I have been dealing with the quarantine pretty well. I don’t really mind, as I’ve said before. I have been exercising, working a little bit, cooking and I’ve done all of this without being rushed.
But I started to feel a little anxiety last week when I noticed I was falling asleep later every night. I wasn’t able to fall asleep at 11, which gives me exactly 9 hours of sleep before I wake up at 8 to take my medicine. I started to notice this when I was still awake at 11:30 and then 12. This makes me anxious because lack of sleep can trigger seizures. After just reaching five years seizure free, I don’t want to have a seizure just because I can’t sleep. Anxiety can also trigger seizures. So while I get this under control I have to calm down.
This all started when I stopped taking Ritalin in the morning, which meant I could easily go back to sleep after taking all my other medicine. I was happy because I was able to sleep longer every day since I didn’t have to go anywhere. At least I was able to for the first few weeks, but as I started waking up later every day I couldn’t fall asleep at 11 pm, like I always do, to get at at least 8 hours of sleep.
I thought it was ok for a few days and that it would get back to normal pretty soon, but instead it kept getting more difficult to sleep because I kept sleeping more in the morning. So this week I thought I would try to get my sleep schedule back to normal. The first thing I needed was to stop waking up at 10:30. I was so happy that after I stopped taking Ritalin during the quarantine I could actually sleep more but now it is too much.
Yesterday I decided to exercise more, hoping that would make me tired and be able to go to sleep earlier. After 1:30 AM I realized that it didn’t work because I was still awake. I was frustrated, worried and had no idea what was going on because falling asleep is not usually a problem for me.
Next thing I know it’s almost 5 am so I guess I fell asleep for about three hours. After that I think I was able to fall asleep again until I had to take my medicine. Once I took my medicine I decided not to try to sleep any more so I can sleep tonight.
I also realized that I forgot to take my nightly dose yesterday so I don’t know if that had anything to do with not being able to sleep. Just in case I took the nightly dose this morning because I don’t want to risk anything. I thought about calling my neurologist and asking him about this but I have and appointment in two weeks so I’ll ask him then.
This is the worse part about quarantine. I don’t really miss going to restaurants, the mall or even the movies, I just miss my normal sleeping pattern.
Unstoppable María 