A Pleasant Side-Effect

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I traded emails with my family medicine doctor today and found out that the cold I have may last 2 to 3 weeks if it takes a course similar to other patients she has recently seen in the clinic. Wonderful! So today I started planning accordingly, canceling and rescheduling trips outside the house and preparing myself mentally for a prolonged period of lower energy. No flare-up of my fibromyalgia symptoms get, but it seems foolish not to expect it will happen at some point.

I've been taking the Robitussin AC that was prescribed for me yesterday. For those of you not in the know, Robitussin AC is Guaifenesin and codeine. Getting a better night's sleep is a pleasant side effect of the codeine. That got me thinking about my most recent hypothesis that maybe all I really need to help better manage my delayed phase sleep disorder is something to take before bed that could just help me fall asleep.

"They're not going to give you codeine so you can fall asleep." my husband said in response to my comment on the subject. (Did I actually say that out loud?!?) "They are more worried you'll become addicted to it. You don't want to wind up like Michael Jackson."

No, I don't want to wind up like Michael Jackson. I let the conversation go because prolonged talking worsens my hacking cough, even with the cough syrup on board. But I wanted to argue with him about the research that shows that pain patients rarely become addicted to the pain medications that they take. In the end, I guess it doesn't matter because none of the medical professionals I've seen ever offered to give me "the good stuff" to help me fall asleep and I am not stupid enough to ask and get myself labeled as "drug-seeking."

Which got me thinking that if my doctors were as worried about me getting a good night's sleep as they were about getting me addicted to controlled substances, maybe I'd be in a different place right now...

To Be Continued...

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