@mick472 what is happening while you are asleep? Can you see a PT or OT for advice on this? (I have lumbar and cervical stenosis and the cervical gives me trouble when I wake, mainly because I cannot find the right pillow-?)

I’ve dealt with the same issue in the morning with spinal stenosis. What’s helped me is sleeping with a pillow under my knees to keep my spine aligned, stretching gently before bed, and using a heating pad at night. In the morning, I do light stretches in bed before getting up. It doesn’t eliminate the discomfort, but it helps reduce that stiffness and difficulty walking when I wake up. You might want to ask your doctor about adjusting your routine or meds, too.

I’ve had severe spinal stenosis for yrs and the thing you must have is a mattress that’s going to hold your spine up straight while you’re sleeping and a regime of stretching in the morning and at night if you can. I take Tramadol Gabapentin and Tylenol 4 times a day . And you might want to go to pain clinic to try injections for your back they haven’t worked much for me but they do for some. Or you can opt for surgery
Hope that helps good luck

1) must have a good bed. Soft at the shoulders firm thru the lumbar legs
2) try sleeping a bit elevated
3) MUST TRY: Radio Frequency Ablatia (RFI/RFA) in your stenosis facet joints. It helps better than anything I've ever tried. Not consequential as far as no steroids or drug interactions. Can be a permanent fix. But might need again. there is pulse and heat. Heat only works for me. first time it lasted 15 years for me.
Massage
4) Acupuncture
5) anything that increases circulation and gets the blood through the stenosised joints smoothly.
Maybe you have some modicum of edema. If so, control that and you will feel MUCH better. We get swelling morning/night with edema and creates problems with stenosis.
My stenosis is pretty well controlled now. The ablation was the best thing for me. covered by Medicare.

@mick472 Welcome to Connect. I understand you are trying to live with the condition, but have your doctors who made this diagnosis offered any treatment such as a surgical decompression?

My spine is a mess of slipped disks which come & go, I have stenosis in my neck and lower spine. Most nights I have to change position from sleeping on my left ( best) to right side. Never on stomach. There have been times upon wakening, I have to take a quick (5 minute) hot shower with the water on my spine or I can barely move. Take no pain pills & doctor advised against Tylenol due to other health issues. The stiffness gets better as I move around but I have to be careful not to do any quick movements, bending etc. I am now trying to lose 10 lbs which I think will help. I am not obese but mildly overweight. I have come down 4 lbs so far and want to lose more by my next physical in November. Mostly be cutting out refined carbs. But I give myself a break on weekends as far as eating. Just turned 77 and I find my appetite isn’t what it was so it’s not much of a problem cutting out certain foods or eating less

I had that a few years ago. I had the surgery and was awesome after. If it gets real bad I would highly recommend it.
Sue

Hi Mick,

First of all, I'm sorry for what you're going through. I have lumbar stenosis, scoliosis, disc degeneration, and advanced osteoarthritis in my lumbar spine. 10 years ago I had minimally invasive laminotomies at S1, L5, and L4 to remove a ruptured disc and to remove arthritic spurs that were part of the stenosis. This was also used to address sciatica. My surgeon has told me the next time I get pain or sciatica, I'll need fusion. But I've been mostly fine since that surgery.

Short of surgery, there's nothing to be done for stenosis. One thing I would suggest, as illogical as it sounds, never use heat on your back. Heat brings in blood and adds to the inflammation problem. Bottom line - it makes stenosis worse over time. Use ice on the back, always, to reduce inflammation and slow the advance of stenosis.

Laminotomy is one way to surgically address stenosis. Small holes are drilled in the vertebra and the arthritic growth is shaved down, creating more space. This surgery does not mess with the integrity of the vertebra.

I also get up very stiff after sitting for a while (surprisingly, not much in the morning). I recently tried orthotics because of my high arches, and that has helped quite a bit, so you could ask your surgeon and see a podiatrist, or just get sized for Dr. Scholl's inserts for a lot less $$$.

If you don't have pain in your butt or the back of your legs, then the stenosis isn't putting excessive stress on your sciatic nerves. Believe me, you'll know when it does.

I'm 70 y/o now, 5'10" and got my weight from 190 to 160 over the last 12 months. (FWIW I used to be 6'1" and with the scoliosis and disc compression I've shrunk!) I do a lot of core exercises and stretch my upper and lower back everyday. If you don't know how to do this, you can look it up online, or hire a personal trainer for a session or two each week. It's worth it.

I really do hope at least some of this helps. All the best to you Mick.

Joe

The reason this happens in the morning when you first get up is the pressure on the discs is reieved while horizontal and when you first stand up the pressure increases from weight of your upper body. I find it helpful to get to a recliner right away and gradually adjust the chair upward over 20-30 minutes while you have coffee, breakfast. If you’re lucky someone will bring those to you while your spine adjusts. 😀

I have lumbar and cervical stenosis. With the cervical stenosis, I am worse while still horizontal and things improve when I get up and am vertical.