Be careful with those chronically late night's, boys. It can lead to severe mental and physical ailments. I should know. I got stuck in the insomnia trap for over five years. It was horrendous.

And, bitflipper... how's the back stuff coming along? Are you able to get some prescription muscle relaxers? If you could get a script for flexiril to take before bed it should help immensely. You'll also have marshmallow dreams. ;-)

Oh and if you can handle it bit a nice hot bath or shower before bed will help loosen you up so you can sleep better and heal during the night. Cheers.

I've suffered insomnia since my divorce in '89..... don't know why.  It's great if I get 4 hours sleep a night.  So I'm an early riser.  Well... that and my dog gets up early too.

Funny how it works out... I do my best song writing and recording the instant my feet hit the floor.

Go figure!

I've often said it but nobody should lose sleep over a bit of insomnia.
 
 
WRT the OP, that's a tragedy!  Was there nobody around that could make your coffee for you?  Somebody you could have woken to tell of your plight?
 
I can't imagine how hard that would be, I think you've coped quite well, much better than I could have.

Ahhhhh   I never have the coffee pot shutoff.  Its always ready to pour a cup  

Beepster


Be careful with those chronically late night's, boys. It can lead to severe mental and physical ailments. 

My hours have always been all over the place.  I'm definitely more of a night person than a morning person, but I think that's primarily because of two things.  First, there's nothing worth watching on TV in the morning (if I'm relaxing) and people don't call and knock me out of my zone at night (if I'm working).  That said, when I'm tired I sleep and I don't feel the need to stop what I'm doing to go to bed if I'm wide awake and my brain is functioning well.
 
It's just me.  Back when I was working semi-"normal" hours, I'd have some days where I could get a week's worth of stuff done, but I'd also have days where I could barely function and my body would sometimes just shut off no matter what I did (this was before 5-hour Energy - the only stuff that works productively for me).
 
While trying to figure it all out, the best we could come up with is that (for some reason) my body naturally wanted a day that's longer than 24 hours.  Maybe I'm really an alien and my home planet has 25 hours days?  Who knows!  But the bottom line is that I NEVER get insomnia.  (As for the mental and physical ones?  Well, I am here, ya?)

As far as I can remember, w/ the exception of the morning  coffee, I tend to drink more coffee when I'm already hyped. So even if it's 2 am, if I'm working on something that's got me all excited, I'll need coffee.

Similarly, I've once noticed that among drug users, fundamentally mellow people often seem more inclined to smoke pot and relax whereas the more restless folks often seem to prefer to snort and take all kinds of things get even more hyped. 

Me, I'll stick w/ coffee. Heck, I never even had one sip of those poisonous cocktails they call energy drinks. They're the devil. 

I used to drink coffee by the gallon. I once worked in an office full of caffeine addicts. We'd drain two of those big steel industrial coffeemakers a day between only 6 of us. The next morning we'd reheat whatever dregs were left at the bottom from the previous day rather than wait for a new batch.

That changed a few years later when I was on the road full time. Getting coffee usually meant getting up, getting dressed, and going out into the environment in a haze. One day I just said fark it and skipped the coffee. After a week of that, to my surprise I started waking up feeling as if I'd already had my coffee! No grumpiness, no slow reflexes, no more staring blankly at the ceiling for 10 minutes just thinking about getting out of bed.

For the next 20 years I pretty much swore off coffee. Between waking up alert and never having trouble falling asleep, it was like getting an extra hour a day.

Of course, I've since grown out of that phase. Nowadays I really enjoy the stuff, and just try not to overdo it.

Beepster: thanks for asking about my back. No muscle relaxers yet, or any other therapy. Doc won't prescribe anything until I've had an MRI, and that took over two weeks to schedule. Finally had it done yesterday. But I am healing: instead of 12 Percocets a day I now get by on 6-8 ibuprofens and a doobie.

@bitflipper... Right on, man. Glad it's easing up a little. Severe back pain is kind of like a fever. It's heavy duty and then it "breaks" and you can kind of get back to doing stuff again. It's just getting the muscles to stop balling up and impinging on the nerves. If the docs won't prescribe something just pick up some OTC Robaxacet or one of the generic versions. They work but unfortunately they cram them with acetaminophen as well which is bad for your liver but they contain a good dose of muscle relaxants too which is what you want to loosen everything up. The percs do nothing but mask the pain and they are BRUTAL on your system. Hope you've got some stool softeners on hand. Not to be gross but that shiz will bung you up something fierce. Otherwise lots of fibre (fruit, broccolli, beans, Grape Nuts, etc) will do the trick. As far as the doobage if you can afford it try eating some or making some tea with it. Taking it orally is great for the type of pain you're in. I unfortunately can't afford that method even though it's been prescribed. They'll only pay for the nasty stuff which is just ridiculous IMO. Also I find the absolute best form of ibuprofin is the yellow Advil liquigels. They're a little harsh on the stomach but they hit fast and loosen everything up nice and good. If you need any more advice just PM me, man. I've been fighting this battle for almost a decade so I know almost every trick in the book at this point. Take care.

@craig... I hear ya on the whacked out "long day" cycle. I got stuck in a routine where I was up for 20+ hours then down for 10. It was CRAZY and I couldn't break it. Totally messed up my life. The funny thing is now that I can actually get away with it I'm up at dawn and zonked by midnight. I ain't complaining though because that's how I want it to be. I can get stuff done in the morning when I need to without feeling like death on a stick.

As far as the whole coffee thing I was a hardcore coffee addict since I was a little kid. I started drinking it when I was like 8 and for years guzzled a couple pots a day. It started messing with my heart and my nerves though so after I ended up in the hospital I figured it was probably time to stop screwing around. I have a cup once every couple months now and barely finish it because I start getting chest pains, my stomach feels like it's eating itself and my mind goes to very dark and scary places. I do enjoy it so much though but I have resigned myself to a life of black tea consumption. I guess it isn't the caffeine that messes me up but the nasty acids in coffee. Very odd. 

By the way coffee is absolutely terrible for anyone who suffers from back pain or any other muscular/skeletal pain. If you MUST drink coffee counter it with tons of water and fresh fruit.

Peace.

Robaxacet, check. Thanks.