First Four-Twenty Lounge: a sanctuary for when it's too early in the morning

[CarolKing]

Well, I've had a really rough week: probably some of the worst nights I've had in a long time. But lots of great progress made this week that I cannot complain, really. Got a new futon mattress to put down on the floor in the bedroom. I'm sleeping in the same room with my wife, even if I'm on a dog bed on the floor, so that's a good thing. The top neurosurgeon in Seattle told me that he wouldn't do surgery on me for quite some time, as I may benefit from an implanted spinal cord stimulator. But I've got to wait until February to even meet with the Borg Collective representative to schedule my assimilation date.

The weirdest and worst thing happened two nights ago. I woke up needing to go to the bathroom. With my butt full of cannabis oil suppositories and constipation from increased pain meds, I discovered my wife had forgotten to change the toilet paper roll in the middle of the night. So I went to the guest bathroom, but discovered that the sick cat isolated in there had diarrhea outside the box that had to be cleaned up. Since I cannot bend or reach like I used to, when I am in the most pain scooping litter boxes means that I need to take off my clothes because my knees, shins, backs of my feet, and toes are going to have to touch the floor immediately next to the litter box. Even with good cats, this means that you end up having to sit in scattered and possibly used cat litter until the job is finished. I lost it when my wife told me that waking up and taking a shower at 2 in the morning was unacceptable. The increased pain and two weeks without decent sleep had me sundowning and unable to understand that people around me were not creating booby traps to hurt and torture me. The good thing is that my wife works with blind veterans who are working through the process of being newly disabled, so even though I made her cry, she knew that it was not really me yelling at her in the middle of the night and that this was the only way I was able to really explain that my pain was really greater than anybody knew.

I feel terrible for yelling at my sweet wife in the middle of the night, as this is just not remotely close to our normal communication. Have to say that being loved by someone who can still love you when you are yelling at them irrationally is a pretty good thing. However, I have to admit that I am secretly pleased that I think that I have won the decade long battle to convince her that replacing the toilet paper is the broken up thing to do, onsidering that she is in there all the time and uses 95% of what gets used in the house. I suspect she eats the stuff!!!!

Morning vape of Pink Haze and listening to the Temptations. . . herbal tea didn't settle my stomach, but I have an untouched forest berry pie that came or of the oven last night.

@ChippyMalone have you thought or tried acupuncture? I was a sceptic, it helped me for a while. It's a series of treatments, it took about five sessions before I noticed any improvement. Each session is between 40 to 60 min. It's not something that's quick. My insurance covered part of the fee.

 

[ChippyMalone]

@Enchantre I will have to try the not talking thing. I do talk to myself more than my wife is comfortable with, but I've read that psychologists say that smart people often talk to themselves when they are alone and that it is more a sign of someone with an active brain than anything else.

I'm just fine with orphanage grade toilet paper, so I have jokingly threatened to find the most cardboard-like abraisive gas station paper and replace her empty roll with it so that I can ensure that there will always be something within reach. Ha!

@CarolKing I have an accupuncturist's number and am calling on monday. I'm hoping the doc on Wednesday will write scripts for anything and everything she can think of like more serious PT massage, accupuncture. I think my insurance pays for a bit of alternative stuff, but we are looking into it.

 

[Enchantre]

I'm currently cooling a batch of cacao butter & bho suppositories.... figured I'd just try something meant to work.

A half gram of shatter went into enough CB for 14 of them. As I can get shatter at the market today (Paulie G's) for $20 a gram, not a bad investment if it works.

 

[grokit]

I can't wait to try shatter, should be this year sometime for sure

@ChippyMalone hope the futon works for you. ... i needed weeks of dedicated flipping&beating to get mine just right. .. but the improvement was nearly immediate.

For myself, a futon wasn't the answer but a thermarest-type foam mattress was

 

[Enchantre]

For myself, a futon wasn't the answer but a thermarest-type foam mattress was

Oh, we had one of those, early on. Between hubby's blown disk, and my arthritis & hip damage, that was not working for either of us. We've done a few changes over the years, but the futons are working the best, so far.

My batch of unmentionables has set up nicely at room temperature - I love that about cacao butter - and I'm ready to gently shape them into something friendlier, and layer them in parchment paper in a CVault.

I'll thumb up or down as the experiment progresses.

 

[ChippyMalone]

For myself, a futon wasn't the answer but a thermarest-type foam mattress was

It's actually a memory foam mattress, but thin enough and to work great for my intended purpose. The memory foam seems to keep my lumbar spine and hips aligned right and the mattress is so thin that the next thing under a bit of compressed foam is the floor for solid support. I don't know for how long it will help, but good sleep is nice. @Enchantre I'll be looking forward to hearing about your special little chocolates.

 

[clukx]

I'm smoking a little late today guys but I'm here I need a memory foam top as well I ritually wake up and start tossing and turning about 45 minutes before my alarm goes off

 

[Enchantre]

Up at 2:40... hot flash city... vaping did nothing.. dabbing did nothing... no sleep was gotten after... much tossing and turning and swearing ensued....

and still, I will attempt to make it to work. Coffee is my friend.

 

[ChippyMalone]

@Enchantre I don't know how you do it. I hope you make it through your Monday.

I feel asleep at six, woke up at midnight, Vaped for a couple hours in the new cave, and then back to bed before First 4:20. Taking a big rest day to do nothing but feed pets and myself.

 

[Enchantre]

I made it through my day. Came home, dabbed a little Afghan Kush, and applied a little alternate oil treatment (no results I could discern from last night's attempt. Will go for two tonight...).

Half of my co-workers seem to be sleep-deprived. I think it's SOP for call centers.

 

[ChippyMalone]

@Enchantre we should start a call center that hires dabbed out MMJ patients who work from home.

 

[clukx]

I'm up! Just finished getting ready now a little vape before I warm up the car and head out 427 am here in Michigan

 

[ChippyMalone]

4:06 and I'm awake, but I slept four hours early evening and another three later until just now. Wife wakes up in an hour for an early day. It was a rough night, but I came out of it better than we had hoped with the new vaping cave and sleeping options.

So this First Four-Twenty is going to be a pleasant one. I found a jar labeled LA Cheese with about a gram of really stinky sugary bud that may or may not be what is labeled. Mixed with some Organic Mechanic grown kief for a really sticky morning Vape in the E-Nano. Have to turn up the temp to melt through the gooey goo clogging the screen.

Today I am doing nothing but taking care of myself, even if it means staying in bed watching the new HD remaster of Little House on the Prarie.

 

[Enchantre]

Last night wasn't too awful.. I've discovered that I haven't been vaping/dabbing ENOUGH to quell the hot flashes.

Who fucking knew?

Anyway, I did end up dabbing at 3-fucking-am to beat down another power surge and get my last 2-ish hours of sleep. Woke up not feeling too bad, and I was functional at work. Barely. It helps that I know my stuff, and my callers usually don't.

Oh, and I think it's a bust on the suppositories... I'm either not absorbing, or the nerve impairment is just overriding any benefit. I may try a different batch at another time. On the bright side, I have pure kush in cacao butter, and I can make cookies!

 

[ChippyMalone]

@Enchantre I was so hoping to hear of your little special chocolate kisses worked. I don't truly know if mine did much, but there is definitely something to be said for being able to do something yourself to help yourself. When there is nothing left, I can still
Rub some coconut oil where it hurts and know that I made something to try to help myself.

Time to go work on that Harlequin CO2 oil I picked up finally.

 

[ChippyMalone]

I made it to about 3am on the dog bed futon thing on the floor. I slept for a few hours, vaped some of that CBD oil, and then slept until 3. But it's been nothing but tears and hash oil the past hour and a half or so, and as First 4:20 arrives, I'm one broken dude.

I see my pain doc first thing this morning and I have no idea how it is going to go except that im 99% sure I will break down crying at some point. Standing here in this house with no seating or sleeping surfaces that are truly comfortable is rapidly testing my sanity.

My latest contraption is a folded quilt on top of a folded quilt on top of a patched camping air mattress on top of a thick yoga mat. I can lay on my stomach and rest my head on a folded towel somewhat like a massage table except for the fact that it's not comfortable either despite spending thirty minutes crying on the floor folding quilts thinking that if I did it perfectly enough I could finally get some rest.

The dishes are piling up in the kitchen because the dishwasher is full of dishes I cannot reach and my wife is tooo tired after work and caring for me to deal with. So now I even fail at being disabled house husband who keeps the house together at least. And admitting that I cannot even use a dishwasher anymore to save time and effort is too much for me to think about right now.

Literally the only piece of furniture that works for me in this house is this garage work bench I stand at to vape and look at the internet.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

 

[Enchantre]

Yup. it does suck at times. most of the time, for some things.

Have you gone to the mall and tried laying on all the beds in the mattress stores? sleep number, etc.... not that any of them worked for me, but it might be a fun outing.

Try a couple of firm pillows to lay on face down (if this is possible with your back - it worked for hubby's), with your upper chest just kinda off them... so you will look a LOT like a turtle... arms down around the sides, like a soft hug.. knees just resting on the bed/floor/mat surface, no pressure. We have kapok pillows, but I would think anything with a good stable feel will work. Hubby would get a couple of hours of sleep-ish-ness, before he'd have to move again.

Just a thought.

 

[ChippyMalone]

@Enchantre We've been in search of the perfect bed for a long time. We are on our second Sleep Number air bed and have a firm memory foam mattress in the guest room. Plus the new cheap and thin memory foam twin on the floor for the futon sort of thing.

My brother told me about a hospital bed he had last summer which had a bunch of separately inflatable cells that automatically filled and deflated in some random way to keep the body always slightly in motion to prevent bed sores and muscle atrophy from laying still. He said they may have a home version. Whoever sells me the next bed is going to have to be willing to actually take the damn thing back after 90 days if it doesn't work and they use that sort of sales pitch.

The best solution is simply to get my pain under control so that beds and chairs work for me without so much effort. At least the pain doc actually heard me today and was willing to help me shift gears and design a completely new pain management and physical therapy plan. I may not have gotten everything I wanted, but just to feel that I had a voice that was heard and that I had a say in the decisions that needed to be made felt really good.

 

[Enchantre]

was up at 2 a.m. And noticed that my plant light was still on so we spent a little while at 2 in the morning getting the timer all corrected...
then of course the only way I was going to go back to sleep was to dad again and it worked I slept all the way to 6. I was amazed.

 

[Magic9]

3:13.

Fuck sleep. It's lonely in here though.

 

[beach bum]

Ok...it's 4:21am...

Do you know where your FC'ers are? (I'm a sucker for those commercials)

Another early morning. Sorry for others who have this problem also. I agree @Magic9, fuck sleep.

 

[Magic9]

Late night for me. I should be watching a little TV, and trying to relax, but I'm a little too wired for that right now.

You guys warm down there @beach bum? I'd love to take a warm night stroll/drive. It's cold as shit here. Better than it's been, but still too cold to enjoy it.

 

[ChippyMalone]

Early here, only 1:43 but I had to get up our risk further enraging a sleepy spouse.

It can be an adjustment to say the least to adapt to a life that is not 9-5, five days a week when you never know if you will sleep or how you might feel a few hours from now.

I had an awesome first appointment with an acupuncturist yesterday and have some new hope for avoiding more titanium implants. He spent over an hour with me showing me all my genetic and acquired anatomical quirks. He taight me how to make accommodations to be able to bend at the waist like a normal person with a back that is made of titanium and dead people's bones: something my physical therapists never bothered to try.

Before he ever stuck me with a needle, he accomplished more functional and useful physical therapy than an entire year of typical PT. I'm sure as shit firing my PM first thing in the morning.

 

[beach bum]

Yep, it was a warm night @Magic9. And muggy too! Bet the bugs were out in full force. Would have been ok for a drive, but not sure about the stroll part.

This not sleeping stuff is for the birds (apparently the one that wants the worm...which isn't me!). Gotta go find some caffeine and prop myself up for the day.

 

[bleak]

Hope you feel better T-Dub! I'm the same way, I need to medicate at least an hour before bed, and have at least an hour to let the effects settle. For this hour, I usually watch whatever garbage is on TV, or surf the web.

Looking at screens right before you sleep can mess up your circadian rhythm. Electronic screens produce a lot of blue light, which forces your brain into daytime mode, stopping production of melatonin and other stuff that helps you sleep. To make your brain change over to nighttime mode, you need low light in orange/red tones. This works because the eyes are connected directly to the pineal gland which is responsible for melatonin and various hormones.

Experts suggest no screens for 1 hour before sleep. If you want to surf the net before bed, use an e-ink/e-book device and a bedside lamp with a soft orange-ish bulb.

Something else that helps some people is wearing blue-blocking sunglasses for a few hours before bed, which make everything look orange:
http://forum.bulletproofexec.com/index.php?/topic/2072-blue-light-blocking-glasses/

If your sleep is interrupted, avoid looking at bright lights, phones etc. Looking at blue light will make your brain start kicking over to daytime mode, producing wake up hormones like cortisol etc. You'll find it hard/impossible to get back to sleep once this happens. If you need a light to get around the house, use a soft orange/red light, wear the sunglasses etc, just avoid electronic screens and bright lights in general.

EDIT: Haven't seen it mentioned in this thread, so also wanted to mention the importance of COMPLETE DARKNESS in your bedroom. Get thick curtains that block 100% of incoming light. Tape over any LCD's on your devices that cannot be turned off. Any light in the room can interfere with your sleep.