OK all you waterbed haters; no Xmas card for you!
I still have one in the garage in a pile. Can't make myself get rid of it, but won't set it up again either. Some fond memories there.
My hammock adventure began
because of a bad back. I suppose I can blame the waterbed, but more likely the brick wall I tried to move with my head and spine when I was in eighth grade. A few months after that, my back went out for the first time. Never knew pain like that before at 14 years old. My dad found me collapased in the middle of the living room unable to move. It was 10 days before I could walk unsupported. For the next 23 years, once a year, I would suffer the same. Misery!
Then, I decided to hike the AT. Number one concern was my back. While on Whiteblaze, there was a thread asking about what kind of tent people were using. Since I had just ordered a MSR Hubba, I wanted validation. One poster named "Rockstar" posted that she had selected a hammock because of back problems. I thought, "Well, the internet is full of wackados". But, I sent her a PM out of curiosity and she just pointed me to HF. A week later, I had a $20 hammock that I ordered online. I set it up above my bed (waterbed
) right after work the day it arrived. After futzing with it for about half an hour, I laid down to try it. This was about 6:30 in the evening. Next thing I knew, my alarm clock was going off and it was morning. First time I can ever remember sleeping all the way through the night.
I slept in it the next night too. And the night after that. That third morning when I got up, I thought something was wrong with me. I was standing erect immediately after waking up.
Something is seriously wrong. I wasn't limping towards the medicine cabinet for my first dose of pain meds for the new day.
Uh oh! It was a strange sensation to be pain-free in the morning.
A week later, my waterbed was drained and disassembled. That was 2007. The only times I've slept in a bed since were when I was in a hotel/motel and couldn't figure out how to hang my hammock. In fact, when I do sleep in a bed now, I'm sore for a couple of days. My ribs hurt like nobody's business. My knees ache and my back complains. Three nights in a bed and Genuine Draft won't even come near me for fear of
Hulk Smash!
Does long term hammock use negatively impact my back?
Yes!
Because I can no longer sleep on a bed without dealing with unreasonable pain. At least I had a tolerance to the pain before. So many years of pain-free sleeping have made me soft and weak.....and really really happy.
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