Earlier this week the doctor prescribed Ambien to help me sleep. I seldom sleep past 2:00 a.m. and frequently wake up shortly after midnight. Most of the night is spent waking up every hour or so. Since starting the tamoxifen and radiation it seems to be even worse. I didn't want to take the Ambien on a school night, so I took it last night for the first time. It got me to sleep all right (but then getting to sleep is not my problem, it's staying asleep), but I was awake at 2:00 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. and so on. I was awake, but felt as though I was in a deep murky pool trying to swim up to the surface. (Since drowning in murky water is one of my nightmares, this was not a good feeling.) Still felt that way when I finally got up at 5:45 this morning. Hey, that is sleeping late for me, since I frequently get up at 4:30 or 4:45 on weekends.
Maybe Ambien just takes some getting used to - or maybe I need a different type of sleep aid. Most over the counter sleep aids don't work for me as they usually knock me out for about three hours and then I wake up and feel like climbing the walls.
Yesterday was Radiation Day 20 - only two and half more weeks of radiation. The extra fatigue brought on by radiation will soon be going away. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.
After four weeks of radiation I am beginning to get a little bit of a sunburn. It doesn't really hurt (as a pale freckled Texan of Irish ancestry, I'm very familiar with different levels of sunburn). It's just a different feeling. When I was first diagnosed, Tony and I joked around with Patrick and told him that my breast would eventually start glowing from the radiation. (Sick, joke, I know - but you take your laughs where you can get them.) It doesn't glow - not so that you can see through my clothes, but it sure feels warm enough to do so.
I'm off for a coffee refill - the fog is beginning to lift. Maybe a late afternoon nap with help with the fatigue.
Here's hoping you all have a restful weekend.
The doctor warned me to be sure to give the Ambien at least 8 hrs. I slept through the night, but if I didn't get a full 8 hours, I felt like a zombie. That's probably why you felt like that whenever you woke up.
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