I have worked night shift for so long that even on weekends and during holidays I keep the same basic schedule.  All night shift all the time is easier than a rotating schedule (We had to work rotating shifts at the shop where I did my apprenticeship. I hated that. I could never get the hang of afternoon shift), but there are challenges.

I need to be awake by 2pm to pick Mini up from school…that’s when my day starts. I usually get home from work about 5am. That doesn’t leave a very big window to get sleep. If I’m not snoring by about 7am, it’s going to be a very long day. The rest of the world is up and about when I’m trying to sleep so it’s noisy; I wear ear plugs. Mr. Sunshine is an issue; I wear eye-shades. ♀ tries hard to plan around when I need to sleep, but sometimes there are things that absolutely require I be awake before 2pm. I haven’t always been fortunate enough to have a partner who understands the importance of sleep management. Mini’s mother was of the opinion that every hour slept during the day counted as 2 hours spent sleeping at night. In other words I should function just as well on 4 daytime hours of sleep as she did on 8 nighttime hours.

I guess it’s not surprising that it was during the time spent with her that I first started having real problems with insomnia. It got to the point where I was going to bed 2 or 3 times a day and only getting 4 or 5 hours sleep. That was before Mini. After he was born and going to bed 3 times a day was no longer an option I tried to get some medical help. The first doctor I saw told me God did not intend for man to work night shift and I should find a new profession. The next doctor told me to give up all caffeine, all alcohol and all naps. She reasoned that if I only went to bed once a day that eventually I would sleep through. That might be a good theory, but at the time we lived an hour away from the bakery and if I had a couple of hours before I needed to leave for work and I was tired enough to sleep it was damn hard to convince myself not to have a nap.

I remember lots of times driving with the windows rolled down to try and stay awake. One night I got to work about 20 minutes early and I just had to sleep. I set the alarm on my phone and put the seat back. I was sound asleep when a cop came by and tapped on my window with his flashlight. That has to be the most unsettling way to wake up. Ever. Behind the wheel of my car with a bright light shining in my face. I thought I’d had an accident. Then trying to explain to the cop that I wasn’t drunk.

It was around that time I started taking travel tabs to try and help me sleep. I’ve always been paranoid about addictions and travel tabs seemed mild enough that I didn’t think it would be a problem. There’s a big difference between an addiction and a habit and my use of travel tabs falls into the category of a habit. There have been times during the past 10 years when I’ve taken them 5 or 6 mornings a week, but I didn’t notice any withdrawal symptoms if I didn’t take them. I just didn’t sleep as well.

About a year ago I started taking melatonin and that seemed to help. Quite often I would alternate between the melatonin and the travel tabs. That combined with a nap in the evening after ♀ & I had fucked before I went to work and most days I was able to get enough sleep to function. Ideally I’d like to get 6 hours of continuous sleep, but that didn’t happen very often. More often then not I’d get 4-5 hours during the day and another 60-90 minutes before work (4 hours is my absolute minimum).

That probably doesn’t sound like much sleep, but we can get used to almost anything, right? Well something changed just after this past Christmas. All of a sudden I couldn’t sleep for more then 3 hours at a time. I fell asleep easily enough (I was exhausted), but 3 hours later I’d be wide awake. I tried everything; more travel tabs, more melatonin, different foods in the morning, a snack when I woke up, I cut out all caffeine, I stopped drinking any alcohol during the week and was only having 2 or 3 beers during the weekends, ♀ even gave me permission to masturbate to try and get back to sleep. Nothing.

It was the beginning of the second week when ♀ started after me to go to a doctor, but I was stubborn and held out until half way through the third week. Mini was with me when I finally admitted defeat and went to the clinic. I told the doctor pretty much everything I’ve told you here as well as my concerns about addictions.

We talked for awhile then the doctor said I might be a candidate for a clinical research trial with an investigational drug treatment (esmirtazapine maelate). He wasn’t in charge of the study, but he wanted to give my information to the doctor who was and he left the office to get me the information package on how the trial would work.

While we were waiting I looked over at Mini, his eyes were huge and he said with absolute awe in his voice, “You’re going to be a lab rat. That is just about the coolest thing ever. Do you think you’ll get xray vision or start to glow in the dark?”

When the doctor got back, Mini asked him if there might be any really cool side-effects. The doctor said that was what the study was going to find out. That was good enough for him. I was about to be the coolest dad ever.

♀ wasn’t nearly as excited about me being a lab rat and I think she was very relieved when the clinic called the next day to say I was ineligible because I go to bed after 11 pm.

Instead they prescribed a low dose of trazodone and I’m happy to say it seems to be working. I finished the 2 week supply he gave me 4 days ago and I’m still able to sleep for 6 hours. Yippee. I think I’ll get it refilled for those days when I can’t sleep and I’ll keep taking the melatonin  (your body produces less of it as you get older).

A good nights sleep might make me feel better, but apparently it has a bad effect on my memory. I started this post on the weekend and I remember having a very smooth segue into an explanation of the following picture. I didn’t have time to write another post so you’ll just have to take my word for it that there was a very clever connection between Mini calling me a lab rat and ♀’s new found enthusiasm for being a Dom.

Spanking, face slapping, biting, scratching and pinching are all now part of her repertoire…

HHNT

sss

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4 Comments »

1. 

   My dad worked at night almost all his life… and I think it caused him a lot of damages… maybe some are better at this than other?
   Your pic is amazing… looks like some folks had a great time recently!

   Comment by SeaRabbit — February 7, 2008 @ 6:36 pm

2. 

   My son works nights at Walgreens. He uses melatonin to help with sleep management but largely living alone is his best asset.

   I worked rotating shifts and found I would never have adjusted to a fixed night shift.

   As for the picture, the reward must have been good to justify that abuse. I can understand, even enjoy, humiliation but physical injury is something I ned training in. Uh, never mind.

   Comment by Old Bogus — February 8, 2008 @ 2:58 am

3. 

   The real question is, were you doing anything to deserver those welts or were you just her love canvas?:)

   Comment by pbzoom — February 8, 2008 @ 4:13 am

4. 

   My sister found the same as you all night shifts is better than changing shifts each week. Sounds like the ledsser of two evils really. Happy (belated) HNT.

   Comment by lapis ruber — February 8, 2008 @ 4:58 pm

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