Monday, April 2, 2012

Sleep {or Lack Thereof}

First thing's first. I have to introduce you to our new friend, Owlie. 




Does he melt your heart or what?! It was really love at first sight for me when I saw him weeks back at Pier 1. I picked him up this weekend, as he (along with all Easter stuff!) is 25% off now, and I finally own my little Owlie for $5.21. So excited. I like to think he's reminding me to keep my eyes on The Prize - he's such an encouraging friend.
 _ _ _

On a fibro follow up, I saw a rheumatologist this week - my first time seeing one. His first question was "And why are you here today?" and he asked why my doctor sent me to him. "Because we haven't gotten my symptoms under control", I tell him. Ugh. He did give me tips - nothing new really - but reminded me to look at aquatic therapy and urged the importance of a sleep study with the amount fatigue is impacting me. A sleep study doesn't work out right now with the insurance change we're going through - I also learned how crazy expensive they are. It was good to see what he had to say at least.  



On the fatigue/sleep note though, I talked with one of my very best friends last week and she lovingly and thoughtfully helped me think through how hugely fatigue is impacting my life. I'm living at basically half capacity because I have to rest so often and am just always tired. My sleep doesn't make me feel rested which makes me that much more tired the rest of the day, and the day after that, and after that, etc. I pretty much haven't felt rested for more than a few days at a time in {lots of} years. That can somewhat surprisingly lead to increased pain and lots of other symptoms I deal with.




She told me about an over the counter sleep aid which made me excited about the fact that something may be able to give me restful sleep and not in prescription form. I checked with my pharmacist and she suggested these Melatonin pills (I found them at Target) as the side effects are less than other sleep aids and are still ok with my other medications.






I've taken them the past two nights and get this: I woke up refreshed both mornings. It took me a few minutes to realize the usual pain throughout my head (like it's being squeezed from all sides) was gone and I actually didn't feel so bad. I still had shoulder and neck pain, but I'll take any relief from symptoms I can get. It was lovely. It didn't last the entire day for me as the fatigue came back later in the day, but if you experience extreme fatigue or difficulty getting restful sleep, you may want to ask your pharmacist or doctor about it. It doesn't look like it's suggested to take long term, but worth checking out.


I snapped a photo in the natural daylight after an interview last week too. It feels like one of those attorney photos or something. Not sure why, but it feels official and I kind of like it.


We enjoyed more and more green growth on our walk last week too. It's wonderful.




Here's some Pinspiration for the day:
inspiring gocco print by lisa congdon
Source

2 comments:

Rachel said...

I'm so happy the pills helped somewhat :) I kept thinking about our conversation after we talked.

I asked my mom if she thought lack of sleep is contributing and she continued to stress how much sleep affects everything else. The pain/depression cycle or something...

I have a few more things I can email you about.

Love you!!

Marissa said...

Rach, thank you so much! Your mom's advice is great and I appreciate you thinking of me and helping me figure this thing out. We WILL get there! Especially with a great team on my side:)

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