what worked for me

I have been reading alot about people getting pain after sleeping 4 to 6 hours. What works for them to take care of their pain. Mine started a month ago, go to sleep and wake up 3 or 4 am in the morning. felt like someone punched me and knocked the wind out of me. Went to my Doc. few days ago, he said lets try some stretching. I tried and didn't work. He has me using SOMA, pain meds. It works for 6  to 7 hours, i do get sleep, but it  makes me sleep thru the pain. I wake up with same pain. I stand up less pain, lay on the floor and more pain, back on bed, lay on side, back, belly. Nothing is working. So i got in the the shower and  as hot as i can stand it. stretching, twisting my back, arching back and forth in the shower for 10 to 15 minites. Dry off and go back to bed. WOW pain is less on all sides it seems it has worked. Im gonna  take a  hot shower tonight before bedtime, do the same thing, twist and turn and loosen up my back, hope it works.

[watto1]

Great that you have found the same thing that worked for me.

I just worry for you that there is a yet to be discovered underlying problem, maybe an old injury in the thoracic area like mine that has caused this problem in the first place.

I did previously have sleeping issues for a few years, waking with excruxiating radial pain after  4-6 hours sleep. Problem is all but gone at present.

After the 1st ever therapy session with my Mongolian back doctor, he said I have a hardest tendons adjacent the spine he had ever felt and concluded after 6 weeks I had a lot of dead blood cells & scar tissue under my skin. It took him about 3 months/3 times a week to grind all the lumps out with his elbow. It sounded terrible & felt like gravel at first. I would grit my teeth and take the pain for that 10 min period each session.  

He said the dead cell tissue blocks the 'streams' of blood flowing up & down the spine/back.

The reason why the pain symptoms disappear after a hot shower in mornings were obvious to him. The hot water helps loosen it all up and flow again. I have also found sleeping in the 'V' between 2x hot water bottles quite pleasant.

Swimming is the other thing that helped me alot.

If you find the pain free 'time period' gets less and less, get a MRI of thoracic area.