I’m Feeling Quite Sleepy

I have insomnia…not the kind that prevents me from falling asleep but the kind that prevents me from staying asleep. Falling asleep I got down. Put me in the passenger seat in a car and I’m out. Let me lie down on the couch with an episode of NCIS, and I’ll have to rewind it 18 times to see the whole thing (something about Mark Harmon makes me feel extremely safe and sleepy). Every night, however, when 1am or 2am (depending on how big of a swig of Zquil I took) roles around…I’m wide awake.  Not just half asleep and stumbling to the bathroom…nope…more like, “hey…I think I’ll get up and cook a roast” awake. My husband has woken many mornings with a smorgasbord in the kitchen – and while he’s not complaining, it has contributed to our ever-expanding waistlines.

My mother had insomnia also but she was much more productive than I. She made rag dolls and photo albums and all kinds of amazing crafts in the middle of the night. Me? Since she had to finish my 7th-grade sewing project, I’ve come to peace that craftiness must skip a generation. Cooking seems to hit each one. I’ll take what I can get.

I recently went to an OBGYN to discuss my peri-menopausal symptoms and what I was truly hoping was a thyroid disorder (instead of a stop-cooking-roast-in-the-middle-of-the-night disorder). I haven’t heard anything on the thyroid labs so I’m thinking they were…unfortunately…normal. We also discussed my insomnia, however, and she did recommend Progesterone replacement. I’m not a candidate for any other hormone replacement since most carry some blood clot and cardiac side effects and I did not win the genetic lottery. My father has had multiple heart attacks and my mother had multiple strokes. Mention that to an MD if you want a great discussion of losing weight and exercising!

I started the Progesterone and in my typical fashion, forgot to take it for a few days. It didn’t seem to be working anyway since I was still waking up. Thursday, I looked at the bottle and thought – heck, it’s not making me sleepy so I’ll just take it during the day. Mistake. Apparently, it does work…since I made my way through the day like someone out of The Living Dead.  It didn’t hit right away…more like around 10am when I had two conference calls back to back. I was happy that there was no camera attached since I had to stand up during one of them. I also picked the one night that week that I had orientation and was supposed to look excited and lively to a new group of students. We will see if they all come back on Monday.

So back to taking the pills at night. Maybe I’ll take one and hit the Zquill at 1am to carry me through the breakthrough.  Anyone else have this issue? If so, can we start a support group to at least share recipes for the 1am baking? Or maybe we can all skype together and take turns reading War and Peace out loud. Either way…let me know how you deal with it.  I’m open to suggestions!

(On a side note…Eric and I use the phrase “I’m quite sleepy” ever since we watched the Flight of the Conchords – Business Time at a marriage retreat. If you have been married over ten years, you’ll enjoy the humor.  If not, you’ll think…we’ll NEVER be like that. Then you’ll have children and you’ll get it.)