Gambling on Life: One weird trick to improve my sleep as a spoonie

This post, like others that will follow it, is a continuation of my Gambling On Life series.

Long time, no blog; I was pretty busy with work and GGN, and with the holidays I wanted to take some time to work on other projects (expect some new creative works soon).

I also was - to put it bluntly - fucking exhausted.

Despite recent success in treatment - and bumping up my chloroquine - I'm not back to what society would call "normal"; my pain levels are reduced, but it's all relative. Winter is a cold, harsh mistress, my friends.

With winter always comes an increase in general pain levels. Cold and I do not get along, plus we've been dealing with a lot of weather changes (it fucking rained on Christmas day, so thanks Bush/Haliburton/Volkswagen/Big Oil).

I've got a lot of steps I take to ensure I sleep. First off: I try to get myself as exhausted as possible, which thankfully isn't too hard; the less I sleep, the more exhausted I become.

That isn't enough, however; if it was, I'd just ask for sleeping meds and be done with it. No, if I sleep in the wrong position, I'll wake up in even worse pain than normal. If I sleep for too long, I'll wake up in worse pain than normal. If I don't rotate in the middle of my sleep, I'll wake up in worse pain than normal.

Noticed that trend, did you?

Well, one issue I have been having recently is a lot of shoulder pain; I'm a side sleeper. I literally cannot sleep in any other position anymore. So, I started doing what most folks do: Throwing money at it.

First, I tried a pillow designed for side sleepers. That.. Was a big ole' waste of money right there. Thankfully, free returns.

Next, I tried a new mattress topper; I had JUST paid off my new Purple Mattress, so I was NOT replacing that.

That did nothing for me (and ended up sleeping way, WAY hotter).

I was beginning to think I was fucked, but then I realized..

..The pain isn't in the shoulder I'm sleeping ON, but the one that I'm NOT on.

I already slept with a stuffed animal to help elevate my elbow to prevent tension on the joint, but now it seems I need to elevate it further to relieve tension on my free shoulder.

I bought this cuddly little fucker in the biggest size available, and..

Sweet, sweet relief.

It's not perfect, but I find I sleep better most nights than I did before.

Bonus: I can tuck him (his name is Stormy, btw - Stormy Waters) between my knees to help prevent issues there as-needed too.

Spooning Stormy to reduce spoonie stress?

That shit is sweet.