Rhino Spray & the Joys of Allergies ...

Well apparently I will be taking nose spray (aka rhino spray) for the rest of my God-for-Saking life (no offense to the big G).  I was prescribed it (along with Allegra) for my allergies, abundance of ear fluid & constant post nasal drip (sexy, I know).  The nurse practitioner that gave me the prescription asked that I truly give the rhino spray a shot & really commit to it & I gave her my word I would, even though I hate the feeling of spraying anything up my nose-ughk!  She said that given enough time, it would help reduce the amount of fluid in my ears & the post nasal drip.  I should point out here that when she looked in my ears, she was actually shocked at the amount of fluid in them!  She then looked in my throat & said "Yup, post nasal drip" (not that she needed confirmation after seeing my ears).  Anyway, I have to admit I was hoping it wouldn't work so I didn't refill it along with my Allegra last week.  I also thought I had more left over in the bottle than I did.

At some point last week I had a conversation with my boyfriend about whether or not the medications were helping.  I said something to the effect of "I think so" & proceeded to tell him that I was hoping it was the Allegra that was helping not the rhino spray.  I believe he then just looked at me like I was nuts (he does that a lot).

The night before last I realized I'd pretty much used up all of said spray so last night I went without (obviously).  I didn't think too much of it & went to bed as normal.  I woke up at about 3 o'clock in the am with my ears draining, a stuffy & runny nose (yes, that's possible) & this nasty taste in my mouth, complimented with a lovely amount of phlegm/mucus which, of course irritated my throat thus causing me to have a sneezing fit.  Needless to say, I immediately thought:  Shit, the nose spray was working!

What's funny is that I had completely overlooked the fact that I wasn't waking up with that awfulness when I was taking the nose spray.  I knew I was sleeping better & that my ears weren't draining nearly as much but that's about it.

Needless to say, I promptly jumped online to have my script refilled & will be picking it up today.

I also need to pick up some brown hair color (my highlights were growing out & driving me nuts so I attempted to go blonde & it's more strawberry blonde - no likey!), finish my laundry, vacuum*, & get my run on.  I've actually already put in 15 miles since the beginning of the year!  I'm tracking my miles via the little tracker-thing-a-mabobber at the bottom of my blog.

Oh & I had a really vivid dream this morning right before waking up.  Yes, my sleeping patterns are still all f'd up even though I sleep sooooo much better since putting my allergies in check & exercising regularly.  Ok, so -  it involved my mom, our old house, ghosts, skeleton keys, enormous spider webs & a black widow spider.  Don't worry, no-one was hurt (well, except the black widow).

* I swear, I will never in my life be able to properly spell the word vacuum.  Thank you my dearest spell checker, than you!

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Early to bed, Early to rise .... & then some ...

Things have been going fairly well as of late with the slight exception of last night.  I wasn't feeling too well & I knew it was a result of not enough sleep over the past few days.  I decided to go to bed early to catch up on my sleep.  I'd made that decision earlier in the day & come the time I'd mentally set to accomplish this, I was oddly pretty close to wide awake at that point .. or should I say - my mind was  - my body - not so much.  You know the feeling, your body is tired but your mind is going a mile a minute ...

Regardless, I proceeded to kiss my boyfriend goodnight, grab my cat & trudge on towards our bed with a steadfast determination to hit the hay at an early hour.  Of course, I knew my mind was racing at that point (which often leads to ISP) so I left our hallway light on in the master suite for "comfort".  I know, I'm a 34 year old woman but the light makes me feel better damnit - shoosh!

Nonetheless, I must have had about 6 or 7 rolling cycles of SP (or RISP as read in an article today - also referenced on my blog - I'm too lazy to look up the reference but if you scroll down & read the article by Sirley you'll find it).

All of the cycles were memorable but the one that sticks in my head (& the one I shared with my other half) was the last one.



You see, because my mind was going a mile a minute (which is never good when you're trying to sleep) & I knew my boyfriend would soon (not sure when, but soon) be coming into the bedroom to go to sleep as well ... I was anticipating the possibility of being woken up.  Doesn't sound like a big deal right?  Well, when you have RISP it is a big deal because it can add to the anxiety involved in the simple procedure of falling asleep.

Ok, I got a bit off track.  Nonetheless, so ... the one that sticks in my head went like this:  I "woke up" & sensed that my boyfriend wasn't in the bed with me because I saw the light was still on, so my natural instinct was to see what time it was.  Now, I have my Blackberry set to turn off at 2am & restart at 7am so I anticipated having to turn it back on to check the time (I was assuming it was after 2-obviously).  So, I "reached" for my blackberry with this in mind only to find that although I was sending the signals to brain to perform this easy/normal-every day task - it wasn't happening.  I looked down at my arm only to see it not moving.  I thought to myself, "self, it's ok, you're just stuck, stare at the light & you'll wake up".  I did this to no avail.  I then thought, "ok, move your big toe" - I know - sounds like the "Kill Bill" movies but, darn it - it worked & poof, my toe moved, cracked & I woke up.

It was quite refreshing yet disturbing.  I was upset that I'd been going through RISP episodes for over 2 hours - around 2-1/2 to be exact but at the same time I was happy that I'd come out of a pretty harmless episode of your standard SP with complete ease.  How did I manage that?  I'm not entirely sure but I'll tell you this.  I refused to even get scared, I simply accepted what was happening & found a solution/a way to make it stop.  That's it.  Whether or not that will happen from now on remains to be seen & quite frankly I'm a bit doubtful.  There are so many instances where it seems I am in no control whatsoever & at the mercy of "someone" else.  I'd like to be hopeful, but it's difficult when I compare this instance and the few other good instances to the amount of bad instances I've had.  Unfortunately, the few are few & far between ...

I'd also like to point out that my other RISP's included a number of the different symptoms associated with SP however never all of them at the same time.  To be more specific, & to give another example, I completely "hallucinated" that my boyfriend had opened the door, walked into the bedroom & then into the bathroom at one point.  I then woke up & it had not happened.  I was a little baffled because it seemed so real but at the same time, part of me knew it wasn't real.  I also heard loud explosions, doors opening, voices etc .. all while I was going "in & out of sleep". 

Anyway, so much for me catching up on my sleep last night but ... I will say, as bad as it was - I did at least get to lay down for a few extra hours last night & I woke up refreshed so - I'll take it any way I can get it :-)

Sleep well!

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Interesting dream last night

Ok, technically it's last night but , well, it's really late so .. it was my last dream so is it really the night before last?  Regardless, I had an (among others) very vivid dream.  It was really strange, as if I wasn't really the person in "said dream" but as if I was the actor in what appeared to be a taping of a movie (no, not that kind!). 

Anyway, I could see through the eyes of the actress & at times felt as if I "were" the actress (insert "Being John Malkovich") ... very, odd.  I could feel what the other actor was feeling (in this case Robert Downey Jr.) & felt a very close connection to him as well.  The dream progressed, taking place in a green room/office environment until the very end when gunshots sprang loose.  Upon this .... my alarm went off & I awoke.

Another instance showing that i am experiencing REM at times when I should be in a different sleep stage.

None-the-less, an enjoyable & interresting dream experience :-)

Time for bed now - (& then some)

Sleep well all
~ Jayequeue 

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St. John's Wort, Narcolepsy & me

Well, I up & decided to try some St. John's Wort to help me sleep & it turns out that it did help me sleep but ... it also made me incredibly groggy the next day. I did research it first & found that the grogginess doesn't typically go away so I'm thinking it will need to be something saved for use only on weekends. I will say though, I did sleep really well & even fell asleep fairly quickly without as much anxiety as usual so that's good. The other thing I noticed is that I spent a lot of time in REM (more than usual & I usually spend a LOT of time in REM) which is not good ..

I've also been researching narcolepsy as of late & I'm finding HUGE similarities between my symptoms & narcolepsy. I also found out that although we all associate people falling asleep in the middle of conversations with narcolepsy, that assumption is incorrect. A symptom of narcolepsy - cataplexy is what causes sudden REM (falling asleep) & not everyone has that symptom!

Other symptoms of narcolepsy include:

• excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS)
• sleep paralysis (SP)
• hallucinations (hypnagogic & hypnopompic) (HH)
• cataplexy (C)

You'll notice that SP & HH are listed separately.  In researching, that is how I found the symptoms presented.  At first I thought that seemed odd, but as we all know - people can have SP & not have HH. 

Now, remember, you can have narcolepsy & not have all the symptoms listed above.  I even found a forum for narcoleptics & there were several posters that label themselves PWN w/o C (Person with narcolepsy without cataplexy).  The majority of the narcoleptics on the site had been tested at sleep centers & diagnosed by doctors (some even neurologists since it is considered a neurological disease).

Another interesting fact I came across is the reference to "hypocretin".  Hypocretin is the chemical in the brain that is thought to control sleep & awake signals.  Per the Harvard Medical School Guide to a Good Night's Sleep by Lawrence J. Epstein MD w/Steven Mardon, hypocretin is thought to regulate when wakefulness & sleep occur.  They refer to Dr. Clifford Saper of Harvard Medical School, a researcher that studied narcolepsy, describing this process as a "flip-switch".  The go on to state that hypocretin appears to be involved in when the flip between states occurs, as well as keeping you in that state. The belief is that when there is little or no hypocretin, people will (of course) flip between sleep & wakefulness frequently thus, causing muscle paralysis & dreaming to occur during wakefulness.  I found that a great deal of the book is available for reading via Google books (great site!) so I encourage everyone to check it out!

I also found a lot of material that refers to SP as being a result of REM occurring first rather than gradually going through the normal sleep stages (beginning with light sleep).  This makes complete sense to me because it happens every time I go to sleep.  The unfortunate instance is when that occurs before I actually fall asleep (SP), which it sooo often does (arg!).  That's when my (ever so wonderful) cycle of jerking myself up once I start to dream while not completely in a sleep state begins (along with my anxiety).  I found a lot of posters on the narcolepsy board stating this happens to them as well & it's actually part of the testing required to diagnose narcolepsy.  Narcoleptics hit REM much more quickly than "normal" people & spend more time in the REM state than other "normal" people as well.  Often, switching sporadically between REM & other stages throughout their sleep time.  (I wish I was one of those "normal" people ... lol).

Anyway, I hope everyone finds this information as helpful as I did.  Unfortunately, the only way to know for sure whether I just have ISP (or RSP) or something more (like narcolepsy) would be to get sleep testing done at a sleep center ... which I can't afford ... but, judging by my symptoms & the amount of time I spend in REM I would say it may just be a obvious that I do in fact have narcolepsy.  If only I were a doctor ...

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New website that is of great interest to me!

I just came across this webiste that's of great interest to me:  The Conscious Dreamer By Sirley Marques Bonham .  I haven't explored it in it's entirety & in fact literally - I just stumbled upon it searching "isolated sleep paralysis" via google.  The reason I find this to be of extreme interest is because I am ever-so-often pulled into what she calls "recurrent isolated sleep paralysis", which I call rolling cyclyes or the like.  Regardless, one-in-the-same.

Check it out & check her site out (as I will continue to do) & I'm sure we'll all find it of interest :-)

Sleep well!
~ Jayequeue

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Christmas SP

I thought I'd share an older episode of SP. This happened back when I was about 19-20 years old (I'm now 34).

It was around christmas time & I had gone to bed. At the time where I was living I was sleeping on a sofa bed in the living room because my bedroom didn't have working heat. The christmas tree was (of course) in the living room as well & the lights were on.

I was sleeping as normal as can be until I felt as though I woke up, but couldn't fully open my eyes. Try as I did, all I could manage to do was every-so-slightly open my eyes. I recall seeing the lights on the christmas tree through my (maybe) half-open eyes. I know my eyes were not fully open because I could see my eyelashes in the way of my vision of the tree. At first I didn't realize what was obstructing my vision, but then realized the obstruction was actually several feathery obstructions & that's when I figured it out. I tried & tried to open my eyes, to no avail. I eventually just fell back to sleep. There was no evil presence & I don't recall any feeling of my body being paralyzed. I think I was more concerned with the annoyance of not being able to open my eyes fully.

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The Dream World of Jayeque

Wow, talk about strange dreams ... last night I had 3 consecutive dreams that all intermingled into one another.  The first one contained my boyfriend & I & involved work.  Now, I say the dreams intermingled into one another because they all took place at our house although it wasn't our current place & it was a house I'd never seen before.  I can vividly remember the layout although I couldn't tell you what the outside of it looked like.  I had a certain feeling that it was a house though - not a condo (which we live in now).

In the 2nd one, he & I were actually another couple (living in the same house).  Am I the only one that dreams they're someone else?  It always makes me wonder if I'm actually in someone else's dream & who on earth are these flipping people? 

Anyway, the 3rd one which was also took place in the same house was more SP related.  I woke up & was partly myself & partly still this other woman (don't ask me to explain that-I don't think I could) & I was trying to get out of bed but could barely move.  I felt incredibly heavy and couldn't open my eyes all the way (hence this one being SP related).  I managed to get out of bed & for whatever reason thought that if I could get my glasses then I would be able to open my eyes all the way & see again.  Eventually, I managed to locate my glasses, all the while dragging this dead weight of a body around (that's exactly how it felt - like it wasn't my body but this dead weight) & barely being able to see.  I put my glasses on but they (of course) didn't help.  Then I woke up (for real & it was morning).

Um & don't forget to take part in my (ever so lonely) poll over on the left hand side!  Scroll down if you don't see it :-)

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Finally happy with my page!

Well after quite a bit of hunting & a lot of tweaking I'm finally happy with my page - VERY happy with it actually!  I do still need to add a stat counter but that's something I can do at any time (once I find one I like).

And, on the subject of SP - no episodes for the most part this week.  I did however have a very strange and vivid dream last night ... I was working in an office and looking at my emails with 2 female co-workers (who they were is beyond me but I sure knew them in my dream!).  I had received one of those "chain emails" from what apparently was another co-worker named "Rachel McAdams" ... We were all kind of snickering about her for some reason as if we all disliked the girl for some reason.  Anyway, I woke-up right after this dream & due to the vividness of it I kept repeating the name over in my head because I wanted to remember it.  I have no idea where the name came from & it just struck me as incredibly odd.

Ok, well ... that's all for now.  Remember, if you have any SP experiences you want to share -- PLEASE share them & don't forget to take part in my poll (in the upper left hand corner).

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