Personal Blog:: Sleeping with Darth Vader 8/5/10

August 5th, 2010
My phone says August 6th, 2010, but I am going to be talking about August 5th, 2010. I’m just leaving In & Out Burger located in Orem Utah. The time is now 12:45am. I actually just drove around a whole bunch. Truth be told, I just had sex with my husband and that was GREAT!! Afterward I was so restless and had to go for a drive. I just want to say, I love him so much! But that isn’t what I wanted to talk about tonight.
I don’t know I drove around I went to Wal-Mart, and I walked around and looked at stuff. And all the while I was just thinking how wonderful things are and I am so glad for lots of stuff. OH MY GOSH! First my wonderful husband who came home and I totally told him, “Alright, tonight we are having sex!” I don’t know what prompted me to say it. I guess I was going thru withdrawals or something. It might have been due to the fact that he was cursing in the car today, and I got turned on by it. I couldn’t get that tough guy image out of my head, all the while doing errands. I just keep thinking I wanted to jump him. Isn’t that wild?? Well, I did, and of course it was good! It was more than good, it was great!!
I almost forgot to tell you, he has this new V-Pap or C-Pap Machine. It looks a lot like in Star Wars, when Darth Vadar is wearing the oxygen mask when was flying around in his plane, jet, or his whatever spaceship thingy, and he is shooting at Luke Skywalker. Well, it totally looks like that, but it was clear, and it helps him to breath at night. I know I have talked to you before and I had told you about how we went to a sleep clinic. And we had met that really old lady, that REALLY, REALLY, OLD LADY. She told him he has to have this PAP machine in order to breath. So, he just got it the other day, and one night I got up to pee and when I came back, I just watched him, and it was strange to see it one him. Now I don’t have to worry about whether he is going to stop breath at night.
When we first got married, during the night he would stop breathing, and I would shake him and be like “HEY! You're not breathing!” He would always just mumble something and go back to sleep. Well, I kind of got used to it and I think during the night I don’t fully sleep well, because he isn’t breathing. So, my body automatically like hits him or punches him or does something like that and it keeps him breathing at night. Now that he has this C-pap thing, I think I’m going to sleep better at nights. Which brings me to a crazy thought. Why am I out driving around when I should be at home sleeping… with my husband.
Well after Wal-Mart I thought “hummmmm”, you know what sounds really good is, In & Out burger. So, I stopped by and got a hamburger and of course their French Fries. I was really craving their French Fries, oh and a Dr. Pepper. Sorry, I got sidetracked.
Back to what I was saying. I’m so glad he had this thing to help him breath at night. But I don’t know, I would think it is uncomfortable. It’s like I just described a Darth Vader mask over his face when he was in that spaceship. He wears that at night, and I’m like I don’t think I can handle something covering my face at night. Because it would be like someone covering your mouth, well it is actually something literally covering his mouth. I don’t know, that would be strange, but I’m glad, I’m glad. Because I don’t need to worry so much, I don’t have to wake up thinking “OH MY GOSH is my husband dead?” Because I don’t want him dead, I love him. He’s like… he’s like AWESOME!! But I’m… I don’t know he is awesome; he is really great. I love him, and he is… Oh My Gosh I’m going to start crying so I better stop talking about this. We'll let me talk about something else.
My daughter

Ambien and sleepwalking

A reader recently described getting out of bed and walking one night after she had used Ambien (also called zolpidem) to help her sleep. In fact, it is now fairly well accepted that Ambien and other sleeping agents can cause “sleepwalking.” A lot of interest was given to a report from Dr. Mark Mahowald that he and colleagues had a series of patients who seemed to not only sleep walk but also to eat while taking Ambien—with no memory of it. Certain types of eating in the night (sleep-related eating disorder) seem to be a type of sleepwalking during which the person gets out of bed and eats but has no memory of it. The eating is different from “having a snack” to aid in getting back to sleep in that this eating is more compulsory and sometimes strange—like biting an onion. Most of us who have been seeing patients with sleep problems have examples of Ambien producing many types of behavior which can be problematic because the person is, well, basically, half asleep. I have a lady who drove her car for over an hour, and then woke up having parked it and had no memory whatsoever of how she got there. I have another young woman who flooded her bathroom quite severely after apparently taking a bath but leaving the water on. So, it pays to remember that sleeping pills can have side effects, especially if someone is alone and might stumble out of bed or into a car (eg Patrick Kennedy). When starting on sleeping pills you should begin with the lowest doses and increase if necessary. You should be sure that you are in a safe place (not sleeping on the balconey), not mix with alcohol and take the pill only right before going to bed. Used carefully, for many people, Ambien is a very safe sleeping pill. J. Steven Poceta is a licensed practitioner of neurology and sleep disorders who has been engaged by Revolution Health. No information in this blog is intended to diagnose or treat any condition. The opinions expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of Revolution Health.

Steve Poceta MD

Personal Blog:: Sleepwalking though my day on Ambien... YIKES!!! 8/21/10

Well today is quite a boring day, but yet busy.  Let's see I woke up at 2 am and could not go back to sleep.  But the problem was it wasn't me.  I have been taking this medication called Ambien and it is doing crazy things to me.  I wake up to find that I ate all the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups from the freezer.  I then question my daughter and she denied the act.  Well, it turns out she was really telling the truth and I AM the one eating them.  Well last night it was like a dream.  I could see myself walking out of the bedroom and into the living room.  I got on the computer then don't remember much after that. I woke up and checked my internet history.  Turns out I deleted 700+ people on my twitter account.  I was following tons of people just from the Utah County.  I guess for some reason I wanted to know what was happening around the Utah County area, so sue me.  Well, I guess my other me decided I needed a change.  So strange how I did this without realizing it.  I'm trying to wrap my brain around it, but it keeps baffling me.  Kinda like I have a split personality.  I have found myself walking around outside in the middle of the night and then I woke up.  I was shaken and surprised but got myself home.  I climbed back into bed and went on with my day.