Waiting for sleep

General Blog
1

The rain outside is pouring, my husband's upstairs snoring,

It's 3am and I have yet to sleep,

The pills they aren't a'working, they're job they are a'shirking,

I'm so fed up it makes me want to weep.

My feet are full on flaring, and I am near despairing,

A little rest is not a lot to ask,

So, help me out here please, as I'm nearly on my knees,

The pain etched on my face just like a mask.

It's not a look I relish, my old face I would cherish,

Wrinkles and all if I could have it back.

There's nothing I can do to get back the life I knew,

I'm in the here and now and that's a fact

I'll have to toil away, and get through each new day,

Finding the strength to keep on keeping on.

Find something that will calm me, and stop me going barmy,

Ah yes, I'll go and put the kettle on.

Have some decaff tea, no tempting fate for me

I mean to sleep when the flaring calls CEASEFIRE.

Don't want my brain so wired, when I am oh, so tired,

I could sleep up on a circus tightrope wire.

And now the dawn is breaking, some progress I am making,

My feet are cooling down I'm glad to say

Shan't need another pill, just climb the wooden hill,

Turn out the lights and finally hit the hay.

The rain has stopped it's pouring, it's my turn now for snoring

It's half past five and I am going to sleep.

I've left a note "don't wake me, you'll have to make your own tea",

Just come and rouse me in about a week!!!

2

Thanks for the poem. It makes me feel less alone in my pain. I think lots of us will print it out and re-read it at 3 in the morning!

3

Simply beautiful.

4

My God Tilly my heart goes out to you, you put into words what most of us feel most nights…how unfair that we cannot at least get respite during the night
Have you tried Trazodone (desyrel) it has nothing short of changed my life, after two years of desperate attempts to finding a solution to my sleepless nights I have found incredible relief with just a 50mg dose along with 300mg gabapentin. So far (5weeks and counting…) it’s worked wonders. Try it ! Good luck

5

Thank you for all your nice comments. Just a bit of doggerel really but keeps my mind occupied thinking of rhyming words.

Dominique, As to the sleep I have found that any opiate based drugs affect my breathing (I have emphysema) so rock and hard place really. However, I am at present on just codeine for the pain and it helps me sleep. That and a low dose of Amitriptyline gets me through the night with some sleep but also makes me pretty spaced out for the rest of the time. I find the evenings really hard when all one wants to do is relax, sit back and watch TV or read, sew, anything but pace the floor.

6

Tilly, you should get these poems together and get them published, even on Kindle. They make me laugh and cry, you're so good at getting the feelings we all go through into verse.

7

I second that. A friend with Parkinson’s published a book of haiku and I am buying one for another friend with Parkinson’s. Makes a great gift and really let’s the recipient know that you acknowledge their pain.