Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Good night nurse

I had an appointment with my BP doc yesterday. Two things were slightly bothering me: a) the fact that my lithium was making me get up and pee every 2 hours during the night, EVERY night, since I started it in July (due to the water retention. That water retention is also the reason for this blasted 10-15 lb weight gain) and b) for the last 3 nights or so specifically, I had been sleeping very little--a total of a couple hours, period, each night. She thought that my lack of sleep plus the disruption to my schedule (Spring Break) could be putting me into a slight "up" episode. Nothing major yet, she said, but we need to get you sleeping again--for a variety of reasons, obviously. So she prescriped me a special (as I found out today whilst doing research) BP-related sleeping pill, designed to help with the manic phases.

"But Jen," she warned me as I was leaving. "Start with half a pill, especially on a school night. They're pretty strong."

P'shaw. I'm my mother's daughter, byyaaatch. I can handle a little sleeping pill.

So last night, I stood in the kitchen and took my first Seroquel. Then I started walking towards my room.

As far as I can tell, I fell asleep somewhere near the dryer. Pure momentum propelled the last 20 feet to my room.

This was 9 pm. At 6:30 this morning, my alarm went off--and I knew I was in trouble. It was like swimming underwater. I was moving in slow motion. I tried to "shake it off" so I could get up and get ready but it just wasn't happening. I knew I had to call in--but first I had to literally practice stringing together a couple of comprehensive sentences. It's like I suddenly went stupid, like my brain had totally stopped working. After about 15 minutes, I finally called in and, despite all my practice, ended up muttering something akin to "Me no work today." Then I went back to bed. It's now 2:45.

On the plus side, I slept straight through the night for the first time in YEARS. It was glorious. I now feel pretty damn rested.

But next time, I'm only taking half (unless it's the weekend).

8 comments:

Renee said...

LOLOLOLOLOLOL. Maybe you'll listen to a medical PROFESSIONAL next time. You know, someone who deals with this stuff for a LIVING?
;-)

sparkydiva said...

hmmm...yeah...shoulda called me...or emailed me...or sent a smoke signal...seroquel makes people sleepy for DAYS. can i borrow a few? :)

Renee said...

I'm glad you got an uninterrupted night's sleep for once, though!

Nik said...

Well hell, I think I might be having an "up" episode too. I haven't been sleeping for crap for about a week now. I got an hour and 1/2 sleep last night. This insomnia is driving me nuts.

Anyways, first, lovin the use of "p'shaw" Garth. Second, cool that ya got a good, full nights rest finally. I hope you've recovered from your OD and that you'll heed the advice given to you next time.

keesh said...

only you could make me laugh about a sleeping pill episode...sounds like I need some of that stuff....I haven't slept strait through the night in YEARS either...and I pee at least once a night, usually more...

Renee said...

I'm beginning to feel really lucky that, unless I'm sick, I sleep through the night without waking up almost every night. There are the occasional nights where I wake up every hour, thinking it's time to get up, but that's usually only if I have to get up early for something specific. And that's incredibly rare :-)

Anonymous said...

LOLOL!!! OMG!
You have me laughing out loud to myself in my cube at work again. My coworkers are going to think I'm schizophrenic.

I'm glad you got a good night's sleep!
I'm with Renee - I usually sleep all thru every nigh and get annoyed if I wake up once in my eight hours or so.

Jen said...

I was at Shawn's last night. Last night was also the first night of my new nicotine patch regimine.

And I didn't remember to take my half a pill until it was way too late for me to be able to do so (we were in the hot tub at 11. I know. I'm a rebel).

I lay awake ALL NIGHT again.

Interspersed by my hourly peeing.

I finally fell into a deep sleep--an hour before it was time for me to get up.

Thank God I finally found a taste for coffee. That shit works!