I’ve been in this sleep cycle where it’s a little bit difficult to fall asleep at night. Not a big deal. I’ve been sleeping pretty well through the night, but then I wake up a little bit earlier than I want. Because of the good sleep in the middle, it hasn’t bothered me much. Last night was a sudden change. I woke up 50 times. I woke up way too early. I took a muscle relaxant to get back to sleep, and I still woke up early, but I was able to force myself back to sleep. It’s certainly not an abnormal kind of sleep for me, but I haven’t had this in a while. I woke up feeling super tired and groggy. It’s taken a couple hours to feel close to normal. Low energy, low motivation. I’m very tired, but I don’t feel like a nap would help, nor do I feel like I could fall asleep. Kind of a weird one. I often go through different sleep cycles. Some are terrible, but they usually only last 5-7 days or so. As long as I keep myself on the rails, it might get back to the other cycle I’ve been in.
I forced a morning walk to try to get myself moving. About half way through, I could feel myself finally waking up. I’ve been feeling slightly better since. Nice and chilly out today, so good weather for me. About 45F, which is a nice sweet spot for me. I’ll try to get some more time outside today.
Today is day 5 back on the guaifenesin. I’d say it’s day 4 without a fibro flare up. For 2 years I was unable to get past 4 decent days in a row. I made it to 6 when I first started the guaifenesin back in September. You’re supposed to feel an increase in your symptoms, but I pretty much only felt better, so I increased my dose. It turned out that was the wrong thing to do. I increased too much and put myself in too much pain and I couldn’t get back on track until I took 11 days off the guaifenesin. It certainly seems like I’ve reset properly. Most people should experience an increase in symptoms, but for me, I’m simply looking for a change in symptoms right now. Lower pain is different. This is not a pain medication, so I have no clue how it’s reducing my pain, but of course I’ll take it. I’m at the minimum dose right now. I’m happy to stay here for a while and get in some good days. It’s premature to think about increasing dose, and if the protocol is working. Thinking ahead though, I can increase the dose once I’m stable mentally and physically. If I end up increasing too much, then I would have to take off another 7-10 days to reset, and I don’t want to go through any of that anytime soon. Less seem to be more with this medication for me. The doctor who created the protocol said you can increase your dose and you would reverse faster, but this is a process that could take months to years, so there’s no reason to increase needlessly. I’m way too close to those 9s and 10s to be playing around like that right now.
Whew, it’s getting nasty outside. We went from ‘chilly’ to ‘pretty cold’. Super windy. I went for a walk and had to turn around when it instantly started dumping frozen rain! That makes me so happy! Maybe I’ll get a snow walk tonight or tomorrow? I think I prefer snow over thunderstorms because thunderstorms here in WonderBreadLand happen in the summer and it’s super hot and humid. These mixed rain/snow storms are cold, so that’s more my temperature. It only rains in the winter in California. I do love the sound of heavy rain though. Predicted 40mph winds and 3-5 inches of snow tomorrow, but a high of 41, so it will either be mixed rain/snow, or it just won’t accumulate. I’ll be out walking in it though as long something falls from the sky and I feel up to it.