Good grief, a rant

This is a bit of a rant and if you don't care to read about other people's health issues, then best to skip this one. And I don't blame you.

I've had an ongoing battle with insomnia, worsening as I get older. The sleeping pill zopiclone works for me, more or less, but almost universally doctors don't like to prescribe it longterm. I've managed to read a couple of medical journal articles saying that for lack of anything else workable it's okay, but most of them say don't do it no matter what, and trot out statistical studies about falling down, dementia, etc etc. For me, it's the first thing I've tried that has no side effects and leaves me more or less refreshed in the morning. I can eke out 6-7 hours of sleep from one tablet. I'd rather have 8 hours, but so it goes.

My doctor is not happy with me using this drug. She keeps suggesting alternatives, most of which I have already tried or just don't apply. She sent me for a "sleep study" to see if I have sleep apnea, but I don't so no CPAP machine for me (thank the gods). Last week she said she wanted to switch me to an anti-depressant with a drowsiness side effect. I said I had run out of zopiclone so could I get a few more and I would try the anti-depressant, which she agreed to.

The doc also said she wanted to see me in person because she was worried about my blood pressure (high twice on office visits earlier in the year) so I should make an appointment, I agreed to that. However the doctor is part of a clinic that is moving office, and as these things do, it has gone horribly awry. Long story short, I can't get through to the receptionist to make an appointment, and after a bunch of attempts I gave up. The doc phoned in a prescription for three months worth of the zopiclone and a handful of the anti-depressant pills to try, so I figured I had a bit of time before I needed to make that appointment. Also I borrowed a friend's blood pressure monitor and tried it; all the readings were normal, averaging 130-135/75-80. High end of normal, but nothing to get excited about.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, there was a notice posted on my door that they would be shutting off the water the next morning to do repairs on a broken water main valve, and I should stock up on water for the day. Fine, no problem, I can do this. I took the first half-tablet of the anti-depressant that night, figuring that I would do the stocking up in the morning because I usually rise at 6 and the shutoff wasn't until 8. What could go wrong?

First of all, I slept in. On seeing the time I rushed out of bed to start filling buckets and jars with water, but the water pressure was down to a trickle, apparently they didn't wait until 8 to shut off the water.

Second of all, the anti-depressant knocked me for a loop. I was physically awake but pretty non-functional. That in combination with the lack of tap water (or toilet water or anything) made breakfast prep a gong show. Everything that could go wrong, did. I finally managed a piece of toast and a small cup of really bad coffee.

On the upside, they turned the water back on after only a couple of hours. I talked to one of the town maintenance guys and he said there were two broken valves and since they didn't know what they would be getting into until they dug down to them, they thought they would tackle them one at a time. The first one was an easy fix, they would be doing the second one the next day.

We're in a heat wave, actually a whole series of heat waves. My heat pump serves as an air conditioner and normally I don't use that function much, but this year I have. So, since the water was back on I thought it was time to clean the filters, a monthly task that I had kind of neglected. To my horror there was black mould growing on them. Frantically I am calling the company that installed the heat pump to get it "deep cleaned", they are not answering their phone and I go straight to voice mail. I call another company and they make an appointment for me but it's not until mid-August because they say everyone around is running into this problem, it has been an unusually humid summer. Then the first company calls me back and they make an appointment for me at the end of August, same reason. I decide that whichever one gets here first I'll go with, they both promise to slot me in if a cancellation comes up.

Then I think, oh, I am really stressed, I wonder if it will show up on the blood pressure monitor. Sure enough, 158/86. I took a few more readings over the afternoon and after several hours it was back down to normal, 135/80. But the anti-depressant, oh my gods, that is just getting worse. I am in a daze, dizzy, light-headed, lethargic, burning eyes sensitive to light. Every time I sit down I just want to nod off. I can just barely get the motivation together to take Hapi for her morning walk. And the time just drags, the first day after taking the anti-depressant was the longest day ever.

The second morning was not much better. I did my water stocking up the night before, but they never turned off the water the next day. Turns out there was another water main emergency elsewhere that took precedence so they never got back to the second broken water valve, and won't until sometime middle of next week. With the tap water still on I was able to make breakfast without incident but I really had to concentrate to do it. Things that I normally do automatically just weren't happening. In the late afternoon I stopped by a friend's place and sat on her front porch staring at the trees while she got me a glass of water. The trees danced. Oh my gods, I am hallucinating. By evening I had a headache, still dizzy, still light-headed, still lethargic. I have to be careful turning my head, if I do it too quickly I lose my balance, the world just whizzes around me.

The headache is still there this morning, my eyes aren't exactly burning but they feel funny. I am still light-headed. All this from a half-tablet three days ago. But it's true, I can sleep like the dead now, just not sure the cost is worth it.

One of these days I'll try to get an appointment with the doctor, maybe the clinic's move will settle down soon.