It would be an over-the-counter, diphenhydramine tablet.
I suffer insomnia from time to time, and seem to be in the middle of a bout right now. Dh is away a lot during the week - he has work in London, and his mum is terminally ill, so he is staying at her house, to spend as much time as possible with her before the end.
Only ds3 is at home (the other two are at university), and he is 17 - so not a little child who would need rescuing in case of an emergency.
I didn't get to sleep until about 6.30am on Monday, and about 4am this morning, and I am feeling utterly wrecked. Dh is not back until tomorrow night, and I worry about taking a drug that will make me sleepy, and not able to drive, and that might make me react less quickly if there was some sort of emergency.
There is a part of me that knows I am being a bit ridiculous - maybe more than a bit, to be fair - the chances of anything terrible happening are pretty slim, we have a smoke alarm, ds3 is old enough and sensible enough to be left home alone, and the tablet won't render me unrousable - it will just help me go to sleep, and hopefully once asleep, I will stay asleep unless there is an emergency.
To be honest, I don't even drink if I am the only adult at home - or even if ds1, who is 21 and can drive one of our cars is at home - and I think I might be being completely barking more than a bit paranoid.
WWYD?
AIBU?
Taking a sleeping tablet when I am the only adult in the house.
SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 13/11/2014 12:23
If your son is 17 then I'd say take the sleeping tablet. It would be different if you were in charge of a baby or toddler but I'm sure a 17 year old is old enough to take some initiative in the (very unlikely) case of anything going wrong.
Sorry about your insomnia- lack of sleep is a killer 
Agree with the others - DS3 is 17, not a child, so you are not the only adult in the house. I'd tell him you're taking a tablet, then have a lovely hot bath, snuggle into bed and hopefully get a decent night's sleep! 
I know he's an adult at 17, and I would leave him home alone - I just needed to be told how ridiculous I am being. I think lack of sleep has robbed me of the last marble, to be honest! 
So the consensus is that I take the tablet, and tell ds3 that, in case of fire/earthquake/zombie invasion/vampires breaking in, he has to rescue himself tonight.
I love MNers!
I suffer insomnia and take sleeping meds nightly. My DS is 16 and knows the rules that once mum goes to bed, keep the noise down. Nothing wose then being sleep deprived.
Go home, fix tea, take your tablets and sleep. You will feel so much better tomorrow. Here's to a resftul night.
Well, given your self-appointed role in the zombie plan, it doesn't really matter if you're asleep or awake then. In fact, one might argue that the sleeping tablet is beneficial in this scenario, as it might be a little less painful if you sleep through the eating rather than be conscious throughout, yes? 
I subscribe to the Buffy-verse version of the vampire - and given that Angel bonked Buffy's brains - and his soul - out, and then went after her to bite her, and that, even after he and Spike had both bonked her, there seemed to be no lack of vampires wanting to bite her, I suspect that the virgin thing is more a guideline than an actual rule.
You might be right about the zombie eating thing, though!
And actually - I am a virgin - virgin on insanity!
Ohhh the old jokes are the best!
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You will be pleased - but probably unsurprised - to know that we survived the night without earthquakes, fires, vampires or zombies. I slept much better, and ds3 did not need rescuing even once!
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