Thursday, December 13, 2012

Exploring Sleep, The Final Frontier

We're going for a sleep study!

Mr. Oatmeal is ready to go!

"Worst night's sleep, ever."

That's what friends report after staggering out, hair filled with goop and skin irritated from a night of attached monitors. Big deal, I always think. How much worse could it possible be?

Guess I'll find out.

A medical doctor told me that I probably hadn't slept for 20 years -- over a decade ago. Even before that, a psychoanalyst helped connect childhood dots that explained not being able -- or not wanting -- to sleep.

I also figured that intervening variables like fibromyalgia and then blessed menopause helped explain my wretched perpetual lack of sleep. Truly, I can sleep for 10-12 hours and wake up exhausted.

Finally, after years of telling everyone else to go get a sleep study, I've scheduled one for myself. And of course I'm taking Mr. Oatmeal with me, but I hope the lab has WiFi.