Sunday, July 11, 2010

Counting Sheep

Here's what happens on a routine night when Husband and I go to sleep. He's ready for bed. I'm ready for bed. But I have something important to do first. I have to handle my pills.

I used to just have asthma. That was really easy. I had a pill a day to take and a couple of nebulizers: one for emergencies and one for maintenance.

Then I got my brain tumor in 2001 and things got a little punchy. There's just something about having a hole in your head filled with titanium mesh and screws. Some permanent pain and some tuning in of Radio Indonesia if I tilt my head just so. 

Turns out that when you've had a brain tumor and been left with some problems a pill organizer is your best friend. A really big one.

So I have a twenty-eight-day organizer. Each month I fill up all the little boxes, which have individual doors. The asthma stuff (now two pills), the post-brain tumor stuff (five pills), the osteopenia/porosis stuff (two), aspirin, multi-vitamins - who knows what? Let's just say that the gigantic organizer my mother uses with shoebox-sized compartments is starting to look attractive.

So I shake out that night's and the morning's pills and stare at them for a minute. It takes some brain power to figure out exactly which ones I take when. This is not work meant for a sleepy woman. If I take the wrong ones, I could end up staying up all night and sleeping all day. So I pick, pick, pick through them, swallow enough to choke a horse, use the inhaler, and turn off the light.

Husband and I say goodnight. On the count of five he's sleeping. I am stunned. How dare he fall asleep so fast? I'm wide awake, staring in the darkness, waiting for one of the pills to make my eyes shut.

Despite your best efforts, do you find your body falling to pieces as you age? Any insomnia issues? Do you find you ever have to be an amateur pharmacist? Do you have a husband/partner who sleeps like a hibernating bear?

33 comments:

  1. I used to have bad insomnia until our daughter.
    Well, I guess less insomnia than it would take me eons to fall asleep. books, tv, mags etc.

    These days Im out like the proverbial light.

    These days, however, Im inexplicably up at 310

    EVERY MORNING

    same time.

    I do get up and work and relish the quiet of the house---but methinks Id relish another 2 hrs of sleep more.

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  2. oh...I am one of these (lucky) people who never had problems with sleeping. no matter how much troubles I'm in, I sleep like a baby. That's almost unfair, isn't it.

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  3. Brain tumor! I had no idea. And hope you are doing well now. I hate taking pills and was gagging just thinking about this! I am an early bird and have trouble staying awake. Right now hubby and I have opposite schedules since he stays up to wait for teen to come home every night which during the summer is really almost every night.

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  4. I've got a SMTWTFS pill box, too and I feel so old whenever I look at it. My husband's usually asleep in one minute, too, but I have to read a bit or I'll never get there, so I generally wake him up when I turn off the light and situate myself, poor thing. I'm thinking that separate bedrooms isn't such a bad idea.

    Go get an AM/PM monthly container to reduce the worries. Keep taking those pills and stay well, Linda!

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  5. I have had bouts of insomnia since I was a child. It seems to have been passed on to my middle son, who often claims he can't sleep.

    I do find myself taking vitamin supplements regularly and I have found that they give me quite a boost of energy throughout the day.

    Have you tried chamomile tea? Might help if you can't sleep...

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  6. I certainly take more than I used to! The number of pills my mother takes, however, is staggering. It takes Martha Stewart-like powers of organization.

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  7. Wow..didn't know about your health issues. That just makes you all the more amazing in my eyes.

    I have the Sunday-Saturday bigass pill container and yes...it is full of pills that I hope to throw away some day. Cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes, etc.

    It is hell getting old and if I knew back then what I know now, I would have taken a LOT better care of myself.

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  8. I go through phases....This last phase started 8 months ago. I didn't sleep for three days and finally caved and bought some sleeping pills. I had to use them. In the last month or so I have fallen asleep four of five times without them. YEAH! Hoping it creeps up to always soon.

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  9. Ah! Linda! Reading your blog always brings a smile to my face!

    I don't usually have a problem with sleeping unless I am sick and/or pregnant (because those two terms are synonymous). My husband also falls asleep pretty quickly. But he gets up multiple times at night. Silly man.

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  10. That is a lot of pills to have to take every day. I don't have to take any medications, but I do take a vitamin tablet each morning. Lately, I think entirely age related, I have found to harder to get to sleep and have been waking up in the night more often but I started drinking a herbal tea designed for relaxation before going to bed and now with these long summer nights instead I have replaced that with a glass of chilled white wine and both seem to work perfectly in getting me to sleep fast and keeping me there all night long :-)

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  11. I'm fortunate to only take two prescribed pills but sometimes sleep alludes me, especially in the middle of the night when I wake up and really want to just close my eyes and go back to dreamland. Thank goodness there are always one or two things on TV besides infomercials. I don't have a hibernating bear alongside my but I'm looking for one!

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  12. I had no idea about the brain tumor! How very scary! Pills gag me too... I know my day is coming that I will have loads to take and it will be hard. As for sleep... I have always had a hard time falling asleep.. I am the one that lies in bed and suddenly thinks of lists and things I need to do/forgot to do/say etc. And, yes, my husband is snoring two minutes after his head hits the pillow and then I'm angry that now I won't be able to fall asleep with all that snoring going on!

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  13. I have insomnia big-time. It walks hand in hand with the migraines and the fibromyalgia pain. I suppose the chronic fatigue plays a part in there somewhere. I am working on a new sleep strategy. It is working sometimes. The HGTV quit on me. If this one continues to work, I will share. If not, I will begin to feel like a vampire. Up all night, sleep all day.

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  14. My husband can fall asleep in less than a minute. And screaming children or hungry pet eyes boring holes into his back never wake him up. Ever. It's infuriating, I tell you. Probably because I'm so darn jealous.

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  15. MizFit, I would be traumatized if I got up every morning at 3:10. Actually, I'd probably just go back to sleep for another 5 HOURS! I'm a night owl so sometimes I don't go to bed till 2 am, so one-hour's sleep per night wouldn't do it. But I guess I always wondered what kind of schedule the people kept who go to the 5:45 AM exercise class at the place I go! Now I know.

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  16. Karen, instead of hotdog eating contest, I could compete in pill swallowing contests. I just like to get it over with. The funny thing is that the worst ones are my calcium and multi-vitamin (just to torment me, ever since I turned 50 my husband bought me "senior" ones!). The other ones? Not so bad. So all I have to do is not take my vitamins and it'd be much easier, right?

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  17. Lisa, here's what I'd like: separate bathrooms! I keep telling my husband that our toilet is MINE and he needs to consider the powder room his but he's resisting my obnoxiousness. I don't know why. But, really, isn't the secret to a happy marriage a separate bathroom? I wouldn't know, but still.

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  18. Maria, Ugh. I hate when I see my most dreaded traits in my kids - or my husbands. My son used to have my husband's nausea-involved migraines, as a little kid! Just try to get a 5-year-old to sit inside an MRI machine! But I'm glad neither of them have insomnia - so far. Though it'd be nice to have some company in the late night house!

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  19. TKW - the mental image I have of your mother - oy! Is there some hypochondria involved? And she's definitely NOT Jewish, right? I just keep seeing her as this Joan Rivers character!

    Two Fat Girls, some of the medical stuff just happened to me but if I hadn't taken so much prednisone for my asthma in my 20s, I wouldn't have had a cataract removed at 47 or have osteoporosis now! But, of course, it seemed like a good idea to breathe right then!

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  20. Chris, 3 DAYS? Unbelievable. That is bad insomnia. Before my days of one-third Ambiens, I would just lay awake in bed all night and get slowly more and more panicked about the approaching day. I'd fitfully drop off a half hour here and there, then take a nap in the daytime. But never three days. That is awful. I think insomnia drives people to desperation (read: Michael Jackson...)

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  21. Linda - while I don't subscribe to a plethora of beauty products to keep age at bay (a few, though), I have found that my running has kept the number of pills I need to close to none. A vitamin - which I need to go get more as I am out and have been for a while - with iron and Zyrtec for my allergies. I have exercise-induced asthma but that is controlled through my intensity. We worked hard on that and it is still working so not going to question it.

    The brain tumor? I had no idea. Wonder if my ex has extra pills now. No tumor but a clot that they had to drill two wholes in his head to drain. They were the result of a bike accident.

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  22. Falling to pieces. Yep. The only thing that gets me through is my (waning) sense of humor. And tweezers. Carried on my person at all times. (Must I really say why?)

    And your post reminds me. I forgot to take my morning pill, which is supposed to be good for my memory.

    The other annoyance? The gods of the universe aren't taking my calls. (Or maybe they are, and my hearing is going, too?)

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  23. Amber, thanks. And I forgot to mention that I get up in the night too! I'll blame that one on the water pill I take each night.

    Aging - ONE vitamin tablet? That's it? You are lucky to be blessed with good health! I do so much to keep myself fit and healthy but I think sometimes that I have problem genes.

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  24. Ellen, speaking of things on all night, last Friday I watched a marathon on TLC of "Say Yes to the Dress." It was great, but I swear, I must've watched 10 episodes. Finally, like a junkie, I just had to turn the set off. It was like 2 in the morning!

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  25. Jennifer, trust me, not everyone has such a disastrous medical history as me. You'll probably stay healthy your whole life. I wasn't even healthy at age 11!

    And snoring! Now that you brought it up, oh my. If it wakes me up, he has to turn over. This isn't a problem for him because even if I wake him up he's back asleep again in 5 seconds! And if I didn't take my 1/3 Ambien I'd be up all night - lists, worries, ideas for stories, blah blah blah.

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  26. Oh Robin, and your HGTV experiment seemed to be going well. I know there's nothing like Holmes on Homes to bore me out of my gourd immediately! :) Sorry about the sleep thing. It's really awful because not getting enough of it affects everything else in the day.

    Stacia, that instant sleep thing is especially annoying when there's a newborn around, right? Like you wake up if the baby gurgles in the crib and end up with no sleep (because, also, you're the FOOD!) and the husband sleeps deeply. I remember having a really great marriage until our son came home from the hospital a preemie and would never sleep and we bargained out our four hour increments. It was brutal.

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  27. Nicki, that sounds incredible and lucky you to only have exercise-induced asthma. I will say that I've gotten healthier and healthier with my weight off now ten years and having exercised steadily 10 years. And, while I have to be on a few maintenance meds for the brain tumor, I used to have chronic headaches twice a day and I got rid of them with the help of my new neurologist last year. It was an amazing experience, really.

    Of course, then I turn around, get a dexascan, and find out I have osteoporosis. Ridiculous.

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  28. BLW, funny you should mention tweezers. On vacation I noticed that my face is now furry. Is this some new horrible thing about being 50 that I didn't know about?

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  29. Tom's head hits the pillow and he is fast asleep. I spend hours listening to him snoring. And then I wake up in a sweat. And I start to think. Never a good idea at 4 am.

    But I have gotten to the stage in my life that I can't remember if I have taken a pill or what I have taken.

    When did it all get so complicated. I missed you. Glad I'm back and reading your wonderful posts.

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  30. Terry, trust me, you were missed! And, yes, snoring husbands and night sweats sound strangely familiar!

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  31. I'm not sure I totally understand. Don't you put the "day of pills" in one little box, like all the pills for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc.

    OR

    Do you have all the pills of the same stuff in one box etc. and you have to take one from each box and try to remember which one you have in your hand and haven't taken?

    Oh, I'm the one asleep in 30 seconds, so my husband can relate with you. LOL

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  32. Redhead Riter, It IS confusing! I put the pills, let's say, for Thursday night and Friday morning in one box. So I take the Thursday night and keep the morning pills laying out. For my sanity (not that I have any left) I just couldn't handle doing an AM/PM thing and then having to refill every two weeks. I need to know this only comes around once a month!

    And lucky, lucky you on the sleep! I guess there's one in every relationship!

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  33. Oh my heart. I am sorry about that. It sounds like it would drive me crazy.

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