What do you do when you've tried all the recommended actions by the experts in sleep and you're still awake - and getting more irritable by the second - hours after going to bed?
There are all sorts of suggestions out there from drinking warm milk to getting up and doing something different for ten minutes. Both of those are out for me. Milk tends to make my IBS symptoms flare up, while getting up and moving around is out for obvious reasons.
Tonight I opted to stay in the riser chair again. My husband has a bad cold which, when mixed with asthma, does not make for an easy night's sleep for him. I figured it was my turn to look after him and the best thing I could give him was some peace for the night.
The chair is easily as comfortable as the bed, as it is piled in pillows and blankets. Sleep, however, is choosing to evade me. I'd chase the bugger down and kick it's arse if that was possible. It isn't, so I've made do with reading, catching up with online gossip, listening to music with the hope of falling asleep. I also tried listening to an audiobook with the hopes of falling asleep. It's almost 7am and I am still awake. Tired, a wee bit irritable, but still awake.
I've read dozens of blog posts and advice columns telling me to lie in a certain direction and relax before bed-time. Been there, done that and it still isn't helping! Right now I would give a less favoured body part to be able to sleep, so if anyone out in planet blog has any unusual suggestions that I may not have tried before, please contact me.
Friday 12 January 2018
Saturday 13 May 2017
Insomnia and riser chairs
Once again I have had another night without sleep; it shows.
I promise you that I did try to smile, it just didn't quite work out as my mouth refused to co-operate.
As those who know me well can guess from this photograph, I was not able to make the trek the thirty feet or so from the living room to the bed room. Despite the amazing riser chair that a friend of my mom's kindly gave me for free, my body refused to co-operate with the planned long-distance hike. I have spent the night playing with the chair control going from almost horizontal to almost vertical. While this was great fun, it didn't really accomplish much other than make me giggle.
Yes, I have a lot of medical issues that have a big impact on my life, but here is one thing that can kick your butt whether you are healthy or, like me, have conditions such as fibromyalgia, ME/CFS, Lupus etc: Insomnia. Okay, yes, it is going to have a far worse impact on someone like me who already has severe fatigue to deal with, but it isn't pleasant for anyone.
It is difficult to get accurate figures on just how widespread insomnia is, though a recent survey by Dreams found that almost one third of the over 15,000 respondents said that they never woke feeling refreshed. Almost two thirds felt that they weren't getting enough sleep. That is a heck of a lot of people waking up feeling tired.
There are things that various sleep researchers over the years have suggested, for example:
In the here and now, I just hope that you managed to get a decent night's sleep and are ready to have a good Sunday. I am going to head back to Duolingo and see if I can mess up some more German phrases because my talk to type programme doesn't understand how to spell some of the more interesting words. Have fun - and for my fellow insomniacs, I wish you a good day with people who understand you are feeling tetchy and know not to do anything likely to incur your wrath.
I promise you that I did try to smile, it just didn't quite work out as my mouth refused to co-operate.
As those who know me well can guess from this photograph, I was not able to make the trek the thirty feet or so from the living room to the bed room. Despite the amazing riser chair that a friend of my mom's kindly gave me for free, my body refused to co-operate with the planned long-distance hike. I have spent the night playing with the chair control going from almost horizontal to almost vertical. While this was great fun, it didn't really accomplish much other than make me giggle.
Yes, I have a lot of medical issues that have a big impact on my life, but here is one thing that can kick your butt whether you are healthy or, like me, have conditions such as fibromyalgia, ME/CFS, Lupus etc: Insomnia. Okay, yes, it is going to have a far worse impact on someone like me who already has severe fatigue to deal with, but it isn't pleasant for anyone.
It is difficult to get accurate figures on just how widespread insomnia is, though a recent survey by Dreams found that almost one third of the over 15,000 respondents said that they never woke feeling refreshed. Almost two thirds felt that they weren't getting enough sleep. That is a heck of a lot of people waking up feeling tired.
There are things that various sleep researchers over the years have suggested, for example:
- Keep the bedroom for sleeping and sex - remove the tv and keep the computer out of the room.
- Do something relaxing prior to sleep - so that means no horror movies likely to haunt your dreams, folks.
- Lights are best kept off as your body responds to the dark by producing melatonin to stimulate the pineal gland and send you off to night-night land.
- Don't eat or drink anything stimulating for several hours prior to bed - that means caffeine is out for all those coffee lovers out there.
In the here and now, I just hope that you managed to get a decent night's sleep and are ready to have a good Sunday. I am going to head back to Duolingo and see if I can mess up some more German phrases because my talk to type programme doesn't understand how to spell some of the more interesting words. Have fun - and for my fellow insomniacs, I wish you a good day with people who understand you are feeling tetchy and know not to do anything likely to incur your wrath.
Monday 14 November 2016
Ancestors, invasions and conquest of nations
With everything that has been going on in recent months and
all the anger that has been stirred up against different cultures, it got me
thinking about the history of this little island we call Britain. Specifically,
I've been thinking about all the "white America" and "proper
British" comments that I've been seeing all over the internet. Now, I'm
fortunate in that my friends and my husband do not think that way; the people
that I love are almost all very inclusive in the way they view the world. There
are, of course, those who are not and because I love them for many other
reasons and don't want to lose them from my life, I try not to argue too much
with them. Sometimes that is damn hard!
What I wanted to point out is that if land can belong to
anyone - and I'm not convinced that any species "owns" land - then
clearly America could be said to truly belong to the indigenous people who
remain. If you look at things a little differently and say that length of inhabitancy
means that a culture or race owns land then the African-American population has
a pretty good claim. I know, I know, people are going to jump in and say that Caucasians
were on that land mass now known as the USA first, as they were the ones in
charge of slavery (yes, I am aware that African tribes participated in
capturing and selling people from other tribes to European slave traders). Yes,
you're right, there were some Caucasians there before Africans taken as slaves
arrived. However if you take the mean date of arrival of ancestors of
African-Americans and Caucasian Americans, then African-Americans have been
there longer. Before people start jumping up and down and saying that their
ancestor arrived very early on, I want to just reiterate that I did say the
"mean date of arrival of...ancestors" not the date of arrival of one
particular individual's ancestors.
It isn't just America that has a mixed history and one that
includes invasion and destruction of the oldest cultures to be living on the
land. Britain has been invaded and conquered more times than people realise. I
suspect that many people know about the Roman invasion, settlement or conquest,
but forget about the rest. Off the top of my head - and sticking to the past
two millennia only - I can think of the Romans, the Jutes, Angles, Saxons,
numerous Viking raids and settlements, the Normans, Danish invasion, numerous
Irish raids on coastal towns and the French invasion of 1797. There are
undoubtedly more and in all honesty I haven't slept for a couple of days at
this point so I don't have sufficient brains to dig through all my academic
books to give dates and facts relating to specific incidents.
My point really is that I don't understand what people mean
when they say that they are "pure British (or English, Welsh,
Scottish)". We've been invaded far too many times for any such thing to
exist, even if it did mean something. Do people mean that their ancestors have
been here for a couple of hundred years, or longer? I wonder if those people
realise that all sorts of people with all tones of skin colour have been living
on this land for hundreds of years too - and like in America's case, maybe even
longer than their own ancestors. I remember reading a section of one of my
course books, during my history degree, where it was mentioned that Queen
Elizabeth I had complained about the number of black people living in London.
She died in 1603; large scale trans-Atlantic slave trade began in 1509 with the
Portuguese, though strictly speaking slavery was not allowed on British shores despite existing
throughout the Empire. There also exists the strong possibility that sailors of
various racial backgrounds where already living in Britain prior to that. Just
how long do the angry people think someone's ancestors have to be living
somewhere before the modern day descendant is "British" or "American"?
There was mass immigration in Britain in the 1960s and that did cause a lot of
anger at the time, but come on people, it's hardly the first time that large
groups of new people have come to live on these shores. Even from then, we are
now several generations down the line.
I saw a wonderful little video clip the other day where a
group of people who were proud of their heritage - nothing wrong with that -
but also had a little prejudice towards some other culture, took a DNA test
that traced their ancestry. One that I found particularly poignant was a
Kurdish woman finding out that not only did she have some Iraqi ancestors, but
that there was actually a cousin of hers in the room who was Iraqi. The shocked
expressions on the faces of those who took part and the wonderful mix of
ancestors in the DNA was really touching to watch. If I had the money, it is
something that I would definitely do and would encourage anyone to give it a
go.
Wednesday 25 November 2015
Interesting appointment
I had an interesting week last week, following my visit to the GP a couple of weeks ago. He referred me back to Neurology because the hypersensitivity and muscular jerking have become worse over the past year or two. Although there is some jerking on the left, it is much worse on the right, which is where the hypersensitivity seems to be confined to.
Last time I saw the Neurologist was a couple of years ago, when I had MRI scans and was referred to a Speech Therapist. As nothing significant showed up in any of the tests that were done, things were left there, which is exactly what should have happened. There were two relatively minor things that showed up tests. The first was elevated levels on the ESR test. This is a non-specific indicator of inflammation, that has been consistently high for the past eleven years at least. It is a lot lower than it was back then, which I count as a good thing. The second was a minor blip in the right-hand cerebral cortex. Nothing particularly significant at all. I have had blips show up in CT and/or MRI scans in the past that have later vanished. I did get to see what my brain looks like on an MRI scan though, something which I found fascinating.
Given that things have gotten worse, the neurologist wants to double-check things and see whether there is anything obvious going on. I was meant to have an MRI scan on Monday, but due to a voice-stealing cold I wasn't well enough to go, so have an appointment on Friday instead. He also mentioned nerve conductivity tests on all limbs, which I am not keen on as a lot of the time even the lightest touch on my skin is painful. He's suggested a couple of other tests and asked me if I wanted to try some physio, but was cautious because of my pain levels.
I figure that I am confident enough to tell a physio if they try to push too hard, so I told my neurologist that I was gobby enough to deal with an over-enthusiastic physio and that I would try anything that may help. With any luck the next twelve months will see an improvement.
Last time I saw the Neurologist was a couple of years ago, when I had MRI scans and was referred to a Speech Therapist. As nothing significant showed up in any of the tests that were done, things were left there, which is exactly what should have happened. There were two relatively minor things that showed up tests. The first was elevated levels on the ESR test. This is a non-specific indicator of inflammation, that has been consistently high for the past eleven years at least. It is a lot lower than it was back then, which I count as a good thing. The second was a minor blip in the right-hand cerebral cortex. Nothing particularly significant at all. I have had blips show up in CT and/or MRI scans in the past that have later vanished. I did get to see what my brain looks like on an MRI scan though, something which I found fascinating.
Given that things have gotten worse, the neurologist wants to double-check things and see whether there is anything obvious going on. I was meant to have an MRI scan on Monday, but due to a voice-stealing cold I wasn't well enough to go, so have an appointment on Friday instead. He also mentioned nerve conductivity tests on all limbs, which I am not keen on as a lot of the time even the lightest touch on my skin is painful. He's suggested a couple of other tests and asked me if I wanted to try some physio, but was cautious because of my pain levels.
I figure that I am confident enough to tell a physio if they try to push too hard, so I told my neurologist that I was gobby enough to deal with an over-enthusiastic physio and that I would try anything that may help. With any luck the next twelve months will see an improvement.
Sunday 15 November 2015
Let's put the focus where it should be
There have been terrorist attacks in the West Bank, Somalia, Israel, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Chad, Cameroon, Italy and France so far this month.
In the first 12 days of November there were 84 people killed in some form of terrorist attacks around the world. On the 13th November a further 150 people were killed in Mount Hebron, Baghdad and Paris. A further 704 people were injured across a total of 21 - yes 21 (!) - attacks in the first thirteen days of this month. Those figures do not include the perpetrators in those heinous events, because I don't think that they are where the focus should be.
I grew up during the era of the IRA's campaign of terror. Born some ten months before the awful Birmingham pub bombs which exploded on 21st November 1974, I grew up less than twenty miles away. The fact that there were often reports involving IRA activity on the news meant that I and most of my friends grew up with a rather blase attitude towards the ongoing threat. I don't mean that we were any less disgusted or angry at the punishment beatings, kidnappings, bombs, murders and intimidation that the IRA routinely dished out both on mainland Britain and in Northern Ireland. What I mean is that it was simply a fact of life; you cannot go through life in a heightened state of fear, our bodies and minds don't do that when something is there all the time.
One thing that I still feel angry about is that there always seemed to be so much focus on the perpetrators and so little on the victims. How many people from my generation and older can actually remember the name of even one victim? Sure, there were a few well known victims, such as Lord Mountbatten, but on the whole the victims names are often left forgotten while media publishes article after article on the perpetrators.
Two of the many names that I made a point to remember are Johnathan Ball, aged 3 years, and 12 year old Tim Parry. They were murdered by use of a bomb, which exploded outside a Boots store in Warrington on 20th March 1993.
I started work at a government agency on 12th April 1993, which is one of the reasons I remember the Warrington bombing so well. The first few years of my time with the agency I worked at we had more than a few bomb alerts. We would end up spending hours at a time outside the building while we waited for a bomb disposal squad to arrive and conduct a controlled explosion. Yes, we all got blase about the bomb evacuations too.
Among all the anger and focus on the perpetrators that happens in news media and social media, people often forget about the victims and their families. There are numerous families in England and Northern Ireland who have never seen justice for the beating, kidnap & disappearance, injury or murder of their relatives. Some have been waiting over 40 years now, only to see their relatives names forgotten. I imagine that families across the world find themselves in the same position as they wait for someone in to help them. I hope that some day they will find answers and gain peace.
With that in mind, I would like to ask a favour. Rather than getting involved in arguments over all the right-wing hate that I know is already spreading over the internet following Paris, can I ask that you make a particular effort to remember the name of one of the victims from one of the attacks? I think that it is important to remember the innocent victims in all the violence and anger that is happening across the globe.
In the first 12 days of November there were 84 people killed in some form of terrorist attacks around the world. On the 13th November a further 150 people were killed in Mount Hebron, Baghdad and Paris. A further 704 people were injured across a total of 21 - yes 21 (!) - attacks in the first thirteen days of this month. Those figures do not include the perpetrators in those heinous events, because I don't think that they are where the focus should be.
I grew up during the era of the IRA's campaign of terror. Born some ten months before the awful Birmingham pub bombs which exploded on 21st November 1974, I grew up less than twenty miles away. The fact that there were often reports involving IRA activity on the news meant that I and most of my friends grew up with a rather blase attitude towards the ongoing threat. I don't mean that we were any less disgusted or angry at the punishment beatings, kidnappings, bombs, murders and intimidation that the IRA routinely dished out both on mainland Britain and in Northern Ireland. What I mean is that it was simply a fact of life; you cannot go through life in a heightened state of fear, our bodies and minds don't do that when something is there all the time.
One thing that I still feel angry about is that there always seemed to be so much focus on the perpetrators and so little on the victims. How many people from my generation and older can actually remember the name of even one victim? Sure, there were a few well known victims, such as Lord Mountbatten, but on the whole the victims names are often left forgotten while media publishes article after article on the perpetrators.
Two of the many names that I made a point to remember are Johnathan Ball, aged 3 years, and 12 year old Tim Parry. They were murdered by use of a bomb, which exploded outside a Boots store in Warrington on 20th March 1993.
I started work at a government agency on 12th April 1993, which is one of the reasons I remember the Warrington bombing so well. The first few years of my time with the agency I worked at we had more than a few bomb alerts. We would end up spending hours at a time outside the building while we waited for a bomb disposal squad to arrive and conduct a controlled explosion. Yes, we all got blase about the bomb evacuations too.
Among all the anger and focus on the perpetrators that happens in news media and social media, people often forget about the victims and their families. There are numerous families in England and Northern Ireland who have never seen justice for the beating, kidnap & disappearance, injury or murder of their relatives. Some have been waiting over 40 years now, only to see their relatives names forgotten. I imagine that families across the world find themselves in the same position as they wait for someone in to help them. I hope that some day they will find answers and gain peace.
With that in mind, I would like to ask a favour. Rather than getting involved in arguments over all the right-wing hate that I know is already spreading over the internet following Paris, can I ask that you make a particular effort to remember the name of one of the victims from one of the attacks? I think that it is important to remember the innocent victims in all the violence and anger that is happening across the globe.
Friday 13 November 2015
Friday the 13th: scary day or just another friday?
Seeing that got me thinking about superstitions, where we have them from and why we get them so stuck in our brains and lives. There are those common to particular cultures, such as it being bad luck to walk under ladders and - when I was growing up - black cats were lucky. Apparently we have now taken on the American version and they are considered unlucky. I like the version I grew up with better.But many of us also have own little rituals and superstitions that are particular to us. For instance, I have a gold pentacle that was bought specifically for my wedding day. I wear it whenever I leave the house and if, when I get where I am going, I can't park I have a habit of whispering a little chant over it and touching it to my lips. I have never once failed to find a parking space after doing that, so it has become more and more embedded in my mind. I am at the point where I feel mildly uncomfortable if I ever forget to put it on.
The power of belief can have a powerful effect on us. Maybe if we truly believe that something is going to happen, such as believing that Friday 13th is going to be unlucky, that terrible things are going to happen to us all day, then that is what we get. I am not talking about huge dramatic things such as cars exploding and zombies walking the earth, but those little niggling things that drive us to distraction. How irritated are you going to be by the end of the day if you discover mistakes in every document you type after you have printed it out, or worse, after you have posted it out? Or if you keep tripping over things, bumping your elbow? And the more that happens, the more annoyed you will get and the more often things will go wrong.
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| www.thesafetybloke.com |
A lot of cultural superstitions are often handed down to us through history and, while they seem silly to us now, it is surprising just how many of us still pay attention to them. How many of you could break a mirror and not so much as think that you may be about to receive seven years bad luck?
Wednesday 11 November 2015
The death of Motley Crue
It has been an interesting week or two. When I returned to home after respite I was wiped out for a while; I spent almost all my time either sleeping or trying to find a position to either sit or lie in that didn't make me want to scream in pain. Then the pain decided to jump to another level altogether. Just to be really annoying, it jumped on the night I went to see Motley Crue and Alice Cooper at the Genting Arena, Birmingham.
Now, much as I love live music, my health issues make it very difficult for me to actually see any. Looking at my old tickets, it appears that it has been four years since I last saw a live gig. Because I know that I am going to have after effects of a night out, I tend to make sure that it is a band that features in my top few. Alice Cooper has always been among my favourite musicians.
In fact, it was was a far better gig than the previous couple of times that I had seen him. Over the past twenty-five years I have seen Alice Cooper on numerous occasions, with a variety of musicians on stage and although he is always good this gig was one of the best I have been to.
I want to say that the staff at the Genting Arena are really well trained in dealing with customers with additional needs. The wheelchair section overlooks the standing area and, as you can see from the photos, has a great view of the stage. My photos were nowhere near as good as they were last time I went to a gig, but I had fun making memories of what was a fantastic night.
Motley Crue, on their last ever tour, were more amazing than ever. They have been fantastic every time I have seen them, but this time, wow. The energy in the arena was incredible and both Nikki Sixx (bass) and Vince Neil (vocals) seemed to be bouncing around like teenagers. Mick Mars (guitar) is not only a great guitarist, but a man that I admire for the way he deals with his own health issues. Having been diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis as a teenager, an inflammatory form of arthritis, his spine has gradually seized and along with scoliosis, has further reduced his mobility. Despite the pain that he must have been in, he gave a great performance. As someone with health issues of my own, I know that our health does not define who we are and what we do with our lives, but it does affect our choices. For me, seeing someone with chronic pain performing in one of the most successful bands of their generation - and a generation or two after - is both fantastic and important. It reiterates that just because we have health conditions, we are still able to make the choices to live our lives our way.
There is never going to be a drum solo quite like Tommy Lee's drum-coaster. That was a seriously amazing spectacle; a drum solo where the drummer moves along a 'coaster and the drum platform spins upside down... I mean, I've seen some dramatic drum solos from Tommy Lee before, but this time it was something that is I cannot imagine anyone ever topping.
All in all, I really couldn't have imagined a better last gig from a band that has been around for such a large part of my life. It was emotional at the end of the gig; that final realisation that this was the last time that I would see a band who have always been so fantastic.
 |
| Alice Cooper |
Now, much as I love live music, my health issues make it very difficult for me to actually see any. Looking at my old tickets, it appears that it has been four years since I last saw a live gig. Because I know that I am going to have after effects of a night out, I tend to make sure that it is a band that features in my top few. Alice Cooper has always been among my favourite musicians.
In fact, it was was a far better gig than the previous couple of times that I had seen him. Over the past twenty-five years I have seen Alice Cooper on numerous occasions, with a variety of musicians on stage and although he is always good this gig was one of the best I have been to.
 |
| Alice Cooper's band |
I want to say that the staff at the Genting Arena are really well trained in dealing with customers with additional needs. The wheelchair section overlooks the standing area and, as you can see from the photos, has a great view of the stage. My photos were nowhere near as good as they were last time I went to a gig, but I had fun making memories of what was a fantastic night.
 |
| Nikki Sixx |
 |
| Tommy Lee's drum-coaster |
 |
| Tommy Lee and Vince Neil |
There is never going to be a drum solo quite like Tommy Lee's drum-coaster. That was a seriously amazing spectacle; a drum solo where the drummer moves along a 'coaster and the drum platform spins upside down... I mean, I've seen some dramatic drum solos from Tommy Lee before, but this time it was something that is I cannot imagine anyone ever topping.
All in all, I really couldn't have imagined a better last gig from a band that has been around for such a large part of my life. It was emotional at the end of the gig; that final realisation that this was the last time that I would see a band who have always been so fantastic.
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