I couldn’t sleep last night. I woke up at 6am with a scratchy throat, my eyes hurt, my head and stomach ached and my nose was all stuffed up. It was terrible and in my 6am sleepy stupor I thought about the day ahead of me… I had absolutely nothing planned. So, naturally, I decided to go back to bed. I shut my eyes and with every noisy, irritating click of the loud radiator in my room the pains and aches I was experiencing seemed to amplify. There was no way I would be falling back asleep anytime soon. I got up, grabbed some water, went to get something for my throat and my eyes fell upon a little bottle sitting on the medicine shelf, next to the cough drops. Tylenol PM. Tylenol… PM. The help you feel sleepy pills…. It’s 6AM…. the bottle says PM… but I have nothing planned… But I want to sleep all day…. But… Well… Maybe… I considered the decision I was about to make, I heard the orchestral sounds of the music of a heaven sent gift, the letters on the bottle of pills were illuminated and flashing as I stared down the goods and took a step forward. Throwing caution to the wind, I sucked down two pills and gleefully jumped back into bed.
Eyelids heavy, I slowly lift my head off the pillow and look around in a groggy state. What time is it? What day is it? What am I late for? My brain is whirring and I remember waking up earlier in the morning, taking the medicine. I grab my phone. 2pm. 8 hours. I slept for 8 hours. My entire body feels a little numb, I have the droopy-slept-too-long tingles, my arm is a little sore from sleeping with it in a strange position and not moving at all, but… I. Feel. Good. I feel remarkably well rested and lounge around the house for a few hours. Somehow, by 4:30pm I start to feel a little tired. I lay down for a minute and bam, I’m out. Another 2 and half hours of sleep later, It’s almost 7pm and I wake up shocked to have fallen asleep again! I get up and this time, feel no after affects of over sleeping – no tingles, no numbness. I shake off the sleepies and go about my night.
I spent nearly an entire day asleep today. It felt good… but not good… I got a lot of rest that I needed… but it’s now 3:20 am and I’m wide awake. Tylenol PM – you are still my friend but I think I’ll stick to the occasional nightly dose.
