To ask why you’re awake after midnight? (again)

[5YearsLeft]

I can’t find the old insomnia threads, so I thought I’d start a new one because I’m having a certified hell of a time falling asleep.

My brain just won’t shut up! I had a headache for roughly a month solid. Answer: it turns out I was severely deficient in everything. I’ve been on prescription-grade iron, potassium, vitamin D, and calcium since last Thursday and I almost have energy for the first time in months. But it’s enough energy to: make my pain even more noticeable, make me realize I hate the life I’m stuck in, and keep me from sleeping.

Why are you awake? Worry? Illness? Other people? Work?

@NooNooHead1981 I’m so sorry it’s happened to you! I know what it’s like to be chronically unwell. It can feel like such an uphill battle. The nice part about each night is that some days you “win” with your illness (they go well, you make progress, you felt like yourself, you managed to do what you wanted to do), and some days you “lose” (they go badly, it feels like your illness are the day, your old life feels lost, you didn’t get to do anything at all that felt separate from your illness) and then the night comes, it washes away the good and bad, and you wake up tomorrow to another chance. Trying to deal with being chronically unwell isn’t necessarily moaning. The best thing is just to be matter of fact: “Today I tried to do X. It did work OR it didn’t work. That made me feel ___. Tomorrow is another day.” Even if 1000 days go the same way, tomorrow is another day to try again.

@EspressoPatronumm How incredibly bizarre! Was it supposed to be a delivery from the pharmacy and they sent it to him by mistake??? What a mess. But you definitely have to have some kind of painkillers after surgery, especially if you’ve been prescribed oramorph for that purpose. I do hope it takes the edge of the pain off. Good luck!

@MilliwaysUniverse Oh gosh, so this incident with the bus happened at Heathrow? I’m sure your parents were exhausted from the travel back from Singapore, and tempers were running high, it sounds like. I’m sure they’re very, very unlikely detainees; it all sounds too strange. Hopefully it can be easily sorted. In the mean time though, I know it’s so hard not to go through a million worries about it in your mind!

@America12 Hear hear!

@StoneofDestiny Ah, it’s the sleep deficit! Once you owe, you’ve got to pay up sometime. And once you owe too much, your body becomes like some horrible loan shark and start breaking other bits because you owe more than you can pay. Glad you managed to get some sleep, even if it means you’re up now. And glad you missed the funeral, IF that’s what you wanted.

Endometriosis induced insomnia.
i am so tired yet cannot sleep through this pain.

I do hope they're OK and hopefully this will be a funny little anecdote in years to come but I'd be very stressed also.

I’m awake because I’ve spent the past two hours watching the queen’s funeral on BBC. That isn’t the point of this thread, I know, but I have been up past midnight for the past ten days or so watching coverage as I’m in Ireland so, of course, life has carried on as normal here and I was at work today. The pomp and ceremony is addictive though! Besides, Queen Elizabeth was a huge hit here in Cork when she visited. Says a lot about the type of person she was that she could win over so many people in a nation that had historically such a poor relationship with England and her rulers in the past.

A dog with diarrhoea who has just had an accident requiring a crate bedding change. I have to be at work in 6 hours 😩

We were waiting for our youngest child to go to sleep so we could have some shenanigans (it was my birthday yesterday, I wouldnt normally stay up so late for this purpose) but now I'm wide awake and I'm up in 4.5 hours for work. My husband is of course in a coma at the side of me. I'm going to be shattered tomorrow!!

@thequeenoftheandals No one, absolutely no one, can pretend that’s not an absolute crock of shite. I’m so sorry. I believe, and have believed for some time, that all our statistics about endometriosis would be different if: 1. Men were capable of getting it, and 2. Men knew what the pain of endometriosis feels like. The stats about how long it takes until a woman is diagnosed (years, with several misdiagnoses along the way - a few of them psychological, for no clear reason), the stats about how long treatment takes to start and how successful it is, the stats on how many separate treatments are required, the stats about pain management for endometriosis (woefully under-managed, under-treated), just absolutely all of it. I’m so sorry you’re awake with it right now. I hope maybe tomorrow is a better day between you and endometriosis. And I hope that you’re able to get some kind of treatment so that you don’t have to keep going through this again and again and again. Good luck.

My advice to anyone unable to switch off their mind and sleep is to read. I often brought work home (literally) and in my head. Kept me awake - I found that reading some page turning thriller helped me sleep. Nothing too difficult - but enough to keep you reading til your eyes are forced to shut. That's my tip.........

@Procrastination4 If you’re enjoying it, then I’m glad you’re watching it! And it’s true that we’ll never see the like of this again; as you say about how well-received she was in Cork, despite some otherwise frosty relations. And it’s not just the Queen herself; it’s the pomp and ceremony of the death of the longest serving monarch in modern times (maybe ever? I can’t remember).

@Choconuttolata Oh!! Poor pup and poor you! Six hours isn’t much, but hopefully it’ll be at least a wee bit, and hopefully this will be the end of dog stomach troubles.

@ScrambledEggsOnToast2 Ha! Sleep never quite works out the way you plan, EVEN when you have an honest to goodness plan!!! And it was a bit of a, erm, personal birthday celebration, too! And now you’re stuck awake facing the alarm staring you down. Alarms are dreadful bastards for that. Hopefully you can get at least a few hours kip; good luck!

Ive also been woken with endo pain. It’s passing now but it was a bit of a shock waking to that pain. Hope yours eases soon.

@StoneofDestiny Wonderful advice for insomniacs to cozy down with a good book, just thrilling enough to turn the pages but not too much to keep the sleep away… very wise!

@5YearsLeft no he went to the pharmacy got given a bag with his name on, got home, opened his legitimately acquired bag of medicine because he answered the name and address on the outside of the box and encountered a fuck ton of
pain killers, thyroid medication and oral chemo to start at the end of September. It's only by a miracle he found my repeat prescription info in the bag it gave him my address.

It's pure luck he didn't just take some random medicine because who takes the time to check the label if it's your repeat prescription... it's going to be a fun conversation tomorrow

@Destinationdestination Oh gosh! I’m so sorry to hear there’s more than one of you facing endo tonight! Though I know there are tons more than 2 women out there in any given night. It’s ticking time bomb of a disease with a hidden fuse - you never know with 100% certainty when it’s going to go off, even though I know there are times that that it it’s much more likely to cause pain during the month. Glad to hear yours is easing off, and I do hope you’re able to get back to sleep. And I hope, in the long run, there’s a permanent solution for you - no one should have to suffer indefinitely.

Night feeds. Woo hoo! Not

Ten week old puppy has awoken. Just taken him out for his wee. ‘Piano chill’ mix playing. Now whining as just put him back into his crate.

Obligatory photo of River Ouo when asleep.

Pup

Thanks 5YearsLeft. I hope you continue to see improvements now that you hopefully have the supplements you need and that you can get to sleep soon. Take care

@EspressoPatronumm WOW!!!!! Your pharmacy don’t half fuck about when they make a mistake, do they! They not only gave him your painkillers, which while very important to you, aren’t that expensive. They ALSO included the oral chemo you’re supposed to start?! Now THAT part IS expensive. I’m glad he didn’t try to keep your painkillers, though. Except I suppose the pharmacy must know they gave them to him by now? Or figured it out? When they still have HIS medication but not yours? I get a bag of prescriptions delivered to my house every week and it includes a medication like oramorph, so I have to sign a sheet to indicate it’s all there when I take the bag from the delivery kid (actual kid, under age 18 - comes in a Vespa).

I miss the old insomnia threads! I get night terrors after being attacked when I was younger. I woke myself up screaming just after I went to bed, and now I’m too jittery to fall back to sleep. Husband snoring beside me as he’s used to it now. I’ll probably goto sleep again about 5am but the alarm is set for 6. I’m used to it now, but it still sucks! I hope everyone can drop off soon

MilliwaysUniverse hopefully they will be released without charge - I'm sure they will have been tired after their long journey and annoyed a driver was wrecking the end of their holiday. Do let us know how they get on (and hope we don't read about it in the papers!)

Just back from A&E. I have concussion. Got hit in the head with a hockey puck Saturday night and the headache & nausea just hasn't gone away. But they're happy there's no neurological damage so I just need to rest.
Which isn't easy with a banging headache

I’m awake feeding my 6 week old baby. It’s been a long day potty training a 2 year old and having a newborn attached to me. I am beyond exhausted but the baby won’t be put down.

@HighlandPony Night feeds! Whoop whoop!

@Riverlee The pup is receiving a criminal caution for being unlawfully adorable. Also, I’d love a new piano chill mix! You’re about to receive your own, well, not criminal caution, but I’ll give you like 10% of a stink eye (my eye’s a bit wonky so 10% is all I can manage at the mo), for not sharing the link, ha.

@Thefailinghousewife Welcome back to the new old insomnia threads! Just like the old ones but new! Because I couldn’t find them. Oh gosh, night terrors are so rough. Have you tried anything for them, or just sort of accepted them since they’re not all the time? I think my friend tried a form of therapy that really helped. I can’t remember what it was called, but it wasn’t a super common one like CBT, or something. I can ask?

I'm trying to switch back from nightshift mode.

Was up super early, gutted the whole house and deep cleaned everywhere thinking it would tire me out but I'm wide awake instead. DH is nightshift and keeps messaging because he's bored which isn't helping.