Not really asleep...

Since I was young I have talked and walked in my sleep. My earliest memories were of waking up in the living room and being talked to by my family, but not knowing why I was there. I don't remember any episodes while I was a teenager, but when I got married my (ex)husband told me that I mumbled a lot in my sleep. He said he never could understand what I was saying, though. And my son has told me numerous times that I talk so loudly in my sleep that he can hear me in his bedroom. I know it's true because I wake myself up several times a night and I am right in the middle of a sentence. Trey's girlfriend told me that one time when I was sleeping on the sofa and they were watching a movie I started talking about Christmas, and when Teri and I went to Nebraska she said that I talked all through the night. She couldn't remember what I was saying but she said I talked in a calm voice just like I was carrying on a conversation with someone. Ha ha. Very funny.

Yes I know I have sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome AND I snore rather loudly I've been told. In fact, when my dear friend, Martha was in the hospital I volunteered to sit with her one night. Evidently I kept her awake all night with my snoring. I was MORTIFIED! She thought it was very funny and she told everyone about it.

I had two sleep studies done several years ago and I have a CPAP machine (I think that's such a sexy look on me, don't you agree?) that I'm supposed to be using every night. I don't, though, because every time I put it on I wake up and it's off. I don't have any memories of what may have happened but I'm guessing I just sat up and took the thing off and turned off the machine. It had to be that because if it comes off of my face an alarm sounds on the machine. The alarm has never sounded and awakened me. I guess I'm due for another sleep study.

The sleepwalking scares me sometimes, because it appears that the only thing I haven't done while asleep is DRIVE, but I can't even say that because I have narcolepsy and fall asleep at strange times, even while driving a few times. Yes, it scared me silly so if I am starting to get that feeling, I stop the car and make someone else in the car drive.

I have gotten up at night and cooked food, brought juice to my bedroom, only to spill it all over the wall, my quilt, and my carpet, eaten whole packs of crackers or an entire bag of cheez-its. I have no memory of any of it, but the evidence is there for me in the morning. It's quite puzzling.

The guy that I am dating has called me many times and I've answered the phone and talked to him, but been totally asleep. One of my doctors called me one day and we had a whole conversation while I was asleep. The only way I knew he called was that he told me, and when I got home I checked the caller ID and his number was on there.

But some of the sleep talking episodes are sort of funny, like the other night, when Eddie was here we were watching The Biggest Loser on tv. Evidently I fell asleep because I woke up saying, "You just picked your nose! I SAW YOU!" He turned to me and said, "What in the hell are you talking about?" I realized what I had done so I just said, "Never mind." It seems that I have to say that a lot lately because some of what comes out of my mouth just when I am waking up is so stupid and I have no idea what makes me do it!

I guess it's good that I'm still single. I'd probably drive anyone nuts if they had to sleep with me every night!

What to write...

Since both sisters are going to be writing more I feel the need to join them, but where to begin? I have not been to the pool since I last wrote. It was just too traumatic, both for me AND for the ones who had to watch! I still have 5 visits left on my card, though, so I have to use them. Maybe in February.

For some reason I just thought of my last visit with the pain doctor. He actually made me take a drug test! I've been taking the same medication for about 4 years and have never asked for more, or for something different except for when the migraines began. That time I had to call him and beg for something because I was on day 2 of a miserable pain I could not get rid of. He called in Imitrex and referred me back to the neurologist I saw a few years ago, who diagnosed me with migraines.

Anyway, I guess because I have joked about 'medicinal marijuana' for so long, I sort of panicked when I heard I had to do a drug test. My first thought was 'WOW, I'm SO GLAD I haven't smoked pot lately!' For those of you who know me now I must confess that I smoked a big fat one a time or two in my youth. Not often, but yes I did burn one every how and then. But I have not touched the stuff in 23 (?) years, which made my thoughts at the pain doctor's office odd. I suppose I've joked about pot for pain so much I almost was worried that I might not pass the drug test. Now how silly is that? Even if it was legalized in the state of Georgia I don't think I would do it, simply because I think the action of smoking it would make me want to smoke cigarettes again. That is something I NEVER want to do again.

I quit smoking on October 11, 2001. Yes, this was one month after the terrorist attacks on 9/11. I, like most of the world, was so stunned by everything that was happening and my lack of ability to control it that I actually thought I was going to have a heart attack. I was glued to the tv for days, watching the planes crash into the World Trade Center buildings over and over and I began having panic attacks. So I decided to quit smoking. I'd been smoking since high school (you do the math) and it was very hard to quit, but I had my last smoke at 10:30pm on that night in October. I have not touched another one since. Not a single time, which is probably good for my pocket since cigarettes cost nearly $5 a pack now (they cost almost $2 a pack when I quit). I smoke LOTS in my dreams. Not sure why. I'm just glad I quit in real life. When my pain is really bad, though, I do sometimes wonder if smoking marijuana might just do the trick. Shocking, huh?