As a perimenopausal woman, I can tell you that getting a good night’s rest has been the biggest challenge. I’m not sure why I could dance and drink all night in my 20s and not feel half as bad as I do as a 45-year-old woman who gets two hours of sleep (with no alcohol in her system). But this is my truth.
I never had trouble catching some z's in the past, but that has all changed and it has been throwing off my entire day.
What’s been happening as of late is I’ve been having sleep anxiety
If you’ve ever had a night when you start to panic and count down the hours of how much sleep you are going to get because you can’t fall asleep, you know what I’m talking about. It’s not fun.
I’ve tried Tylenol PM, and instead of putting my head to sleep, it put my body to sleep and left my mind racing. I remember getting up to go to the bathroom the first time I took it, and my arms and chest felt so heavy, like I could barely move, yet my mind was wide awake.
Melatonin gives me nightmares, so I had to quit that too.
Recently, while sleeping at my boyfriend’s house, the clock was ticking away, and I went from being kind of tired to wide awake. I tried to read something that always used to help me, but it wasn’t working.
I got up to write an article, thinking that when I was done I’d definitely be able to go to sleep, but nothing. I googled ways to fall asleep. I counted sheep. I counted backwards. I counted all the times I’ve made an ass of myself.
Nothing was working.
My boyfriend was sleeping soundly beside me thanks to his prescription of trazodone, which always helped him fall asleep in two seconds.
I got desperate and reached for my boyfriend's pills
It was almost 2 in the morning, and I had to be up at 6 to start my day. My mind was racing and I know myself well enough to know when I’m not going to fall asleep. And even though I’d never taken anything like this before, and I hadn’t forgotten my night with Tylenol PM, I tried it anyway.
I laid there waiting for it to work, when out of nowhere my heart started pounding and I got a blinding headache. The more I tried to relax, the harder it became. My body felt cold and my face was numb. Then my arms started aching much like they did when I hyperventilated while having my third child.
I never fell asleep that night, yet I laid in a panicked sweat
The next morning my face was swollen and it wasn’t just from the lack of sleep. I know what that looks like now — this was more severe.
My balance was off and I was incredibly dizzy. I thought that maybe after I ate it would sop up some of the medication, but it didn’t help. Neither did a shower.
Basically, I was really off for almost 48 hours. I tried working out the following morning, and my balance was so off I had to stop.
After googling, it sounds like I’m either allergic to trazodone, or I just had a bad reaction.
It was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before
So, obviously taking sleep medications is off the table for me.
Let this be your lesson to never reach for medication that isn’t prescribed to you (I knew better than this, but I was desperate) — even if you think it’s something mild like a sleeping pill.
You never know when your body isn’t going to agree with it, and it could make your night, or day, even worse.
