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Today Was Brought to You by the Letters T and W, and by the Number 8

This morning it took me 8 minutes of Wrestling a Whiney, Tantruming Toddler in order to brush his Teeth.
Eight minutes!
(I almost called him a Two year old, but uh, at the rate he’s going, he may not make it till Sunday.)

I lost my Temper about 8 times this morning, too, due to said Toddler and his Whiney Why-Why-Why older brother (seriously, why does he have to question every single thing I say to him?). I was seriously at the very tippity-toppity end of my rope. All of this before 8 a.m.

It also took me eight tries to spit out a coherant sentence when I dropped the kids off at daycare this morning, too. That is not an exaggeration.

I’m glad I already had an appointment scheduled today with my doctor about my ever-progressing insomnia, or sleep disturbances, as he called it. Which is probably a better name and/or description for it. I also learned a few other fun things while at my appointment, like the term “situational stress” to describe my physical, emotional, and psychological response to Justin’s work schedule, or that my diastolic blood pressure reading has gone up from an average of 60 to nearly 80. I realize that 80 is still within “normal” range, but when your normal has jumped up 33%, it’s still not very good. But I was reassured that most likely it was due to feeling the strain of managing so much on my own and not getting adequate sleep.

So he gave me a low-dose tricyclic antidepressant to help me fall asleep sooner and stay asleep better. He promised that it was non-habit forming, is mild, and is well-tolerated. He said if I still feel groggy in the morning, to just take it a little earlier in the evening so that less of it is in my system by morning. The bonus to this is maybe that it might take off the edge to my anxiety, something that I missed dearly from back when I was on a cocktail of drugs to proactively combat my chronic migraines several years ago. My neurologist back then had me on a low-dose of the antidepressant nortriptyline and a low-dose of the beta-blocker Inderal, which successfully prevented migraines, and I noticed at the time that I felt more balanced–less anxious. So I’m kind of looking forward to a little more sleep, a little less screamy-crazy mom (uh, that would be me), so that I can better manage my kids, my job, and my life.

About the Author

Colleen

This is a blog where I will share my adventures and mundane tasks as a work-out-of-home-mom. I now have 2 kids and my wonderful husband, so the juggling has gotten a little bit more tricky (man-on-man defense). We also have 2 dogs and 3 cats (we used to have 4) so as you can imagine, our household is pretty busy. Since I never feel like I'm being listened to, I figured I'll just start talking at the general Internet community and see what happens.

5 Comments

Nicole

Oh, the Why’s! Maren has taken the asking of why to a new level, and I swear there are days I want to puncture my eardrums with a dull spoon just to end it. I hope the new medication works for you! I just went to the doctor yesterday to have her confirm for me that if 50 mg is good, 100 mg is better.

Reply
Natalie

Funny…when I was in college I was on a very similar cocktail for my migraines (only I also was taking Topamax at a very high dose). Lately, I’ve had a very hard time sleeping like you. I know see that the only reason I slept well back then was because of the drugs!!

Hope your doc can figure this out for you. 🙂

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Dana

This sounds exactly like one of the bad days I had this week. Having a cold/allergy thing, I’ve had no patience for any of my son’s temper tantrums and constant whining. Add that to me not sleeping well and we could commiserate for days.

Hang in there….it can only get better, right?

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Valerie

I totally thought I had your email address, but then I couldn’t find it…so I thought it was on your blog, but its now!

Anyway, since the kiddos are two now, and you have already “been there, done that” with a kid…what is your take on potty training? I am just curious since our daycare is attempting to start it today with Morgan. Can you tell I am nervous about it, and not quite ready for her to grow up yet!

Glad to hear Gavin is okay…what a scary ordeal!

-Valerie

Oh and your contact me thing doesn’t seem to work either! = )

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Krissa

Yeaaaa for you! That is great! I want some of all of that stuff. Actually I need to make an appointment for me to go and get a different antidepressant as the one I am on isn’t really working that well anymore.

Reply

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