Im No Sleeping Beauty

So, I just took my wonderful little pill and there is a good chance that I may see some glowing butterflies by the end of the night. That is, I took a white pill that goes by the name of Lunesta. So, if this blog goes horribly awry, it may be due to the fact that I am falling asleep an incoherent. Ill do my best to avoid that though.

Recently, the subject of sleeping pills came up at work. I am pretty willing to put it out there. I am not a sleeper. I dont know why, but I can wake up extremely tired, remain tired for the entirety of the day...and the second that the clock hits 9 pm...I am WIDE awake and ready to go. I dont know if there is a term for this, but I am definitely a night person. I dont know how this happened or why this is, but its just how I am.

Due to this, I have trouble falling asleep at night. I could lay in bed for hours upon hours staring at the ceiling, watching choreography as I stare into my eyelids, or manipulating events in my life to my liking or disliking. I dont know why I do this, but it keeps me wide awake. Because I like to stay wide awake when I really should be (and need to be) asleep, I often feel the need to take something to put me to sleep. Because of this, over the past few years I have attempted many different sleeping aids and had some success with some and am moderately skeptical about others.

Sleeping Aides that I have taken:

Tylenol PM: I usually go for the "PM" part of tylenol PM because I value my liver. Ive come to learn that it is really nothing other than benadryl. This stuff works. When I was going through a break up years ago, I would take it every night. Eventually, I had to up my dosage to 3 pills to go to sleep, but after a couple tries of that, I determined that I have bigger issues than sleep if Im taking three. So, I stopped taking tylenol pm. Now, I only take it here or there because although it helps me sleep, it really isnt worth the horrible hangover you have int he morning. Think...suicidal thoughts when you wake up...only because you want to go back to sleep. Try taking a full on ballet class with a tylenol PM hangover. BAD NEWS! Nonetheless, I give Tylenol PM 3 stars

Ambien: I was prescribed Ambien when I had mono. Seems like an oxymoron almost. Unfortunately for me, mono only exhausted my body. It didnt exhaust my mind. I had never been physically inactive for more than 2 weeks at any point in my life before the age of 2. When I found myself laying on the couch for over a month, my mind went crazy and I started getting relatively no sleep. I would go to sleep around 5 am and wake up around 9 am. In my misery, I went to the doctor and asked for help. They gave me Ambien and Ambien gave me hallucinations. I was sitting at my computer the first time I took it and thought all of a sudden that my instant message letters were floating on clouds. I also kept having to turn from my desk to make sure that there wasnt a balcony of people watching me from above (almost Harry Potter Jury style). Ambien was fun, but it didnt let me sleep. I may have been too fascinated with the halluciations to sleep. I rate ambien a 1 for usefulness and 4 for fun...well...drowsy fun

Lunesta: This drug is the one that I am currently beginning to feel the effects of. My doctor prescribed me this because he thinks that I get sick often because I am such a physically active person and almost never get more than 7 hours of sleep a night. He gave this to me and told me to make sure I get eight hours of sleep (that means to bed by 1245 am). Lunesta is pretty good. It does its job. I want to run for the bed the second it starts kicking in. The odd thing about this medication is that it alters anything you eat or drink after it starts kicking in. Altogether, though, I would give ambien a strong 4 for effectiveness. This one can also give you a bit of a hangover in the morning, but it doesnt compare to the Tylenol PM hangover

Cyclobenzaprene: Well, this isnt really a sleeping pill. Its a muscle relaxer. When I hurt my back in November, my Dr. prescribed me this to help with muscle spasms. If you want the deepest sleep that leaves you feeling like you are falling through the springs in your mattress...this is for you. This medication makes you feel super depressed and bitchy if you try to stay away, but if you give in to the medication and go to sleep, it can be quite enjoyable. The only thing about this is, being a dancer, I wouldnt take this for anything but muscle pain and I would never use it within 12 hours of having to dance because it can make your muscles feel kind of weak the next day. So, I give this one a 5 for sleep, but a 1 for usability. not really a sleep aid I guess, just could be used for sleep.

Xanax: I am not depressed, nor am I anxious. Ive never been given a prescription for xanax, but I have been given some when I was having trouble sleeping. Xanax is perfect for a really long plane trip where you wont have any responsibilities. This stuff is HARDCORE. I took 1/4 of a normal 2 gram pill. And when I got off the couch next, I stumbled into my bedroom worse than a drunk. If you dont get 8-10 hours of sleep, you will be non functional in the morning, but if you do get that sleep, you feel great the next day. So for the xanax - functionality - 5, usefulness - 5, my wanting to take it - negative 5. I dont know why, but I have no want to use xanax to sleep

Valerian: My dr suggested I get this to help me sleep. It is a natural root that is said to have calming properties. It is not a sleep aid, but it has anti anxiety properties in it. Considering that a lot of people tell me that I seem pretty anxious all the time, I think it really was just a hint from my dr. to calm down. So, I tried this stuff, it tastes like shit. You use droppers to mix it with water. Its calming, but it wont put me to sleep. My rating for this natural supplement is pretty much a 1 in sleep effectiveess.

Vicodin: Vicodin (often given as cough syrup when Im sick) can help calm me a bit to go to sleep. It doesnt necessarily make me tired, but it helps calm me to go to sleep. There is a fine line here though. If you take too little, I wont get sleepy, and if I take too much, I get closed eyed paranoid vivid dreams. The vivid dreams end up keeping me awake because they scare me so. So, I try to not take vicodin unless I actually do have a cough. So, I rate vicodin at a 3.

Melatonin: Lastly, is melatonin. This stuff is either really effective or really not. What it does is it resets the brain. It make the brain think that when it is dark outside you should be sleeping. So, if you took this at anytime during the day, you would probably be really disoriented and depressed. So, I take melatonin whenever I travel.I take it sometimes at night to help me fall asleep. But, what Ive noticed is that it only works foa few days, then I seem to develop a tolerance. Also, there are moments when I get hangovers from melatonin, again not as bad as tylenol PM. I would rate melatonin a 3.

As always, everybody has an extremely strong opinion where I work. I felt really judged by people at one point, telling me what I should and shouldnt take. I understand where they are coming from, but its my decision to make. It just makes me question if its ok that I take sleeping pills about 2 or 3 times a week (I actually do attempt to sleep naturally a couple days a week). I know it would be best for me to sleep naturally every night, but is it really so bad for me to get a good nights rest chemically so that my body can rest and regenerate and so my immune system can build up? I wish I was one of those people that can just lay in bed and fall asleep (ie any guy Ive ever dated or been roommates with). Oh well. Im starting to fade, so Im off!