Stumbling around in an exhausted haze

[clevermanka]

The tags feature is handy. I'm glad I finally started using them. Usually I don't remember to tag an entry right away, though, and I have to go back a week and catch up...but still. Handy. For example, by choosing to search based on the health tag, I was able to find my first reference to not sleeping well: March 13. I noted that I hadn't been sleeping that great for "a couple weeks" which means I pretty much haven't had three consecutive nights of 8-hour sleep in, um...a month.

OK, wow. That sucks.

And have I mentioned the still allergic? I've been coughing (nothing productive, just a constant tickle) since Monday. That's fun. Last night I woke up coughing, and hauled my ass out of the bed to take some cough syrup. I went back to sleep and woke up half an hour later with stomach pains (I assumed from the syrup on an empty stomach). I ate some graham crackers and ginger ale as fast as I could so I wouldn't completely wake up and went back to bed to sleep until I woke up at 6:00 a.m., an hour before my alarm was supposed to go off.

With rare exception, I believe I might be getting five hours of sleep a night--and those five hours aren't always consecutive.

I don't want to start on sleeping pills, but I'm not sure what else to try. Yoga, tea, meditation, and finger crossing just aren't cutting it. It's starting to affect how well I do my job, and that's where I draw the line. Screwing up things at work because I'm not sleeping isn't acceptable.

Comments

[rowangolightly.livejournal.com]

Have you tried honey for both the cough and the allergies...good organic local honey? It's worked wonders for me for both things.

Nothing, well ok, few things are worse than not getting enough sleep.
*wry smile* Just wait until the joys of menopause add to the wake-ups and stuff.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I have tried the honey thing, but I don't think I got started early enough this year.

Some honey mixed with whiskey and lemon juice might help tonight, though!

[rowangolightly.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's a fabulous idea!

Hope it works for you, dear...

[stuology.livejournal.com]

Hot Toddy!

You really should give it a try since red wine started bothering you.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I had one before I went to bed and I only woke up twice last night!

[indigodreamer.livejournal.com]

If you haven't already, you might try taking some Benadryl at night. Diphenhydramine (sp?) is sold under a different brand as a non-habit-forming, over-the-counter sleep aid, and it will help with your allergies too (though you shouldn't take a 24-hour dose of loratidine/claritin in the morning if you're going to do this). I only occasionally have sleep problems, but the benadryl seems to be sufficient to knock me out when I do, and the quality of sleep is good.

Whatever you decide, good luck. I hope you start feeling better on all counts soon.

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

For what it's worth, I did this last night. I'm having allergies like no-one's business, and the added drowsiness is welcome at night.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I buy diphenhydramine at Sam's Club. =D I've been taking it as a sleep aid for so long it's not as effective anymore. Boo.

[ladyniniane.livejournal.com]

I've been using (generic) Claritin during the day, and (generic) Benadryl at night, but I've also been taking a Mucinex (mucus relief - generics are available) tablet each time as well. (Just the regular ones, not the extended release kind - I don't see much difference in them. Don't get the -D version, with the (generic) Sudafed or Sudafed-PE added - that *will* keep you awake.)

The Mucinex seems to be helping clear the gunk accumulation that always leads to coughing in me, and doesn't hype me up the way the various forms of Sudafed do.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I do the lortadine/diphenhydramine cocktail, too, and I was taking a dose of guifenisin daily, but I wasn't seeing any improvement so I stopped.

I think adammaker might have solved the actual problem, though, in today's post. Hurray!

[redheadfae.livejournal.com]

If you react like me, don't bother with the Mucinex. I've taken double doses of it for four days and it hasn't budged any of the lung ick. I'm sorely disappointed. I wanted to suddenly hock up a big lunger, you know, and be done with it.