It is chilly here this morning. 37 degrees.

It was 24 degrees this morning for me. It's been this way for about a week now.

24 degrees!!!!

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Breakfast out this morning. Eagles District meeting in Lakeland this afternoon.

Good morning everyone.
Winter must be approaching as it was 35 this morning

Sumatra Mandheling Coffee, Scottish Breakfast Tea and bottled Fiji water in the Break Room this morning.

Connie, I'd love a cinnamon crunch bagel ... stay safe at the district meeting this afternoon.

It was 21° here this morning. But 35° in Alabama! Holy smokes!

It's cold enough at night that I'm blocking the cat flap to the balcony. Dude loves to go out at night for a few minutes, but Willow likes to lurk beside the flap and whack him in the head when he tries to come back in. I don't want him getting trapped out there in the cold.

Otherwise, sleep seems to be eluding me these days; I'm actually at the point where I don't feel comfortable driving. I've taken various sleep medications over the last decades, but they all stop working after a while. I wish there was a real treatment for insomnia. I've had trouble sleeping since I was about 7 years old, and it's gotten worse as I've aged.

My hubby finally solved it with medical marijuana. His was a vicious cycle of back pain and unable to sleep/some relief from the back pain and still unable to sleep. It finally helped him to get roughly 5 or 6 hours a night.

Cannabis didn't work for me, unfortunately, even the specific strain that was initially prescribed to me by a clinic a few years ago, before it was legalized here in Canada. I also hate being high, so I can't ramp up the dose at all. CBN seemed to work for a few days, but that was it, and it's never worked again. And CBD is apparently not great for sleep and can even be counter-productive.

My doctor is pretty certain that my insomnia is related to the fact that my hypothyroid condition went undiagnosed for several decades. I ended up with no thyroid function at all. He's willing to prescribe medications, but they all stop working after a time and then never work again.

Yeah, now that you mention it, you did say the CBD and cannabis didn't work for you. Doesn't sound like you have any good answers...

It's not fun.

Maybe try another doctor hagatha?

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room.

SQF, my doctor is excellent and is the only one I've found in years who takes insomnia seriously enough to help me without judgement and without the usual moral panic about habituation.

My problem is that all of the medications that have helped me in the past have eventually stopped working. I've been through the entire pharmacological sleep oeuvre. I've also worked with naturopaths and the result is always the same - something works for a few months and then it just stops working.

Hagatha, sorry to hear about the sleep issue: have you tried hypnotherapy and/or some sort of meditation?

I was amused to hear about Dude being attacked by Willow on the return journey through the catflap: reminded me of one of our cats a few years ago being first up the stairs and then waiting at the top to whack the others when they followed!

Good afternoon everyone!

Just wondering hagatha, if you have ever gone back to one of the meds that stopped working some time back and given it another try to see if it will work again for awhile. If so, maybe you can rotate them?

I thought of that too, oldbroad. Maybe one of the old ones?

Lex. the cats' relationship is still growing and is quite amusing. Willow was shocked when Dude started to chase her a couple of months ago; her hackles would go up and she would back away from him in horror. Up to that point I think she thought he was just a live wind-up toy that wasn't supposed to chase back. Now he chases her all the time, and he has way more energy that she does, so she gets back at him the only way she can, by being a jerk. They do whack each other from time to time, but I notice that they sleep close to one another these days and there's a lot of playing in the evenings, after it gets dark.

As for the sleep medications, the only ones that work again are the heavy-hitters like Ativan, which never stops working. I took it for all my working life until a new doctor made tut-tutting faces and cut me off because he disapproved, at which point I started to sleep one or two hours a night for over a year until my naturopath started me on herbals.

Previous medications might work for a few nights but then stop, unfortunately.

Meditation has never helped me. Acupuncture did, for some reason, but we don't have any good acupuncturists here.

Good evening everyone

Chamomile tea in the break room.

Hagatha, I wonder if getting additional exercise might help

Have a wonderful evening everyone

I just had a nice cup of ginger peach tea when I came in from feeding the barn cats. It was perfect to warm up with!

So sorry about that hagatha. That sounds very frustrating.

Yes, it is frustrating. I've stumbled my way through the last 8 years, mostly okay. At least I was sleeping well enough to take care of John for all those years. It doesn't matter so much right now.

I've just treated myself to a Ritter Sport Dark Chocolate with Marzipan. I eat chocolate very rarely, so it's a real treat. And the heck with the caffeine; I have no trouble falling asleep, at least. It's the staying asleep that's the problem.

I never sleep through a night. I get up usually 2 times to use the washroom and I toss and turn a lot trying to keep things from hurting. I also wake up fairly often with drool running down my chin. Ugh!

Goodmorning Everyone ☺️
Kaki's Sister I'm just wish mother nature would be a bit kinder, this year we've had alot & alot of rain 🌧️
And now a Dam is overflowing in NSW .
Crossing fingers 🤞 things will get better for everyone 🐱
That's a very good idea doing them puzzles in that -it will keep you busy and they're fun to do.

Soot thanking you and I hope you have a terrific nights sleep as well 💤😴

Take care & Happy Gaming Boomer's 🌄

Oldbroad, you are obviously savouring the joys of becoming more mature...

Hagatha interesting that acupuncture helped: have you tried using a tens machine as a substitute, and/or background sound of some kind (musical or otherwise, and apart from the cats )?