Sominotsuchagoodidea?

[elSicomoro]

The Sycamore admits that he has a sleeping problem. I love working early hours, yet I am a night owl, so I wind up getting anywhere from 3-6 hours of sleep per night. I've recently begun trying to get to bed earlier, but then I just lay there for an hour or more before I finally fall asleep. I don't drink any caffeine after noon time, and try to avoid any sugars or carbs after dinner.

So, I decided to try something new. I have never taken sleeping pills before, so I went to Acme to peruse the selection. Almost all of them have the same active ingredient, and I don't have a known allergy to it, so I picked up a box of Sominex. My understanding is that you have to allow yourself a good night's rest before you take one (i.e. 7-8 hours). I didn't take it until 11pm Tuesday (allowing myself just over 6 hours of sleep), but I figured the worst case scenario would be that I would oversleep and just be late for work. Not a major deal.

I took the pill, and it seemed to work rather quickly, in that I felt tired. Good. So, I settled into bed at 11:30. But then...I lay there...and lay there...and lay there...for at least an hour. Our house was cool (about 70 degrees), yet I was profusely sweating. I was worried that I was having a bad reaction to the pill, but then I fell asleep.

I woke up at my normal time (6:05am) and felt like absolute hell. I would open my eyes and feel incredibly heavy, yet numb. I would close my eyes and feel like I was floating. I was also developing a mild headache that I did not think was caffeine-related (as I consume a standard amount of caffeine each day). I didn't want to call off work, so I got dressed and made my way to work, trying not to fall asleep on the bus or subway.

By the time I started work at 8:30, I felt like I was stoned. My head felt incredibly heavy, the numbers on my work pages seemed to be moving around, and it was hard for me to compose my Cellar postings. I tried to eat a couple of pop tarts in the hopes that I would feel a bit better...no go. I ate lunch at 1 and still felt horrible. Finally, it became unbearable at 1:45 and I came home.

The whole time I was on the subway and bus, I was sweating profusely and felt clammy, even though the A/C was on full-blast. I suspected that I might have a sinus headache (since our weather did a 180 from Tuesday), but this was unlike any other pain I have ever had in my head. There was a moment where it hurt too much to talk, and I felt like my head was shrinking in on my brain. Finally, I fell asleep just before 4.

When I woke up just before 6, I felt incredibly better. No more headache or loopiness...back to normalcy. But the whole thing scared the living shit out of me. I was honestly afraid that I might die Tuesday, and kept praying to God to let me wake up.

I'm not sure what the hell happened here. Diphenhydramine Hydrochloride (the main ingredient in sominex, unisom, etc.) is an antihistamine that is supposed to dry you out and help you sleep. It's also the same ingredient in Benadryl, and I take that frequently for allergies, though not recently. But I've never had a bad side effect from taking it before. It could have been my allergies or even food poisoning, but this...this was completely different.

In any event, I'm just glad that I feel 900% better. All the more reason for me to find a permanent job, get health insurance, and see a doctor.