Sleepless in Kelowna

It is after 3am and I am here at the computer instead of in my bed sleeping. Cole, my black gentleman friend, is curled up on the bed and only raised his head to watch me leave the room. Thomas, my black and white gentleman friend, came running when he heard me up. He always looks so expectant.... always wanting food and hoping I'll give it. Yes, I did or he would pester me about it. He is a sweet wee chap.

I think I am entering a period of insomnia. Last Wednesday I saw the doctor that runs the Kelowna Sleep Clinic. Dr. Cridland. He seems very knowledgable and really impressed me with his manner. He sat and talked with me for about half an hour taking a thorough history of my 'problem'. I told him how I have noticed that my sleep patterns seem to run in cycles. A cycle of 'insomnia' lasting up to a month or more. Then a cycle of 'endless sleep' where I sleep about 20 hours a day if I don't force myself to do otherwise. And then a period of almost 'normal' sleep. Never do I get the 'right' sleep though. I never feel refreshed and restored.

Dr. Cridland picked up that I seem to have most of my episodes of restless leg syndrome during the insomnia phase and thinks that might be what is causing the insomnia. My legs were throbbing tonight in bed as I tossed and turned for two hours before giving up and getting up. Then he thinks that after a period of sleeplessness I crash and burn and go into the next phase where I sleep all the time but still don't get the sleep I need. This then resolves into the almost normal phase. I told him that I feared I was approaching another cycle of insomnia soon so maybe that is starting tonight. I hope not.

I am going to go back to the Sleep Clinic in early May. I did have an overnight evaluation at the hospital but it didn't show anything conclusive. It did show some apnea, twitching legs and so on. So Dr. Cridland wants to evaluate me himself. I will go in on a Wednesday at 9pm for the sleep-over. You go to bed around 10pm and they rouse you at 7am and send you home. I, however; will remain until 6pm the next day. I will get up at 7am and then will be given the opportunity to have five naps during the day. All the while I will look like some weird creature with a myriad of wires attached to me. They actually glue the electrodes to the scalp and use a mild solvent to loosen them for removal. Fun. I just hope they find something we can fix.

Well, it is 3:30am and I think I should try again to sleep. I hope you had a good night. I hope Lily slept through the night and that my niece (Sonia) was not disturbed. Lily is Sonia's wee daughter and is almost 16 months old. I hope I have that right or I will hear about it. :)

Take care of you until we meet again.