Thursday, September 16, 2010

-Sleepless Nights and Bruised Bodies-

This was me last night, right before 2AM.  I don't know if you can tell- but I haven't slept much the past few months.  The combination of pain, stress, and a wandering mind has kept me up, regardless no matter how tired I am.
I used to go to sleep around 10PM and wake up at 7 or 8AM.  Now, I wake up at 9:30AM, no matter how much sleep I get, and then make my way through the day, half awake, sore, 'sleep at the wheel' so to speak.  Then evening approaches, and no matter what I have tried so far, I just can not get to sleep.  It's at least passed 1 or 2 in the morning before I pass out.
This vicious cycle is taking a terrible toll on my mental state.
I have become very emotionally irritable.  Things that I could let go, not bother me, I turn into a mean person over. I don't like it.
The other big side effect- I'm a walking hazard.  I've found myself doing really dumb things, like walking full force into door frames.  My body is on auto-pilot, and the captain is taking a nap. I have the bruises to prove it.
 

It all makes me all the more frustrated that the doctors do not seem to be listening to me.


For now all I can do is try to cope, and try to resolve my insomnia.  Doing daily tasks is even harder now that I have no physical energy, along with the pain.  
I spend the majority of my day in the recliner.  I am relying more on my family to do house work, and other tasks, as much I fight the want to not do so.  The bruises above were my dumb attempt at cleaning the home, which left me feeling physically ill the rest of the night.
The next thing I am doing is making sure I never miss a meal, and that I take at least a multi-vitamin once a day.  Every bit of nutrition seems to help.
And last, I try to make sure I stay as close to a sleep schedule as I possible can.  I make sure I go to bed at the same time every night- no matter how tired I am (or am not).  And I wake up at the same time everyday- on hopes that I can return to some sort of normal sleeping pattern.

This is all something I will have to keep you updated on... since it is still in the process... any tips are welcomed.

1 comment:

  1. So you don't have a sleeping aid or anything like that? One thing (besides an Rx) that might help for short term is taking 2 benadryl before bed. You don't want to do this longer than a couple months though. Melatonin can also help and you can take as much as 10 mg (it's available in the vitamin section and is what our bodies produce once "the lights go out" that makes us drowsy and readies us for sleep). Hope this helps... I'm there myself quite a bit.

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