Sleep

June 03, 2008

So, since Sunday night’s sleep was so sparse and awful, I decided I can’t go through another night like that, especially with traveling and everything for the wedding coming up so soon!

Monday morning I called my doctor and asked for help. We have a great relationship. She knows everything that’s going on. We had already talked about the possibility of a sleep med, so it wasn’t like she’s just willing to haphazardly write a prescription for anything I ask for at the drop of a hat. Now that that’s clear, she asked if I wanted Ambien which would require getting 7-8 hours of sleep or if I wanted something that worked for only about 6 hours or so.

I said I would commit to getting 7-8 hours, so bring on the Ambien. It really made no difference to me. I just thought I didn’t want to still be waking up in the middle of the night.

Their directions stressed how important it was to get the 7-8 hours, otherwise you could suffer potential memory loss. WHAT?!

Knowing I would be getting up at 7 Tuesday morning, I planned to be asleep before 11. So, about 9:30, I tried to start winding down, lowering lights, etc. 10:30 I started getting ready for bed. 10:45 took the Ambien. 10:48 already feeling the effects (dizziness). 10:50 called my mom back while in bed and had a strange conversation I couldn’t remember until she reminded me this afternoon.

Slept soundly until my alarm went off at 7:01. Snooze, snooze, snooze. 7:30 - 2nd loud obnoxious alarm across the room. Get up, shut it off, go back to bed, snooze, snooze.

8:00ish finally get up, get ready, go to work, thinking “I shouldn’t be driving.” Sent a couple emails I later had no memory of. While the snoozing is normal, this isn’t. Fell asleep on the way to Monterey (I wasn’t driving). Survived and stayed awake through a meeting and house showing and antiquing. Made it through lunch in Culver (I had amazing cinnamon roll French toast!) and decided I should get a coffee. I went through about 4 cups of coffee. On the way back to town, I feel asleep again. Deep sleep. NOT normal. In the car I’ll usually wake up as we slow down or stop. I slept all the way through slowing down in Lakeville and LaPaz, and before I knew it we were in downtown South Bend.

This afternoon I was contemplating plans for after work and running errands, completely forgetting about a 5:00 appointment that I have. Once it suddenly came back to memory, I set a reminder on my cell.

Ambien…oh dear. I don’t know which is worse – not being able to sleep at night or not being able to stay awake during the day.

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4 comments

  1. Sounds like serious stuff. Check w/ the doctor to see if you can half the dose. Then again, maybe your body was just finally able to catch up on all the sleep you have been missing. I am concerned about your driving by yourself to Wis.

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  2. LOL... um, wow.... that is some serious stuff! Are you sure you didn't maybe take a dose and then "forget" about it and take another?! ;-) I guess we will have to see what happens next time you take it.

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  3. Are you sure you didn't take crack?

    Just checking.

    My real question is where did you eat in Culver? Was it Cafe Max? Did you sit in the cool booth by the window? Do you even remember?

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  4. Holy cow, YES, it WAS Cafe Max (I have the receipt to prove it)! How did you know that? Are you stalking me?!? Were you my waiter? I sat in a cool booth, but not by a window.

    By the way, last night's experience with the crack, I mean Ambien, was much better!

    ReplyDelete

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