9.12.2009

giving insomnia a new meaning

Ambien is one weird drug. He takes 10mg, falls asleep, wakes up about an hour later, eventually goes back to sleep for a few more hours, then he's awake for good around 3:30-4:40. And that is a good night. Three nights last week he only slept maybe 3 hours a night. Some people can function like that, I probably could but eventually I would nap or get a really good sleep. He can never sleep for long periods and can't take a nap. The worst part is that this has gone on for 6 weeks straight! Bruce has always slept like a log and gotten at least 8 hours a night. It has caught up with him and he is just plain miserable. He almost fell asleep driving on Friday.

He has tried every drug and combination of drugs the doctor has suggested so far. Next week he is going to his primary to see what she thinks. I told him try to get Ambien CR. The other options I thought about : maybe be muscle relaxer or some natural supplements.

Bruce has worked for 3 weeks now, dialysis 3 nights a week, and seems to be going good. I feel in the dark about it because before on PD we had appointments with Nephrologist and our wonderful nurse Diane went over all of the blood results showing every level so you could see that he may be retaining too much fluid, having too high phosphorus, or whatever. Then you would at least have an explanation as to why he was having some bad symptoms and what they were going to do to fix it. Now, he can have days where he feels terrible and I never know why. He continues to get nauseous and throws up, usually in the mornings. I just don't quite get how people can be on dialysis for 10+ years and live normal lives? Bruce is just not able to live even a half-way normal life because you never know how he is going to feel from one minute to the next.

Baseball practice starts next week. The kids are really missing him being able to at least feel good enough to play around the house. I hate always having to make excuses for him or tell them they have to wait until he gets better to do things. Especially when that could be a very long time - even years.

3 comments:

  1. Hang in there! The boys will bounce back-that's what kids do. I certainly understand how you feel though. We've been hiding it for a while, but it's getting more noticable especially to Dayle. However, Garett is starting to catch on more lately.

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  2. Amy - also try those CDs that have different brain waves states embedded to help create relaxation. You should be able to get them from library. I've heard good things but I need to get set up with headphones that work worth a darn. Otherwise I have to lay in floor by stereo and can't find a time and place to do that in peace ;-) If it doesn't work then nothing lost. Try the series by Dr. Jefferey Thompson. I think there is one specifically designed for healing as well as the alpha ones for relaxation. If the doctors okay herbal tinctures or supplements let me know and I'll share my experience with them - maybe there's something there that will help. Dawn

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