Sick; also tired
Sometime around this past Sunday or Monday, I developed a sore throat; also, half my nose is clogged up, and I'm coughing occasionally. Which made me unhappy, but wasn't such a big deal, especially compared to the Death Flu that everyone else has been getting.
Until I tried to sleep.
For the past four nights, it's gone like this for most of the night (with each cycle lasting maybe a minute or two):
- Start to drift off.
- Startle awake at a small noise coming from my throat.
- Realize I'm holding my breath.
- Start breathing.
- Repeat.
When this kind of thing has happened in the past, NyQuil has gotten me over the threshold into sleep. And/or sleeping sitting up.
This week, nothing's helped. NyQuil, valerian, sitting up, cough drops, elevating my head, anything else I can think of. I tried digging out my Ambien last night, but couldn't find it, and anyway I'm not sure it's a great idea to take Ambien if what's waking me up is lack of breathing. (Though I'm not sure that's what's happening.)
Each night, I've apparently eventually gotten some actual sleep, 'cause there's a period between around 4 a.m. and around 9 or 10 a.m. each night that I don't remember, and because I'm still vaguely functional during the day. But I've gotten groggier and groggier as the week's gone on.
According to various medical sites, the main things to do for a sore throat are drink lots of liquids and get lots of sleep. And wait for your body to deal with it.
I'm hoping the sleep part of that is optional.