This was not a good week
May. 10th, 2014 06:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miss_lucy21It was not.
So, right, I didn't talk about the sleep doctor. The doctor (well, actually she was a CNP) said that it's probable that I have sleep apnea, due to the structure of my jaw and soft palate and the fact that my sinuses are just plain fucked up. It's possible that I don't have actual sleep apnea, since I'm missing some of the common symptoms, but it's likely. She also said she was very comfortable with diagnosing me with restless legs syndrome even without the sleep study because of what I described to her (I have trouble being still, even before I go to bed, but my legs jerk and make me move to get comfortable for quite a long time before I actually fall asleep). However, she thinks it's possible that there may be some sort of additional movement disorder or REM sleep disorder, like maybe my muscles don't get paralyzed like they're supposed to when I dream or that I don't reach REM sleep the way I'm supposed to (this is less of a possibility, apparently, because I do definitely dream), so they're going to test for those possibilities along with the sleep apnea. She also definitively diagnosed me with insomnia, which isn't news, and it would be more suprising if I didn't have insomnia because of the ADHD. She suggested a couple of apps that help with relaxing and going to sleep, so I will probably try those. She also said that she was perfectly fine with me reading in bed so long as it wasn't on a screen (Kindle is fine, but my phone or laptop wouldn't be) and so long as I could manage to put the book down and not read until 3 am. It's not recommended for most people, but I have an over busy brain that needs something else to focus on, otherwise I wind up replaying my most traumatic moments when I'm trying to fall asleep. She said that was pretty common for people with ADHD.
So, sometime in the next couple of weeks (as soon as the sleep lab gets it together and calls me- they apparently just got my referral on Thursday), I'll spend a night hooked up to a bunch of machines. And then I'll go back and see her again at the end of June for the results. We did talk about options for taking care of the sleep apnea, and we're going to try a dental appliance first because I panic terribly when I have things over my nose and mouth and that's not really going to help matters. The appliance works in about 70-80% of cases, so chances are very good that will work. And hey, it might help my underbite, too. I don't know what we do about things if there's an REM sleep disorder, but that's a long shot anyway, so I'm not worrying about it right now.
She also prescribed me something for the RSL that I started taking last Friday. And it promptly totally fucked my brain. I was groggy, I couldn't make my fingers behave right when I was typing and I couldn't spell (that happens sometimes when I'm really out of it. I'm not dyslexic, but I do tend to mix up a couple of letters when I'm very tired and that, combined with the typing issue basically meant my spelling went to hell). And my ADHD just exploded. Everything was shiny. I could not stay on task. I could not recognize things that needed doing (like, putting dishes in the dishwasher) and I had no patience at all. I was all impulse (well, not entirely all impulse. I managed to not piss anyone off at work, and so far as I know, I didn't piss anyone else off, either, so I was managing to keep a hold of my tongue pretty well).
So, Thursday, I called the doctor and said, um, no. This medicine will not work. And she said to stop taking it and we'd deal with the issue after the sleep study, although she attributed the brain fog to the pills making me excessively sleepy which can increase sleep apnea, which can contribute to fatigue or being overly tired. Um. No. It was definitely not exhaustion. And I know that because I stopped taking the pills and was almost entirely back to normal by Friday morning, 36 hours since I'd had the last dose. If it was exhaustion, I would not have been, because it would have taken more than one night's sleep to fix that issue. Particularly since I stayed up late Thursday watching the NFL Draft.
But being off my game all week totally screwed my routine. However! I pulled it back together. Thursday night, I did laundry and the dishes. I did more laundry last night and picked up (which did not take terribly long) as well as went grocery shopping (and mostly remembered to buy everything). Today, I took my mom out to brunch for Mother's Day, then we went shopping and I bought two new pairs of pants because my current pants are all too big (I'm at summer weight. The current pants will probably all fit again in November). Then, when I got home, I had lunch and then did the rest of the laundry, cleaned both bathrooms, put all the laundry away and vacuumed (including the futon). And I paid bills and updated the budget. So, now I'm pretty much back on track. I bought easy stuff to put together for lunches this week, so that will go well (I need the easy victory next week). I still have some baking to do for next week (I'm making pizza to add to the freezer and bread for next week), but I have some time to do that tonight and tomorrow yet.
I am not a failure, here.
So, right, I didn't talk about the sleep doctor. The doctor (well, actually she was a CNP) said that it's probable that I have sleep apnea, due to the structure of my jaw and soft palate and the fact that my sinuses are just plain fucked up. It's possible that I don't have actual sleep apnea, since I'm missing some of the common symptoms, but it's likely. She also said she was very comfortable with diagnosing me with restless legs syndrome even without the sleep study because of what I described to her (I have trouble being still, even before I go to bed, but my legs jerk and make me move to get comfortable for quite a long time before I actually fall asleep). However, she thinks it's possible that there may be some sort of additional movement disorder or REM sleep disorder, like maybe my muscles don't get paralyzed like they're supposed to when I dream or that I don't reach REM sleep the way I'm supposed to (this is less of a possibility, apparently, because I do definitely dream), so they're going to test for those possibilities along with the sleep apnea. She also definitively diagnosed me with insomnia, which isn't news, and it would be more suprising if I didn't have insomnia because of the ADHD. She suggested a couple of apps that help with relaxing and going to sleep, so I will probably try those. She also said that she was perfectly fine with me reading in bed so long as it wasn't on a screen (Kindle is fine, but my phone or laptop wouldn't be) and so long as I could manage to put the book down and not read until 3 am. It's not recommended for most people, but I have an over busy brain that needs something else to focus on, otherwise I wind up replaying my most traumatic moments when I'm trying to fall asleep. She said that was pretty common for people with ADHD.
So, sometime in the next couple of weeks (as soon as the sleep lab gets it together and calls me- they apparently just got my referral on Thursday), I'll spend a night hooked up to a bunch of machines. And then I'll go back and see her again at the end of June for the results. We did talk about options for taking care of the sleep apnea, and we're going to try a dental appliance first because I panic terribly when I have things over my nose and mouth and that's not really going to help matters. The appliance works in about 70-80% of cases, so chances are very good that will work. And hey, it might help my underbite, too. I don't know what we do about things if there's an REM sleep disorder, but that's a long shot anyway, so I'm not worrying about it right now.
She also prescribed me something for the RSL that I started taking last Friday. And it promptly totally fucked my brain. I was groggy, I couldn't make my fingers behave right when I was typing and I couldn't spell (that happens sometimes when I'm really out of it. I'm not dyslexic, but I do tend to mix up a couple of letters when I'm very tired and that, combined with the typing issue basically meant my spelling went to hell). And my ADHD just exploded. Everything was shiny. I could not stay on task. I could not recognize things that needed doing (like, putting dishes in the dishwasher) and I had no patience at all. I was all impulse (well, not entirely all impulse. I managed to not piss anyone off at work, and so far as I know, I didn't piss anyone else off, either, so I was managing to keep a hold of my tongue pretty well).
So, Thursday, I called the doctor and said, um, no. This medicine will not work. And she said to stop taking it and we'd deal with the issue after the sleep study, although she attributed the brain fog to the pills making me excessively sleepy which can increase sleep apnea, which can contribute to fatigue or being overly tired. Um. No. It was definitely not exhaustion. And I know that because I stopped taking the pills and was almost entirely back to normal by Friday morning, 36 hours since I'd had the last dose. If it was exhaustion, I would not have been, because it would have taken more than one night's sleep to fix that issue. Particularly since I stayed up late Thursday watching the NFL Draft.
But being off my game all week totally screwed my routine. However! I pulled it back together. Thursday night, I did laundry and the dishes. I did more laundry last night and picked up (which did not take terribly long) as well as went grocery shopping (and mostly remembered to buy everything). Today, I took my mom out to brunch for Mother's Day, then we went shopping and I bought two new pairs of pants because my current pants are all too big (I'm at summer weight. The current pants will probably all fit again in November). Then, when I got home, I had lunch and then did the rest of the laundry, cleaned both bathrooms, put all the laundry away and vacuumed (including the futon). And I paid bills and updated the budget. So, now I'm pretty much back on track. I bought easy stuff to put together for lunches this week, so that will go well (I need the easy victory next week). I still have some baking to do for next week (I'm making pizza to add to the freezer and bread for next week), but I have some time to do that tonight and tomorrow yet.
I am not a failure, here.