Adriene has a great 10 minute upper back and shoulder stretch. I'm prone to tension anyway and that video really helped when my body seized up on day 2 of living on MiL's awful sofa and saggy bed on a 4 night stay.

Releasing some of the tension will help the feeling. It is easy to fall into a mind-body cycle of feeling awful from tension which exacerbates itself. I get that with IBS, amd the feeling lousy from IBS draws more attention to the mental trigger.

I went through a period of weeks waking up with an aching neck and shoulders and headaches. I bought a shaped memory foam pillow from M&S. The very first time I used it did the trick. I used it for a few months then went back to a normal pillow. Not cheap, but worth trying?

wowfudge would you be able to link to the pillow or a similar one. Dh bought a memory foam pillow for us both a few years back but it was so high up and huge it was uncomfortable to sleep on.

Can you get a phone consultation with GP and tell them what's happening.

You might just need something to help you sleep so you can re set yourself.
You may be deficient in something.
I feel exactly the same (my 2 year old never liked sleep either) but mine is mostly due to peri-menopause.

It's this
Yes, it feels different from a normal pillow, but it worked.

wowfudge thank you.

I think I'm tensing up alot whilst I'm asleep. Obviously it's not something I can consciously control but I ache so much in my neck and upper back right now.