A bump in the road

So I had a kind of bad night last night. P kicked me out of bed to go upstairs at 1 a.m. I hadn't realized it, but I probably was a little shaky.
Otherwise, I slept fine. But it had come off a horrible day. First, a competing newspaper stole my big story. Then, I was late coming back from my French group and messed up plans with P, so I ended the day getting a few hours of the cold shoulder.
All told, not a typical day. I feel fine today, except for the ear problem that's been bugging me. Sounds like water's in there, but I know it's on the brain side of my eardrum, not the outside.

Still on a roll

So I haven't had to leave the comforts of the downstairs bed for The Hotel Room in a few days. I took a little less of the Gabapentin/neurontin than a full capsule. And I had two beers beforehand at trivia night.
But I got to sleep okay and was able to get up in the morning slightly less tired than I've been on a full dose. Still not as rested as I'd like, but I'm withholding complaints for now. Oh, yeah, and my right ear is ringing and distorting things.
But this is the most hopeful I've been in a while.

Liking the Gabapentin

I don't want to jinx this, because it's so fresh. But the last three times I've taken the Gabapentin, I've managed to sleep downstairs with P. It's very nice and very unusual to wake up in that bed.
It may be three out of four times. And I missed one night in there at the coast, when I forgot to bring the drugs.
But I think I've had the best luck when I've taken it in a smaller dose and later at night. With the full pill, like last night, I wake up very groggy and still needing more sleep.
It's hard to adjust with the capsules. Basically, I just try to pull it apart and then the powder spills out everywhere. Then I put it back together and take what's left. Which has gone pretty well. I'm guardedly optimistic.

Back from the coast, into the sweat box

Me and P stayed at a friend's beach house on the coast Saturday night, and spent the whole day out there Sunday. Apparently, with inland temperatures around 100, everyone else had the same idea. And the main highway back was a 60-mile stop-and-go traffic jam. So thick that we detoured on scary logging roads and into another state, making a drive that normally takes 2 hours into one that took 31/2 hours.
And the problem with going somewhere cool is that you eventually have to return. And find your home so hot that it smells like it's melting.
Here's a photo from the last trip, to San Francisco:













And here's the same bridge from below:

A very nice surprise

This morning I woke to a different alarm. I didn't even realize where I was until I looked around and saw P next to me. I actually spent a whole night in the same bed as her without having to leave! I really can't remember when the last time that happened was. It used to happen often enough on weekends, but it's now pretty rare even then.
The only thing I can imagine is that combining alcohol and Neurontin is pure magic. Well, I had one pint of beer last night. And then I took the stuff. So I can't tell if it's great sleep, or restful sleep, or anything. But damnit -- I woke up next to my P and I'm happy.

The limits of coffee

I'm starting to wonder if there's a point where coffee just doesn't work; that is, it doesn't work in any good way. It still dries me out like crazy and messes with my gut. But I don't feel any more awake or alert.
So far, the Neurontin/Gabapentin has made me feel pretty drowsy, lasting until morning even. And, come to think of it, pretty dried out. It's been hit or miss helping me sleep.
It doesn't help that we're just entering into a heat wave (the same heat wave the rest of the country has been in for a long time) and there's no air conditioning. I need to pick up another fan today.
It will be nice to spend a night on the coast this weekend. It should be a little cooler, at least.

Tired, foggy bubble

Granted, I just got back from a vacation that wasn't exactly a how-to guide for healthy living. But I turned into a zombie sometime last night and it's lasted into today.
I forgot my drugs when I went to California, so I had four or five nights without them. It didn't really make much of a difference; I had my okay nights and my not-so-great nights. Mostly not so great but not really bad for any of them.
So I got back last night, took a Neurontin at 9:30 or so, and went to bed at around 11:30. I woke up, thinking it was 12:30ish, a typical time I might get up and go upstairs to sleep. It was 5 a.m. And I was exhausted. Hit the snooze three times and it was the same story when I finally got up. Swimming today was pretty rough. The water seemed more viscous than usual.
Much to say about vacation. Update coming up.

Off to Livermore

Calif., for the weekend. Never been there. Hopefully, it's better than liverwurst. Or Liverpool.

Rainy, sleep. Downloading CDs

I'm still on the smallest dose of Gabapentin prescribed, but it seems like I only notice any effects of the drug when I've had a couple drinks. Then I get pretty groggy. I've stayed pretty groggy into the morning for the last couple days as well. That's no surprise today, with the dark, drizzly weather.
Other than that, there have been no bad effects from the drug. And drowsiness at night isn't really a down side, is it?
On Monday, I used the day off to download 50 free songs from an online service for free. There was an offer in Paste magazine. You still had to put in your credit card info, but all the small print made it seem okay. I got the 50 songs downloaded at a free wi-fi cafe and just canceled the account. Voila! I'm the proud owner of "Real Gone" by Tom Waits, "Roomsound" by Califone, and I've replaced my much-missed copy of "In the Aeroplane over the Sea" by Neutral Milk Hotel that was stolen in Victoria.
One annoyance with the service (eMusic, to be clear): The songs are downloaded in handy artist/album/song folders, and then iTunes happily accepts them. Then I burn the CDs, and find out the tracks are in no particular order. Arrrrg.
I almost wanted to keep the service. It's got a pretty deep library, including lots of weird stuff like OOIOO and some punk Italian album for children. And it's convenient to just download things that are stuck in my head. Like one Destroyer song. And the Spent song with the line "Portrait of the artist with his face punched in" that's been stuck in my head since hearing it between bands at a Helium concert, oh, 10 years ago.
But, then, I'm cheap.
Here I am touching a real live glacier.

Gabapentin, Day 2

Another night on the new drug, and another combination of alcohol and pharmaceuticals. What can I say? It's the weekend. Two beers, and then the neurontin (gabapentin). And another morning of sleeping in until 10:30 and not getting up until after 11. It's a rough life, I know.
Sleep, then, was fine. Still problems on the front end, but enough overall to make up for it. I'm optimistic about the new drug.

Where I live and get my drugs

So last night was Day 1 for the Nerontin, a.k.a. Gabapentin. But first is a telling tale of where I live.
I got stuck for a half hour just to drop off my prescription at the Walgreen's drive-through while some drug-seeker addict tried to brow-beat the pharmacist's technician into giving her more Oxycodone over the tinny speaker. This woman, who pulled in front of me in line, was so obviously fucked up that I didn't see any more need to confront her after I laid on the horn.
When I came back to pick up the prescription, after walking past the creepy guys hanging out in front of the store, I had to wait again while another woman picked up her methadone and valium prescriptions and then made the pharmacy scan her entire teeming basket of groceries. I'll never go there again, but that's still where I have to live.
The drug experience itself was pretty unusual, but I must say that a few glasses of wine beforehand must have contributed. P told me I was waking in unusual fits of activity; I had been dreaming of foot races. I was pretty drowsy and unbalanced when I got up to go to The Hotel Room, but I slept pretty hard and woke pretty late (10:30, when I have to leave for work two hours later).
No lump in the throat, no drugged hangover, no feeling of empty sleep. All good signs.

Still off the stuff ...

... albeit accidentally. P and I had to go register, at the department store that will soon be Macy's, for our wedding stuff. I tried stopping a the drugstore, but they closed at 4 for some reason. Aren't Walgreens supposed to be 24-hour joints? So no new drugs for me.
And no show either. If anyone is into Alela Diane, tell me what I missed.
I'm not doing so bad this morning. Even unmedicated, I was tired enough last night to get some hard sleep -- after settling into The Hotel Room, that is. I feel good enough to swim again today, despite Wednesday's embarrassment. I ripped my suit up the entire leg, revealing a bit more of the inner netting than I would have liked. I guess the sunlight in my car and the chlorine in the fabric didn't do so well for the suit.
Now I know.

Oh, I remember. It's bad.

I spent another night without any drugs in me. And it was really bad. I can't even remember it being that bad before. It's possible that the Mirapex funked up my system, but that's not what I was thinking last night. Then, I was actually missing it. Damned if I thought it had any value before, but now I'm missing it. To add on to that, P said I had been pretty kicky the night before and that she woke me up to tell me so (I have no memory of this).
That leaves me at least with options. Maybe, if the Gabapentin doesn't work, I can get comfortable with some dose of Mirapex.
I didn't get a chance to fill the prescription yesterday, having spent an hour and a half in line waiting to get my car's emissions tested. Waiting, with the car running and the heat on so it wouldn't overheat. In a shirt and tie. Well hey. I organized my car, anyway.

Here's what a mountain looks like through my binoculars:

Drug free (for a day)

I got all the Mirapex out of my system. And just as I was ready to celebrate, I realized: Hey -- I still have restless legs syndrome. I was crediting the drug for everything bad. But if I had been sleeping normally I never would have been on it.
But even if I wasn't celebrating, the neighborhood was plenty festive last night. Festive like a war zone, with all sorts of the big, expensive illegal fireworks going off. You have to love the Fourth of July. Anyway, at least it was cool enough to sleep without all the windows open.
We spent most of the day yesterday stuffing and addressing our wedding invitations. Calligraphy be damned; we're just hoping the post offices can read the smudgy fat scratchings from our silver markers.

I got a new drug

As someone who never experimented with drugs in high school (or college, for that matter), I now find myself whole hog into the adult world of legal pharmaceuticals. The good news is that I quit the Mirapex that was wreaking so much havoc with me. Now I've got a prescription for Neurontin, a.k.a. Gabapentin, that I'm going to try.
I'm hopeful for the new drug; I have to be. If it doesn't work, I'll have pretty much exhausted the drugs available for restless legs syndrome. That is, except for the opiates (codeine, etc.) and the benzodiazepine family (Hey Klonopin. Hi there, valium).
So you can see the appeal a drug that treats the leg sensations and doesn't just knock me out and make me an addict. Let's hope I found it.

Manual override

This not admitting I'm sick thing could be worse. Of course, it could be better. But I slept.
Last night was a stroke of good luck. P and I met a friend for drinks (tonic water for me), planning to catch the Neko Case show later. We knew it was sold out, and were hoping for people who wanted to dump tickets out front, or, at least, for some cheap scalpers (!). We got there at 10 or so, and they said the show was all over but the encore. Damned early Friday night show. But we managed to talk our way in for free.
And the show wasn't even over. She had a few songs left in the main set, then she came back twice for encores. We probably saw her do 10 songs in all. What a crazy good voice. You can't capture that on a record.
It wasn't even 11 before we left the building, so we went out for another drink. Beer this time. I knew I was pretty sick, but that didn't seem to stop me from drinking in a smoky bar. Although I did have the great idea of taking a night-time Alka Seltzer to mix with the Mirapex and beer. Thanks to P for stopping me.