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The title is purely an expression of frustration, not something I'm going to post much about here. I just wanted to set up email posting to this journal, and I can't even set up my email account.
I followed the advice I got from the VA sleep department to consolidate my sleep times. Up until a few weeks ago, I was sleep from about 2 AM to 5 AM and then from 7 or 8 AM to 11 AM or noon, with hours of lying awake in between. Now I'm sleeping in one large block, from about 2:30 AM to 8 AM, and that is supposed to be an improvement, but I'm getting less sleep, and, as I told the sleep psychologist it would, less sleep has caused my IBS to flare up. So I'm in pain after every meal that isn't very processed carbs (basically only wheat, but I might be able to handle potatoes). I'm also frustrated and tired for a large part of the day, but I'm still unable to fall asleep any earlier than 2 AM.
The sleep restriction was supposed to help me, but it isn't helping me. There seems to be some belief ("belief" is the the right word but I cannot think of the right word at the moment) behind this CBT, the belief that being sleepier will result in more sleep, but I have ample experience to show me that this isn't true for me. Ongoing experience.
I remember the psychologist telling me that she could help me shift my bedtime to an earlier hour once my sleep was consolidated; I very much want that information, but I lost her contact information. I don't have long-distance phone service, so I can't even call her without having to pay something extra on next month's phone bill.
In the meantime, I guess I'm going to try to shift my bedtime by taking melatonin. It didn't work the other times I tried it; stronger sleep medications didn't even work to shift the hour at which I could fall asleep. But I took the melatonin several hours earlier than I did the other times I tried it, and I'm going to try for only a five-minute shift tonight.
So far, I haven't been able to go to bed even ten minutes earlier without lying awake all night, which has been maddening and so weird. Why should a measly ten minutes make such a difference? Maybe it's the autism making me so sensitive to the slightest change? I once found myself unable to sleep because I'd set the thermostat a mere five degrees F lower than I usually set it. I went back to my old thermostat setting the next night, and the problem disappeared that very night. Crazy.
I suppose I should also cut out screens shortly, or, the screen on this laptop at least. I have blue light blocking filters on my other computers. Trying and failing to get that installed on this laptop is one of the failures that contributed to the frustration that motivated this blog post's title.
I followed the advice I got from the VA sleep department to consolidate my sleep times. Up until a few weeks ago, I was sleep from about 2 AM to 5 AM and then from 7 or 8 AM to 11 AM or noon, with hours of lying awake in between. Now I'm sleeping in one large block, from about 2:30 AM to 8 AM, and that is supposed to be an improvement, but I'm getting less sleep, and, as I told the sleep psychologist it would, less sleep has caused my IBS to flare up. So I'm in pain after every meal that isn't very processed carbs (basically only wheat, but I might be able to handle potatoes). I'm also frustrated and tired for a large part of the day, but I'm still unable to fall asleep any earlier than 2 AM.
The sleep restriction was supposed to help me, but it isn't helping me. There seems to be some belief ("belief" is the the right word but I cannot think of the right word at the moment) behind this CBT, the belief that being sleepier will result in more sleep, but I have ample experience to show me that this isn't true for me. Ongoing experience.
I remember the psychologist telling me that she could help me shift my bedtime to an earlier hour once my sleep was consolidated; I very much want that information, but I lost her contact information. I don't have long-distance phone service, so I can't even call her without having to pay something extra on next month's phone bill.
In the meantime, I guess I'm going to try to shift my bedtime by taking melatonin. It didn't work the other times I tried it; stronger sleep medications didn't even work to shift the hour at which I could fall asleep. But I took the melatonin several hours earlier than I did the other times I tried it, and I'm going to try for only a five-minute shift tonight.
So far, I haven't been able to go to bed even ten minutes earlier without lying awake all night, which has been maddening and so weird. Why should a measly ten minutes make such a difference? Maybe it's the autism making me so sensitive to the slightest change? I once found myself unable to sleep because I'd set the thermostat a mere five degrees F lower than I usually set it. I went back to my old thermostat setting the next night, and the problem disappeared that very night. Crazy.
I suppose I should also cut out screens shortly, or, the screen on this laptop at least. I have blue light blocking filters on my other computers. Trying and failing to get that installed on this laptop is one of the failures that contributed to the frustration that motivated this blog post's title.
