In the past I’ve talked about being a freak of nature: if there is a side effect that only has a small percentage of suffers, I’ll be there. I had a systemic reaction to my allergy meds. I never had heart burn until they put me on heart burn medication to ease an allergy symptom. And of course, I lost the job I loved because of a newly discovered allergy to artificial cinnamon.
My latest medical freak of nature event is surprisingly not allergy related. I went to the doctor for a pain issue, and he asked how much caffeine I consumed each day. I was honest and told him how much soda I was drinking. Evidently consistently consuming high amounts of caffeine can cause pain. After assuring him it was diet and not the calorie-laden variety, he gave me a method for weaning myself off of caffeine. He didn’t try to get me off of soda, which is why I was able to comply. I’ve shared my affinity for this bubbly elixir in the past.
I took three weeks to slowly get off caffeine instead of the two he had suggested, but I have been clean for a few weeks now. Thank goodness for all the caffeine free soda products out there. I don’t feel deprived.
The pain issue is starting to resolve itself, which is wonderful, but there is still the freak of nature issue: My sleep was horrible after I was completely weaned from caffeine. I consistently woke up at 2 am and couldn’t get back to sleep.
I gave my doctor an update and mentioned my sleep. His response was, “Most people sleep better when no longer consuming caffeine.” At least he didn’t stop after calling me a freak. He recommended an over the counter supplement.
Before I was able to try that out, I had my trip to see Ma and Tom. It turns out that the lack of sleep on my red eye flight over and the mild jet lag coming back was enough to get me back in the sleeping swing of things. Now my only wake ups in the middle of the night are Lemon related, which is as it should be.
Grown Up, Now What? 