Sleep Deprived

 

I'm typing this with bleary eyes, sipping my coffee in the foggy morning light. I hope the coffee can infuse me with some energy that I so badly need to function today. I am running on only about four hours of sleep after having tossed and turned for hours last night, sleep evading me as I desperately chase it. I am weary of being weary.

 

I've had issues sleeping for a long while now. My husband has been trying to get me to go the doctor about it for months, and being the stubborn person that I am, I refused to go. Up until about three weeks ago. I had noticed since about January, when I started back to Zumba, that my energy level was almost nonexistent. I struggled getting through classes that I had previously been completely fine doing. Then, at the beginning of February, I went to Zumba again and just COULD. NOT. DO. IT. I had to leave about fifteen minutes into the class. I had zero energy, and little motivation. I was just plain tired and wanted to go home and go to bed. That upset me a lot. That's when I decided it was time to go to the doctor and I called to make an appointment the very next morning.



 

I not only struggle with falling asleep, I have a hard time staying asleep. I wake frequently, tossing and turning. I hardly ever feel rested, even when I have managed to get more than six hours of sleep. And before I have lots of comments telling me to take a prescription sleep aid or Melatonin, let me tell you why I can't or won't take them. The first reason is because those type of medicines, including Melatonin, make me feel like a very heavy weight is sitting on my chest and I can't breath. When I have taken that stuff, I have woken gasping and I am not taking something that makes feel that way. I have a couple more reasons, but I will just leave it at that.

 

 I finally went to see my doctor and he wanted to do blood work and have me do a sleep study. The sleep study was interesting, to say the least. If you've ever had one, you know what I mean. I had stuff stuck all over me, wires everywhere. The creepy part was knowing that they were videotaping me all night long and would be watching that video.

 

 

After a week and a half, I heard from the lady that reads the study and she said that I woke around forty times, stopped breathing twice, breathed shallow to where I wasn't reaching full oxygen saturation a few times, and that my legs jerked quite a bit throughout the night. Oh yeah, and I snored all night long. BUT, she said that I didn't have sleep apnea and I would most likely be referred to an ENT. I have yet to hear directly from my doctor, so I will be calling today to find out a little more about what he's recommending I do. I really need to get some good sleep!

 

 

I really am just plain tired. I probably average around four to five hours of sleep a night, if that. And it's to the point where it has really caught up with me. If affects a lot of aspects of my life! Notice I haven't posted very much on the blog lately? I have about four or five unfinished posts sitting there waiting for the final touches before I publish, and I just haven't had the energy to do it.(That's the only reason I haven't been as present on the blog....I'm looking forward to getting some rest so I can get back into the swing of things.)  I can be really irritable, and it's really hard to find motivation or energy to get things that I need to accomplish done.

I really hope to know more soon and to take steps to resolve this issue. If you've ever gone through a period with very little sleep, I know you can relate at how it negatively affects your life. I'd love if you'd pray with me, for me as we try to figure this out. I'm just feeling a little run down here lately and am ready to feel like myself again. I really appreciate your patience with me not posting quite as regularly, and am thankful for your prayers!