going to bed for the night consistently

I'm glad you're safe, @Tart Cherry Jam. I hope the hearing goes well!

I will let you know! The hearing is on Friday morning. I may have to take Dexedrine unless I am naturally alert that morning just because of the need to be (it sometimes happens to me). I won't go to court. I will attend remotely and my attorney will examine me. Since I won't have to travel to the court house, I won't need to wake up that early.

Yup, I am safe and today I did not step outside. Thank you!

I have been up since before 6AM. In the first half of the day, I was go-go-go, was worried about it, tried to take a nap but couldn't. Just rested. Also, could not get warm under 2 comforters. I am still cold. Since my youth, being underslept means being too cold for me.

In the second part of the day, I was no longer go-go-go. I was able to focus and be productive.

now I am going to bed and I hope to sleep enough but not too much.

good night! 10:31 PM

I cannot believe it. It is 11:37 PM. And what happened? I took a peek at updates to the threads I follow and ended up writing a response to a young woman in India. And I got carried away and did not notice the passage of time.

now, going to bed for real.

Hey there guys!

Thank God you're okay @Tart Cherry Jam that must have been scary with those trees and that wicked weather. And good luck with the case as well!

Good to see everyone checking in when they can too.

Things have been good. Been kind of obsessing with my phone lately- I have become one of those people who look at their phone a lot before bed, SO UNHEALTHY! Need to break myself out of this horrible habit.

Slept about 6 hours last night and will try again for a good night's sleep tonight. It is currently 11:27pm and I have to be up at 7am. Hopefully I sleep well.

Good night!

I hear you. I hear you.

10:24 PM night-night

I still cannot make myself warm enough. This is especially true for hands and feet. It turns out that I have very low ferritin which can produce this effect. Very low ferritin can cause extreme fatigue, too. Maybe this is exacerbating my symptoms.
The nurse from the hematology office wrote to me with suggestions. I am going to eat dried fruit and raisins. I do not like seafood, so that suggestion is not implementable. I already eat beans, meat, and leafy greens.

I continue being very cold and now I know why. I have very low ferritin. THe discovery came up by chance: I went to get lots of labs hoping to see improvements thanks to 1) exercise 2) upping my Levoxyl. I indeed did see those improvements, so I am doing something right, but it is also the case that the ferritin is low. Hemoglobin is normal.

Ferritin is measured by a venipuncture, so it is infrequent. Hemoglobin is measured after a venipuncture, too, but it is also measured by a finger prick each time I donate blood, every 8 weeks. It has always been normal and sometimes even high-ish. So I had no idea I could run into this low, low ferritin.

The hematologist will see me in May. Asked me to repeat the labs a week before being seen. His nurse wrote to me that my feeling very cold could be due to low ferritin. Especially hands and feet. Indeed my fingers are very cold. I have never felt that cold outside of having chills. This is different from chills: it is more hands and feet and there is no feeling of general malaise.

The nurse also wrote that low ferritin could cause extreme fatigue. So this might be a contributing factor why I need so much sleep.

I think I will stop blood donations for now, at least until the hematologist sees me and my ferritin enters the normal range.

The thing is, I have been taking iron pills faithfully, and in the form of iron that is best digestible and free of side effects. Who knew I would end up anemic?

I will be sad if I have to stop donating blood, but I will ba happy if there is something that can be done to make me less sleepy during the day.

Going to bed now. 10:40 PM Thanks for reading my long update! I have turned the heater on, something I never do.

@Tart Cherry Jam - I am so sorry you are so cold! That must be so frustrating and hard for you to sleep. Hopefully, the heater helps and you can get some rest if you're warm enough.

I have had a rough couple of nights. I can't seem to sleep with my CPAP. I have a very foggy light-headedness when I have it on, and it almost feels like it is suffocating me, (maybe claustrophobia?) I have never experienced anything like this before and I have been using my machine consistently for over a year.

I woke up this morning SUPER tired with a big headache when I put the mask back on at 2am (I slept till 8am). Even though I am credited with 6 hours sleep, I felt so dizzy and tired I had to lay down off and on till almost 1pm. Couldn't accomplish anything today till after 4pm and I am up now almost in a manic state and need to go to bed soon.

Will try to go to bed by midnight. Sweet dreams!

My neurologist once told me that a headache upon awakening is a sign of untreated sleep apnea.

Do you have a sleep medicine dr who can adjust the settings on your machine?

11:05PM going to bed. The hearing is tomorrow. I still need to prep in the morning. Will update you later.

The hearing went well!

Glad the hearing went well!

A family friend keeps telling me about a recall on some CPAP machines:
UPDATE: Certain Philips Respironics Ventilators, BiPAP Machines, and CPAP Machines Recalled Due to Potential Health Risks: FDA Safety Communication | FDA

If you have one made by Philips, please look into it. Mine is an ResMed Airsense.

Hope you sleep better tonight @LadyShadow!

ResMed here, too: ResMed AirCurve 10

I have this leftover annoying feeling of "I wish I could talk more" because I did not get to say even a small portion of what I had prepared to tell the judge. But she realized that my ex was a fraudster, so whatever little I did manage to say was sufficient. She clearly said that she was basing her ruling on my testimony, among other factors. And she is so time-pressed. She already stayed 15 minutes into her lunch time. What more can I wish for? The next hearing is in April. I won't need to appear, just my attorney. The hope is that it will be the last one.

11:08 PM good night!

I was exhausted yesterday and collapsed into bed before 8:30pm. Turns out that I had forgotten to take my morning pills again, Effexor and Nuvigil. But I didn't realize it until it was time to take my nighttime pills. The CPAP said reported 11 and 1/2 hours of use, but I didn't fall asleep right away. I also slept after lunch. Fortunately, I was working from home, and I had no afternoon meetings. I feel better today. And the New Moon is a good time of the month for me to sleep.

I did not note about the New Moon being a good time to sleep; noted.

My son was born on the Full Moon and the nurses at the hospital told me that more babies are born on the Full Moon, but later on I read that this is a misconception.

Do you brush your teeth right before bedtime?

I came across a newspaper article that said that the peppermint flavor in toothpaste can bring about a release of dopamine. It can be counterproductive to brush teeth with minty toothpaste right before going to bed because it can wake you up.

Duh

Well I went through an experimental period of figuring out a way of brushing my teeth without waking myself up.

First I kept the bright lights off, and I tried children's Bubblegum flavored toothpaste (I believe it was SpongeBob SquarePants). Then I realised it was the cold water I'd rinse with that woke me up. (The bathroom is far from the water heater, so I'd use cold water rather than wait four minutes for hot water.) So then I brushed my teeth in the kitchen where the water heats up quickly. Still I'd wake up. Ultimately, I found out that it's the act of brushing itself that would drive away my tiredness.