Sleep and the early weeks
Community · 2 threads
Nights on your back, the week-two slump, and the first month at home.
The first month at home has two recurring villains, and neither of them is pain. One is sleep, or the lack of it, for people suddenly ordered onto their backs. The other is the low patch that tends to arrive around the second week, after the visitors thin out and before the progress feels real. The threads here are readers getting each other through both.
- Night 19 of enforced back sleeping and I'm coming apart. What actually worked for you? 5 replies · 560 views · last by Helen W., Jun 20, 2026
- My discharge sheet says 12 weeks of hip precautions, my neighbour got NONE. Which movements are actually off limits, and for how long? 5 replies · 490 views · last by pbike60, Jun 19, 2026
Before you compare your first month to anyone's
Two things come up in this section so often they're worth pinning. First: nearly everyone sleeps badly at the start, nearly everyone finds some arrangement of pillows, wedges, or furniture that gets them through, and nearly everyone sleeps normally again in the end. My own night-by-night account, and the arrangements that eventually worked, are in sleeping after a hip replacement.
Second: the emotional dip is real, common, and rarely mentioned in the discharge paperwork. If your second or third week feels like going backwards, the diary's week by week recovery timeline is a useful antidote, because it shows how little the low patch says about where you end up.
A boundary that matters here more than anywhere: when you can lie on which side depends on your operation, your surgeon, and their precautions. Readers can tell you what they were allowed. Only your own team can tell you what you are.