Friday

Apparently, dizziness and/or lightheadedness are a part of menopause - I thought I'd read that somewhere, but when I had another bout last night while finishing with building the "electric fireplace" TV console thingie, I thought I'd double check. No wonder menopausal women have mood swings - it's just one damn thing after another. No sooner do I reconcile myself to hot flashes and nightmare sleeplessness than I find myself reeling around the living room or unable to walk from the car into a restaurant without looking like I should be going the other way (and into a taxi).

I took Benadryl last night to get some sleep. It worked - although it was remarkably ironic that I was the one who heard the dog wanting to go out in the middle of the night; Lee got up once I got her out the door. The nice thing about the Benadryl was that it allowed me to get back to sleep quickly and thoroughly, unlike the night before. But all in all, that's not the way to go through life, relying on chemical supplements to accomplish normal functions. Besides, I've read enough to know that it's sub-par sleep, and I want the full monty.

I have a few options, I guess. I can go back on melatonin supplements - preferably time-release ones. I can go back to reading paper after dinner to avoid the direct blue-light input from the iPad, thereby allowing melatonin to develop naturally. I can resume the honey. All of this, possibly, with the Benadryl as a fall-back once I've had a couple of bad nights in a row - to prevent having a third. I think the plan should be something like this:

• Step 1 - read on paper at night
• Step 2 (if step 1 is insufficient) - take 1 tsp honey as we're heading to bed
• Step 3 (same caveat) - take time-release melatonin (probably stop the honey if it's not working)
• Step 4 (same caveat) - add the honey back on top of the melatonin

155.6 this morning. I ate rather a lot of candy last night, on top of a lower-than-usual-fat day of eating, the candy as an effort to spike my blood sugar, in case the dizziness was somehow related to that (I think now that it was just effing change-o-life crap, so won't take that approach again). No ketosis at bedtime, unsurprisingly.

I am more rested today than I was yesterday, but not fully rested by any means. I am tired, if not sleepy, today. In fact, I will probably go directly to step 4 tonight, to do everything I can think of to promote sleep - real, restful, restorative sleep - tonight.

5K tomorrow morning, and a lot of Christmas preps for the weekend - trying to get the vast bulk of things done well in advance, so we can sit back and enjoy the season. Even if it spins.