Restless Sleeper?

This week I'm going to talk about what I've struggled with for almost a year.

I do not sleep well.  It typically happens in August - September of every year, but this year has been very different.  I've struggled for a lot longer.  I can't really say when, but I know in February when I bought my Fitbit One that I was struggling then because that was one of the reasons I bought it.  It semi-tracks sleep patterns.  It just proved to me how much I'm up in the night.  I average about 20 times a night where I'm restless - to me that's a lot.  I also get up between 1-3 times a night to pee.  That's very frustrating in and of itself but I didn't know what to do.

So over the last year I've tried benadryl, nyquil, zzz quil, tylenol PM and melatonin.  After each one of these wears off I wake up at night and I'm up for while.  Some of these also made me very sleepy in the morning to the point where I didn't want to get up (I'm not a morning person anyway and don't need that extra reason for not wanting to get up).  Melatonin was the best for me but still made me sleepy in the AM and I took 15 mg versus the 5 mg recommended.  So I thought that was a bad idea.

Two weeks ago I paid my doctor a visit and explained my sleep issues and after much discussion she gave me some Trazodone to try (p.s., I had already tried it but didn't want to tell her that because it's a prescribed drug).  Trazodone doesn't work for me, my doctor told me that it only works for 2/3's of the people it's prescribed for.  What it did to me was make me lay there for longer (not falling asleep), I didn't stay asleep - but the good news was that I wasn't as sleepy in the morning (not sure why because I didn't get more sleep - I just didn't get less than I had been either).  I tried it for a week and gave up.

Last week I had to travel for work, while at our other office I called my doctor asking her to think of something else because Trazodone wasn't working.  After two calls back and forth I found out that she was prescribing Ambien for me (I know this works as I tried this before too).  I was ecstatic.  While I was driving from our other office to my house, the doctor's office called and said they faxed in the order.  Keep in mind I did NOT sleep on the road at all - so for 2 nights I haven't slept more than a total of probably 4 hours.  I thanked the nurse and drove straight to the pharmacy.  When I got there Target didn't have the faxed order and since it's a controlled substance they couldn't do anything for me until they had what they needed.  I broke down and CRIED.  In Target... an adult crying.  I was at my wits end...

There were some other things going on in my life as well... that same day I was told that my boss is moving onto another position in the company and I now had a new boss.  I love my current boss, she's super supportive of my weight loss and my going to my weight watcher meetings.  I'm not so sure my new boss is and the new project I have from now until March involves a weekly meeting during the same time I'm supposed to be going to my weight watcher meeting.... so I'm sure that news factored in to my mini-melt down (I'm 40 not a 2 year old, but seriously how much can one person take).

Then, the next day I was taking my poor dog into the vet (who was a super high risk) to have her teeth cleaned and several teeth pulled.  So needless to say I spent the entire day crying on Thursday.  I couldn't focus on anything but the fact that I still hadn't slept, my Thursday meeting may be put on hold (it still could - we will see) and my dog may not wake up from her teeth cleaning.

She did wake up (thank God) and my ambien was at the pharmacy Thursday.  I've slept every night (mostly) for the last week.  Ambien is a bit weird as makes me act a little goofy and I'm still working through that.  The good news though is that I am sleeping and a little more level headed this week.

I know that I will get through this, I have to.  I may have to figure something out for the next few months (the worst months to have a change like this happen) but time will tell on that.  I am happy to report that though all of that this week I've lost 3.2 lbs of the 4.2 I have gained over the last two weeks.  I made it through our October Cook Off and continued to Zumba my ass off.  I'm pretty proud of myself right now... and I'm loving Ambien :)

I'm sitting at my scrapbook retreat right now - we got here yesterday and will be here through Sunday.  Here's to making more good choices versus bad over the next week (you should see all the fabulous snacks and desserts) - my goal is to stay the same this week.  Good luck to you this week!!!

I can't wait until I'm Healthfully Ever After!