WOW! Talk about a heavy hit from a drug! Now that I am awake, now that all the effects of the Zopiclone have worn off, I can look back and see how powerful that drug really is, especially in the right circumstances. Sunday night was the perfect storm of circumstances.
Sunday was a modest day when it began. The whole toenail thing amped me up a bit, but beyond that there was nothing too serious. In fact I felt well enough to attack a bunch of different chores. I did laundry, two loads, during which I had to move the dryer and re-attach the dryer hose. Try that from a wheelchair; it sort of got half ass done. I noticed later it was detached again. Oh well. Nonetheless, the laundry got sorted, washed, and dried.
Then came the kitchen. It was just too messy for me. I needed it to be tidied up. So while the laundry was in the laundry, I put away dishes, re-organized some shelves, and tidied the fridge. I also did a bit of tidying in the living room. It was all easy, simple stuff. None of it, on it's own, would be enough to tire me out. All of it combined was a bit wearing, but not too much, or so I thought.
I also had to clean the bathroom floor a bit. In my morning ablutions, I had made a stain on the floor. I wiped it up, but only served to push nasty stuff into the grout between my tiles. So I got the mop and scrubbed as best I could, until I could scrub no more. The rest would have to, and did have to, wait for Kathy the next day.
As the evening tired and I awaited laundry, I started to watch The Keepers on Netflix. Alongside the laptop, from whence I watched, stood a lovely bottle of Glenlivet single malt Scotch. So, over the space of three hours, some dealing with laundry and the rest just sitting, I had three, no more, glasses of Scotch. It was now midnight. I wasn't really sleepy, although I was very tired. It's a problem I have a lot. It's a problem I can solve with Zopiclone.
Normally I take one tablet. When I get to a state where sleep refuses to come, where I am tired but cannot shut things down, where my body wants to stop but my brain refuses, I will take one and a half tablets. Sometimes even that won't do the trick. Those times I just give up and do my best.
Sunday night I took one and half Zopliclone tablets. For some, this is a normal dosage. For me, this is a heavy hit. And boy did it hit heavy. After the usual 20 to 30 minutes of wait time, the Zopiclone hit. I was out, for the whole night, rock solid sleep. I must have been really physically tired, but my brain didn't get it, until it was too late and I was in the grips of deep, hypnotized sleep.
When Kathy came in on Monday morning, she woke me up for a moment to let me know she was here and about to start cleaning my apartment. I said something about the stain in the bathroom and watering the flowers. Then I went back to sleep. When she came in an hour later, I tried to wake up but simply could not do it.
I tried to lift my head to look at her, and said "I feel like I've been drugged." She replied, "You have been drugged, and you are tired. You need to sleep." That's the last thing I remember until about 4:00 PM that afternoon, when I realized I needed my pills. No Zopiclone. Then I awoke again at 6:30, desperate to use the toilet. I slinged up, got on the commode chair, and used the toilet. I ate some sandwiches Kathy had left for me, and then went right back to bed. I put on clean underwear and fell asleep.
At 9:00 PM, I awoke again. I had to pee. I also had to take my evening pills. So I did. Oddly enough I knew my body was finally waking up, something I did not want to happen at 9:00 PM at night. So I took one, and only one, Zopiclone tablet. Once again I went down hard. I woke up a couple of times to pee, but I had no real wakefulness until about 7:00 AM this morning. I stayed in bed, resting until Kathy came at 9:00 AM.
I'm up now. I feel awake. The continual tiredness of ALS has not left me, nor do I have any excess of energy. But I feel okay, like I slept well last night... and all day yesterday... and the night before. I'm not sure I want to do that again.
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