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Things I do on bad CP nights

I’ve been having quite a few bad CP nights lately so I thought I’d share some of the things I do when I’m having one:

  • Keep moving around – I hope I can get comfy if I try lying in enough different positions
  • Lots of physio
  • Get up and do something productive – When I have a bad cerebral palsy night I know there’s a pretty good chance I’ll sleep in the next day to compensate so I like to try and do something productive because I find that makes me feel a lot less stressed the next day. Plus, it gives me something else to focus on besides the pain, which can sometimes help make me feel better.
  • Read – so many books, so little time
  • Binge watch Netflix

What do you do on bad CP nights?

14 thoughts on “Things I do on bad CP nights”

  1. When those bad days make their appearance I usually like to get out of the house, take a nap, read, talk to someone, or even cry from frustration. I hope you will have good days soon. MARIA x

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  2. OMG!! Bad cp nights are worse than Bad cp days!!!
    Luckily I haven’t been having many recently since adjusting my meds – I take slightly more at night to help me relax down better and therefore get a better nights sleep.
    When I’m having a bad cp night, I almost have a checklist I go through: the first thing I do is adjust my sleeping position – I often get twitchy especially in my hips and knees if I’m not laying on my front.
    I check and adjust any of the splints or positioning equipment I might be using – Depending on what’s tightest and what sort of day I’ve had, determines what I’ll wear that night. I always wear a leg gaiter on my left leg, then I’ll wear night afo’s if my calfs have tightened up really bad. I also have a hip abductor that I’ll wear to give my adductors a good stretch and stop my legs pulling inwards. Sometimes night splinting can get really uncomfortable (particularly on bad cp nights) so I could take off all of it!!
    I have good stretch out and really focus on breathing to try and relax as much as possible, often listening to relaxing music at the same time.
    If none of the above works, I’ll sit and read or knit for a bit… or if I really can’t sleep I have been known to get up and go for a wander round the house, or in winter having a hot drink often works. particularly a hot chocolate….
    If things are really bad I do take a little extra baclofen with the hot chocolate (not really recommended though 🙂 )

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    1. I know! The thing is they stress me out because I worry about not getting enough sleep and that makes it worse.

      I can’t sleep on my front because I sometimes get achy muscles in my chest and sleeping on my front always sets that off the next day.

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      1. I can understand how bad cp nights stress you out… I get stressed when I have a bad cp night, when I have to be up the next day….

        I can’t spend the whole night on my front, I’ve recently had to get used to spending more time on my back since I started using a hip abductor as I can’t sleep on my side while wearing it.
        Have you tried any meds at night?

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      2. No not yet but I’m thinking about it. I sleep on my back quite a lot. I got into the habit when I wore leg gaiters. What are the new hip things you’ve started wearing?

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  3. I like that you said you “do something productive.” that’s a great idea! I usually think that bad nights and pain go hand and hand and so doing productive things don’t seem ideal for me at that time though they must be.

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  4. The hip abductor I’ve started wearing is to stop my legs pulling inwards and give my adductors a stretch. it’s basically a two cuffs that go round each thigh with an adjustable bar in the middle.
    I find it works really well with my gaiters when my adductors really tighten up…. The only problem I find is that I can only wear it for a bit as I move around a lot in my sleep and it makes it really hard to do that… But a bit of a stretch is better than nothing – especially when it doesn’t involve actually doing anything!!

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      1. Yeah I have an hour where I do a bit of ‘hands free physio’ – I put on my leg gaiters afo’s and hip abductor to get a really good stretch out while on my laptop or watching tv… I tend to do that in the evening to help loosen me up before bed, or any time on a bad cp day!.

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