Once upon a time long ago, in a land far, far away there was a princess. She fell asleep quickly and slept soundly through the night having only the most wonderful dreams. When she awoke she felt rested and looked beautiful. That was a really LONG time ago. I was that princess once, way long ago. Now my nights are more like last night was. About 15 minutes before bed, the nightly ablutions are done- face washing and moisturizing, teeth brushing and flossing, and feet sanding and slathering with lotion to avoid the dreaded dinosaur feet.
Doug chooses something to watch on TV, knowing full well that in 10 minutes he’ll be asleep. Then, after he falls asleep, I get to play catch-up with whatever show I wanted to watch. Then my nightly routine starts. The covers are on, the covers are off, over and over again. If I were standing I’d look like a bullfighter working their cape. Instead I just look crazy. We always have the ceiling fan on. (Of course I have a fan sitting on my nightstand blowing directly on me as well.)
Last night around midnight our dogs, all 6 of them, were barking like crazy . I looked out our patio door and saw the hammock swinging wildly. Doug went to investigate and found our dog Blondie trying to run up the hammock rope to get into the tree. She would jump into the hammock then it would flip her out. The rest of our pack was near her egging her on. The object of her desire- an opossum was sitting just above her. So now Doug’s outside in his fruit of the looms trying to reason with a pack of hyper dogs. Eventually he gets everyone back into the den and puts the panel in the dog door. Now it’s 12:30. By 12:40 he’s back asleep and snoring. I’m still awake and channel surfing 30 minutes later. About 1:30 they are all out and barking again. We go to the den and see they have broken the panel in the dog door to get to the opossum who’s still there. Doug herds the dogs inside again, gets a piece of plywood from the garage and places it over the dog door and secures it. Before 2am he’s back asleep and snoring-again. At 3:15 they are at it again, now having torn the plywood off the door to get outside. (You have to admit they’re not quitters.) Luckily by now the opossum has left and the dogs quickly return to the den. Doug secures the door one last time.
Returning to bed Doug noticed that I’m wide awake and already said he could be asleep again in 5 minutes. He was kind enough to offer me a sleep aid. “Wanna get a little?” Did he really think that was a possibility? I graciously decline his chivalrous offer. He’s asleep again in nothing flat. So, now it’s after 4am and I finally drift off waking up again at 7:30. I stumble to the bathroom to brush my teeth.
Unfortunately I make the mistake of looking in the mirror. I don’t know where the princess has gone. I just wish she could come back.
Drugs. Better living (as in sleeping) through DRUGS, I tell ya! (I’m happy to report I got put on an anti-seizure drug that’s helping to require my brain in order to help me not have so many migraines. (Huh. Really! Okay, then.) It makes me very drowsy.
Then I got sent to a sleep study guy who discovered I need a cpap machine. (I do, but omg is it irritating.) He also asked if I have restless leg syndrome and I said, “Yes and no. I have it, but it’s only in my feet and only once or twice a week.” He immediately put me on generic mirapex to stop that. It’s been stopped, and I’m happy to report mirapex makes one VERY drowsy.
I now fall asleep with no problem at all – but only as long as I take my new meds a good hour before bedtime. Better living through drugs, yaaaaaaaaa! Maybe you should consider telling some doctor you have extreme restless leg syndrome – aka RLS. And if you don’t have it, Google it so you’ll know the symptoms.
(P.S. No need to answer my comments I may be leaving, since I don’t get notified when you do. I’m just slowly reading all your blogs from day one and on. At which point I’ll probably have no use for you anymore.) (I just snorted.)