I started taking the sleeping pills the doc gave me. I am getting actual sleep that happens at normal bedtime.
They are very mild sleeping pills - Dalmane, but they appear to have done the trick. I'm kind of excited. I still wake up around 4am in pain, but I expected that because it's about when the pain pill dose wears off. I also wake up if I need to turn over, since that actually causes a *different* huge pain too. I'm still a wreck, but at least now I have a chance to sleep.
Since I can now compare actual sleep and the weird *non-sleep* I was having, there is a enormous difference between the two. My brain would try to dream, but it would incorporate *awake* items into it. For instance, if the TV was on, the same program would be playing in my dream. If the phone would ring, I would have a goofy half asleep phone conversation. I even sleep-texted an entire conversation about Spongebob Squarepants. (I have never watched even one episode of Spongebob Squarepants.)
I would dream about people and think they were actually in my living room. (I wondered why the dogs were never upset.) Dreaming about people visiting didn't worry me until I started dreaming about dead people and past events. I didn't realize I had been dreaming until something else would happen to jar me out of it: The IM sound, or a TV commercial, for example.
I hadn't had actual, restful sleep or a normal dream for almost three months. No wonder I've been such a mess. I only get one refill, so I can't get overly fond of them (dammit).
THIS makes me smile more than being bitten!!! I am happy for you!
ReplyDeleteSleep well and dream soft visions of delight.. you have earned them!