flank pain while sleeping

[teejax]

when i am laying on my side i have lower back pain and it feels like my kidneys.  It is flank pain on both side then i have a hard time getting out of bed.  Any suggestions

[SJMCRAE]

Hello.  I also have this horrible flank pain and it is only during sleep and waking from sleep, pain is so awful that its difficult to roll over and get out of bed. I am a 34 yr old female.  I have had numerous tests and nothing has been found.  It feels like it is exactly coming from my kidneys and radiating around the front stomach area under both ribs.  My doctor is at his whits end and has recommended that I see a chiro and seek out pain management or nerve block.  There has got to be some reason for this pain.  Can you take a deep breath upon waking b/c I cannot until I stand and move around for about 10-20 minutes, then I'm fine for the rest of the day.  This is very mysterious as I have had MRI, CAT scan, bladder functioning tests, pulomonary testing, lower lumbar xrays etc with no explanations.  I know there is a reason for this, I used to be able to sleep 12-14 hours and now can only sleep 5-6.  Even tried anti-inflammatory prescriptions which have not helped...taking pain meds before bed and still wake up in excrutiating pain.  I hope you have found some kind of answers as I have not.  God Bless.

[JaneZ7]

I have the same mysterious pain. I haven't had any tests done. Just haven't had the time. I pretty much just tried to research and rule out some things like kidney problems etc. I am kind of thinking it is a muscle problem though. I actually had this problem about 6 years ago for a few weeks and this week it has returned so I have been going over activities that could have "set it off".  

The first time it happened I had two little ones in diapers I was lifting and carrying, now I help move patients. Another similarity is both houses had tile floors so I don't sit on floor and stretch in the morning like I always did on my floors that were carpeted (or maybe tile floor is more jarring on my joints?).

I know it took me over a year to put it together that any time I wore high heeled dress shoes, I would have upper back and neck pain for several days.

One other thing I noticed in my case is sleeping later actually seemed to make it worse. When I sleep a whole 8-10 hrs, I wake up in pain. If I set an alarm for 5 hours, it is more of a stiffness.

Good luck finding an explanation or cause & please post back if you find out something. I know the pain is unbearable. For the first time in my life I am looking into pain meds. (I didn't even use them for having my babies!!!) I just have to find something that won't affect my mind or make me tired.
Best Wishes J

[Mary220]

Hi,  I too have this mysterous flank pain on my left side.  I have had a CT scan of kidneys, gallbladder, liver.  All came back o.k.  This has been going on for 3 months.  Dr. running bloodwork now.  I know how frustrated you probably are.  I not only have it while lying down but thoughout the day.  When I take a deep breath there is pain.  When you apply pressure there doesn't seem to be pain anywhere particular.  I'm interested in what you find out.  My Dr. is also referring me to a Gasterologist (sp).  Though I did have a colonoscopy 2 years ago.  My mom just passed away of Colon Cancer so it's always at the back of my mind.  I will keep you posted to what my dr. finds and perhaps it could help you too.

[Paula10]

I have that, I think it is just some kind of muscle spasm, only a guess.

[stardust1956]

I also have had this problem and had every test under the sun and was told a couple of weeks ago by a neurosurgeon that it is a "idiopathic neuropathy" and I would just have to deal with it.He was very rude to me and was not the Dr. I was suppose to see so I called the office manager and told her about his attitude,she set me up with the original Dr. I was suppose to have an appt. to see. 2 days later I saw him and he wants me to have a bone scan to rule out possible cancer along with some other suggested test. I agree with you all that something has to be causing this other than an unknown cause.I toss and turn all night and some nights I have to sleep in my recliner. If anyone gets a diagnosis please post it..  Good Luck to all

[therealbill]

Fibromyalgia maybe IN YOUR CASE.  My daughter who is 15 has the same problems and we are going to a lot of specialists and running out of options - we are finishing up right now with CARDIO examine. CARDIO says things look good but we are doing stress and other tests to see how that goes.  We even looked at LUPUS, MS, LYME, NEUOLOGIST -- you name it.

It is appearing to be FIBROMYALGIA OR BIG CELL ARTHRITIS... Sleeping a lot won't help as the pain will get worse, yes indeed, but if you get deep REM sleep you will see a difference and antidepressants can help, like Zolof (believe it or not) but it does help with the pain.

My daughter is beside herself and after years of hard work is looking at dropping out of VARSITY BASKETBALL having been picked up as a freshman. Her deam come true as she wanted to play for NC state. She's worked many years, on her own,  getting scholarships to basketball camps etc. MOM and I never tell her what to do but I do try to get her to take it easy as she pushes for perfection. She just made the school athletic HONOR ROLL but she appears to be burning out but won't give up!  Sad thing is watching her back go out. Its bad enough in the morning to wake up in pain but by the end of the day she has sever problems sometimes she comes home from basketball, layes on the floor and litterally cries in pain.  NO END TO IT.

The Doctor swears, if she can get deep REM sleep, many of the symtoms can be controlled. Long term, god knows.

[Leo33991]

Hi ,This is just a thought I am a massage therapist who has many people come in with the same low back complaint . I reccomend you seeing a good LMT and getting a deep tissue massage in the lower back and also have them work on your QL.(quadratus lumboratum)
and all your glute muscles. This can be very painful but it seems to be the only things that works for my clients. The only thing is to get rid of the pain you must figure out what the repetative motion is that your doing to cause this pain to re occur. once you find this out and see a LMT as often as you can afford you should be sleeping much better

[momof3littleboys]

I have been having this type of back pain as mentioned...it is progressively getting worse. I have a history of endometriosis so at this point that is where I'm starting. It can be on your back and even bowels and cause this kind of pain. I also have tailbone pain which puzzles me as well. I have a feeling this is the start of a long process to figure out what is going on.

[GMoore]

I  have had this same pain for many years.  Just like the other my doctor could not find out what it was.  He then prescribed Arthrotec and it has almost completely removed the pain when I sleep.  I am happy the pain is gone but hope not to be on medication for the rest of my life.
Last week I noticed that sleeping on a med soft mattress had also worked.  I forgot the medication and slept on the med soft mattress with also no pain!  Looking back I think it was the mattress that caused the pain.  
I am going to buy a new mattess.  I will let you know if it works.

[dake2kirsten1]

I also have this problem. I thought I was the only one. It is awful! It feels like your kidneys are on fire and and everytime you take a breath, it hurts deeply! Someone please help! I have had so many tests that came out clear?? It hurts every time I wake up. I had a kidney reflux surgery when I was 12, I am now 22 and I am still in pain. Is it scar tissue? Am I going to have this forever. If anyone has answers please post! I will be in debt to you!

[lizkell]

I started having this pain 22 years ago when I was pregnant with my first child. I thought it was due to the pregnancy. Well, all these years later, I still have it. It is sometimes worse than others. But always the worst when I accidently fall asleep on my back!  I've tried being mindful of beverage intake before bed thinking that might make a difference. No luck! As many of you stated, you can't breathe or roll out of bed sometimes due to the excruciating pain!
I too have seen Dr.’s and run the gamete of tests and still no answers! And it seems to be getting worse as I am growing older!
I do have to say, I feel relieved to find so many other people on this website with the same issue. Sorry to tell you, changing mattresses didn’t help either.
I will continue to check back frequently to see if ANY ONE can come up with a solution!

[Rainypm]

Hi all,

I've been suffering from this type of morning back pain for close to 20 years.  Sometimes it's worse than other times (right now it's really bad), but I can't remember not having it.  I decided to start a message board on Yahoo groups so maybe we can have more of a discussion between people and come up with our own solution.  Please stop by if you want to help solve this!

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/**************

Thanks!  
-Ellisa