Sleepless in the Sandias

Okay, I was too quick to attribute my trouble sleeping "Retless Leg Syndrome". It's similar: I'm compelled to move my legs, and I cannot fully sleep. But it's also significantly different: one, I'm also compelled to move my arms. (This is known to happen in some RLS cases, though). Two, it's less of a "creepy-crawly feeling"... more just an inability to attain a sleep-state. Three, I can quell the need to move by using a relaxation technique. (This is just impossible with RLS.) I just can't convert that relaxation to sleep (nor to autohypnosis, which is frustrating, 'cause I sure could use some). And four, I don't feel any urge to stand up and walk around... just to shift position.

I was just experiencing it now (I woke up to it after 2.5 hours of sleep), and decided to stop fighting it and have a little ice-cream (no sugar added!) and type it up instead. : )

I suspect, given the timing of this, that it's simply sleeplessness as a side-effect of the Sudafed I'm taking. This is the third night I've had trouble, and I've been on Sudafed (well, generic) for three days. (BTW, I'm assuming it's also causing dryness of the mouth.)

I hate taking extra drugs when I'm trying to pay attention to symptoms! But I have to admit, my ears are hurting a lot less.

[ponder]

Anyway, the larger-scale update: Today, I gave up on the whole "screw the cramping" thing: I have reached the limits of my pain tollerance. The lack of sleep last night (I'm guessing, conservatively, that I had about four hours) really took it's toll today. Today was also an off-site, all-day workshop for my job. I was fatigued, my muscles were touchy, and I didn't want to move. Unhappiness ensued. : ) I was probably a lot meaner than I needed to be at the meeting--and there was plenty of opportunity to be critrical, since we were doing "Strategic Planning", and they were looking for a lot of input.

My solution to the problems of the day was to retire around 6:00 tonight. ...But here I am.

One final thing to add: posting about all of this is starting to bother me. It feels like I'm whining unnecessarily, it feels like I'm feeding into the self-paranoia, and I'm generally feeling otherwise self-conscious and self-critical.

But I promised updates, honesty, and transparency. So, I'll keep it up, but part of that is noting that I'm not enjoying keeping it up. : D So there!

Okay, I don't want to lose much more than 30 minutes of potential sleep-time to this stuff, so I'm retiring. Wish me luck.