Hypocoma

Sleep is my mortal enemy.  It regularly screws me over.

Over the past two weeks, I've slowly turned work into a graveyard shift.  Get up at 5 PM, go to bed at 9 AM.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  What a mess!  Sometimes I feel absolutely incapable of normal human functioning.  So I decided to fix that on Friday.  I had to get up relatively early and got about six hours of sleep.  I decided to forgo work, pushing it back to today, in order to get back on a day schedule.  I went to bed around 11 PM and woke up around 9 AM today.  Perfect!  Now to work.

This is where my hypothyroidism laughs maniacally, saying "That's what you think."

I should have known the minute I got up that something was wrong.  I slept for ten hours straight without budging after going to bed early.  It should have been a huge warning sign.  But I happily ignored it for as long as I could - which was about an hour.

Then it hit me like a pound of bricks.  I was not only tired - I was absolutely exhausted.  Yawning with my eyes watering, cold and shivering, and my eyelids would not stay open.  I don't even remember going back to bed.

Then I woke up at around 8 PM.  A whopping 10 more hours later.

This is the side of my hypothyroidism that I absolutely abhor with all my being.  Despite being on good medication, taking my Omega-3's, my vitamins and my supplements, nothing makes it go away.  There's that day, usually once a month, where I simply sleep forever without meaning to.  I call it a hypocoma.

This was a mild hypocoma at 20 hours, unless I make it to 9 PM and can't keep my eyes open again.  Then it'll be relatively normal.  Most of my hypocomas will last around 24 hours on top of a normal 8-hour sleep.  Just ask my best friend.

Last year, I decided to take a break from the hell of 2012 to visit her about 500 miles away.  She was desperate for a new entertainment system, so we went to IKEA for one.  We woke up fairly early and it only took us a few hours.

The minute we got home, something was wrong.  I was tired and cold; I could feel it coming on.  I fell asleep on the couch watching TV within 30 minutes of making it back in.  Not only did I fall sleep sitting up, but I was slouched over to the side with my arms and head on the armrest.  It was not comfortable and no normal human being should be able to fall asleep that way, but I did.

I woke up briefly for my friend's curry, then fell back asleep - almost with the bowl in hand if someone wouldn't have woken me to put it away!  They then pulled apart the entertainment system, vacuumed in front of me, put the new entertainment system together complete with knocking, put both my dog and her dog out for a bathroom break and went to the store.  I didn't wake up for any of it.  I slept through the night and woke up the next afternoon going "Holy hell, what happened?"

I slept for 24 hours on top of normal sleep slouched over and  through all sorts of noise without budging.

I haven't found a solution to this problem.  When I had my one year of insurance, I should have gone to an endocrinologist.  Unfortunately, with no insurance, that won't be happening.  I've tried all sorts of diets, supplements and folk remedies trying to fix this issue with no luck.  I'm doomed to waste one day a month sleeping my life away at this point, and it's very frustrating.

That being said, my eyes are starting to weigh.  At this point, I've lost the day anyway, so I might as well surrender to the hypocoma and finish off my sleep.  I suppose I'll work tomorrow with no weekend this round.  Not very fair, body.  Not very fair.