Sleepless in Singapore

In all fairness I must say I am sauntering through menopause with far more ease than a number of women I know. So my daughters, you might not have it too bad either.

I've managed to keep the weight gain somewhat at bay, the mood swings haven't been drastic and the weepy phase coincided with a tough time so I didn't quite know for sure whether I was menopausal-depressive or just sad :) Thankfully, there have been no drenching hot flashes either and all that happens is that the tips of my ears turn red and feel so warm I am sometimes concerned they might glow. The days when I made silly mistakes and felt disoriented used to disturb me, until I read 'Hot Flashes From Heaven', the comforting book J bought me. Since then I have learnt to just tell people around me that "I'm having a Brain Fog Day" and then just live with the wool in the brain for that day :)

The one effect that has finally gotten me is the insomnia. I don't have a problem falling asleep, but I can't stay asleep. I wake up in the wee hours of the morning and then can't fall back asleep.

I began the battle by stopping coffee and tea after lunch. And yes, I do exercise. Then I tried a number of pillows and now I have 1 water pillow, 3 neck support pillows and still will the clock hands to move at night. I have done the warm-bath-before-bed thing, the milk-before-bed-thing and the deep-breathing-while-thinking-pleasant-thoughts thing.

Apparently there are some saintly women who take this sleeplessness in their stride and are glad for the hours of sleeplessness and use these extra hours to read and pray. I am not one of them.

Finally it was time to see a doctor and he gave me a magic blue pill which was the best invention of man ever! I had great sleep and my family (and friends I travelled with) had great fun because I would fall asleep suddenly in the middle of various tasks (reading a book, sms-ing), sitting down, and had to be put to bed by the kind souls around me. But the supply ran out and M said that the wonderful blue pill would cause memory loss - so that ended 10 nights of blissful sleep.

For the past week, I have been sleepless, bordering on depression, grouchy and rudely yawning through meetings, workshops and dinners with friends.

But things are looking more promising. I have had a number of  people offer me remedies - two friends pray for me (especially Jeremiah 31:25!) one friend brought me herbal tea, one colleague skyped his mother in Canada to ask for remedies to my sleeplessness (valarian root!), my ex-boss brought me his wife's natural sleep pills (hahahahaha) and my niece made her doc friend prescribe me medication :)

So I feel hopeful. I have new options to try! Maybe, I shall sleep again!