Spring Break-Ish

[alexandraerin]

Folks, there has been and is going to continue to be updates for everything this week, but I've just realized it's Thursday (I mean that literally... I just checked the computer's clock to see if it was Tuesday or Wednesday) and I'm not going to hit the planned number of updates for the week. I should have been able to see this in advance and said so: my roommate's off work this week, my insomnia was in full force coming out of the weekend and I haven't been able to catch up on sleep by crashing during the day like I did last week because they've been working on the parking lot right outside and we've had painters in to clean up the results of the bathroom renovation and people in the hall... basically, it's spring cleaning time for the apartment complex.

Basically, I am so bone-tired mentally and physically but I can't sleep, for internal and external reasons. I should have declared this a vacation week and just tried to relax through it as best as I could. Gah. I said at some point (last summer, I think) that I'd do that once a quarter. I don't think I've ever managed to hold myself to it except semi-retroactively.

The writing I have done I think has turned out surprisingly pretty good, so I'm not going to take today and tomorrow off. My goal for the week is just to get as much as writing done as I can, make sure every story is represented since they've all got sponsors and people rooting for them, and then get my sleep sorted out on the weekend.

Melatonin has been suggested to me... as I recall, when I tried it before I didn't enjoy the side effects the next day, but I think if I take it Friday and Saturday night to ensure a night's sleep, that might work since what it's supposed to do is reset the circadian cycle. With that done, there's no reason why next week can't be like last week but without the updates drifting into Saturday.

Comments

[alexandraerin.livejournal.com]

Chamomile tea generally makes me drowsy without ensuring sleep, I'll have to look into the calcium magnesium supplement... I've never heard of that.

[rocza.livejournal.com]

I've had the best luck locally finding it at Rite Aid, although if you have health food stores, they'll almost certainly have it. The fizzing calmag was recommended by a friend with long experience in insomnia - the problem with a lot of sleep aids is that they only treat falling asleep, or staying asleep. For people with complex insomnia (which from the bits you've said, sounds like you have; both a problem falling asleep and staying asleep), it's necessary to find something that knocks you out, and then something else that keeps you out. For me, calmag + camomile is the right combination (well, at least sometimes - other times I'm just screwed, and take the time to listen to Stephen Fry read me Harry Potter, or somesuch).

Anyhow, the whole point before I went off on my own sleep deprived semi tangent, is that you want to make sure you find the fizzing powdered stuff. Because of its form, it's absorbed immediately into your system, as opposed to pill form, which obviously takes longer. You'll want to make sure you mix it with very hot water (so it all dissolves), and then mask the bitter taste with something citrus-y. (I like tangerine OJ for it, but mileage varies.)

Luck! Chronic insomnia is one of the most draining things.