Thinking of the worst pain I ever had.......my doctor had given me a few vicodin pills, but having been a drug addict in the distant past, I had a high tolerance level and would have had to take a handful to get some relief.

The only thing that gave me relief was taking 800 miligrams of Advil which, is the prescription dose. I took the gell caps which seemed to work much better then the solid ones. 800 miligrams was equal to 4 pills of the over the counter ones which I purchased at a local grocery store, but don't consider this advise even though it worked for me. Talk to your doctor first.

God Bless

Not sure where your pain is at. Or if it is short term or long term or fixable or what so I am going to talk about my coping skills.

I have pain in various parts of my body, sometimes all over. Not fixable and I can't take NSAIDs due to the side effect of tearing up my digestive system. Nor am I given narcotics or sleep medicine, doctors here don't want to and I don't tolerate the narcotic they are willing to give (I puke). So I am gutting this out so to speak and it wears me down at times. I am doing this pain and injury on gabapentin but too much of it makes me sleep in the day and be loopy loo, no memory. Sigh.

I swear by turmeric, 500 mg 2X a day. Some take a little more but I am a lightweight with digestive issues. I take samE 200 mg for mood and joint pain, the lower normal dose is actually 400 mg a day. These are not like prescription drugs, they take a while to feel the effect and one day you just notice you feel better have less pain. Massage and Accupuncture have helped me. . Do your own research though, always always.

When I wake up in the night and the pain won't let me go back to sleep I do a few things. I get up and go to the kitchen for a small snack, half a banana, a few pretzels, two small cookies. I nibble slowly either standing in the kitchen or sitting on the couch. This is to redirect my brain. I may use a heating pad carefully in bed. The heat relaxes me. I may go lay down on another bed or the couch if pain is really bad. I will use 1 mg of melatonin (no more than that) and I have used Valerian or Wild Lettuce. All of those can give me nightmares and I had nightmares last night. Slept funny and woke up with the bad shoulder hurting hurting when yesterday it was very little pain. I also listen to the radio at night with a flat pillow plug in speaker. I like Coast to Coast AM as its a show about weird things and the weird things get my mind off my troubles. I also listen to Whole Tones (check it out) but these also take repetition to get the brain to learn to relax and let go when listening. Some people listen to audiobooks in bed to relax their minds.

The more we focus on our bad health and pain, the more it grows. I also get depressed and anxious about the pain. I feel like my life right now is one day at a time. If I didn't sleep good, I still get up when the sun comes up and just rest after lunch.

Also, if your mattress is too hard or older than 5-10 years that may contribute to your restless sleep and more pain in bed.

bobinmaine, tolerance decreases when you have not taken the drug for a while.

Have you talked to your doctor about trying another sleeping and/or pain medication? It can take trying a few different medications and combinations to find what works best for you.