I'm over one month into a sleep thing--insomnia followed by sleeping, almost comatose, at odd hours of the day at very irregular intervals. I just found an article on Yahoo about not getting enough or regular sleep and thought "holy crap." I nearly got back into a normal sleep pattern by making myself stay awake for 48 hours, which is a 20-year old's trick--not mine at 45. I pulled it off somehow and made myself go to bed at 9pm after being up for two days. I figured I would be tired enough by that point to be able to force myself to go to bed at a normal time, thus waking up at a normal time, or at least that was the plan. It didn't work. I'm up all night again and it's doing some fairly loopy things to my memory, concentration, personality, temperament, etc. I'm afraid of sleeping pills but I can always count on Benadryl--I've got to start taking two of them at 9pm and get myself back into a normal pattern. It doesn't help to be worrying about ten things at once but I don't know if that's a cause or an effect--it's been so long since this set in.

This article is fantastic and very informative. I'll link it here if you want to check out the source but for convenience, I'm copy/pasting it below:



SUNDAY, June 8 (HealthDay News) -- The pace of life gets faster and faster, and people try to cram more and more into every minute of the day.

As things get more hectic, sleep tends to get short shrift. It's seen as wasted time, lost forever.



"For healthy people, there's a big temptation to voluntarily restrict sleep, to stay up an hour or two or get up an hour or two earlier," said Dr. Greg Belenky, director of the Sleep and Performance Research Center at Washington State University Spokane.



"But you're really reducing your productivity and exposing yourself to risk," Belenky added.



That's a message doctors are trying to spread to Americans, including the estimated 40 million people who struggle with some type of sleep disorder each year.



Before Thomas Edison invented the light bulb in 1880, people slept an average of 10 hours a night. These days, Americans average 6.9 hours of sleep on weeknights and 7.5 hours a night on weekends, according to the National Sleep Foundation.



"The group of people getting optimal sleep is getting smaller and smaller," said Dr. Chris Drake, senior scientist at the Henry Ford Hospital Sleep Disorders and Research Center in Detroit. "When a person's sleep drops to six hours or less, that's when a lot of things become very problematic."



While experts recommend seven to eight hours of sleep each night, the amount needed for an individual can vary.



But lack of sleep affects a person in one of two ways, Belenky said. First, sleeplessness influences the day-to-day performance of tasks.



"The performance effects are seen immediately," he said. "You short-change yourself of sleep, and you see the effects immediately. You can make a bad decision. You can miss something. Have a moment's inattention, and you're off the road."



The longer-term effects of sleep deprivation involve a person's health. Doctors have linked lack of sleep to weight gain, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart problems, depression and substance abuse.



"Hormones that process appetite begin to get disorganized," said Drake, who's also an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at the Wayne State University School of Medicine. There's a decrease in the amount of leptin, an appetite-suppressing hormone, when a person gets too little sleep. At the same time, ghrelin -- a hormone that stimulates appetite -- increases with a lack of sleep.



Too little sleep also interferes with the body's ability to regulate glucose and can cause inflammation leading to heart problems and a rise in blood pressure. "There's a stress response to being in a sleep loss," Belenky said.



The types of people not getting enough sleep also break down into two groups. First, there are those who make the conscious choice to go without enough sleep.



"It's sort of part of the culture," Belenky said. "People pride themselves on getting little sleep. You'll hear people bragging, 'I only need six hours a night.' So there's a macho element here."



On the other hand, there are people who are suffering from sleep disorders. These disorders include:

• Insomnia, an inability to go to sleep or stay asleep.
• Sleep apnea, or breathing interruptions during sleep that cause people to wake up repeatedly.
• Restless legs syndrome, a tingling or prickly sensation in the legs that causes a person to need to move them, interrupting sleep.

Someone suffering from any of these problems should visit their doctor or see a sleep specialist, Belenky said.



Sleep apnea, the most prevalent sleep disorder, can have particularly serious long-term effects if left untreated. "You're waking up out of sleep to breathe. You can't sleep and breathe at the same time," Drake said. "It's a risk factor for developing major cardiovascular health effects."

Some people who have trouble sleeping will resort to mild sedatives like Ambien and Lunesta.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently asked the makers of these sedative-hypnotic drugs to strengthen their warning labels. This action followed reports of dangerous allergic reactions, as well as a host of bizarre behavioral side effects that include sleep-driving, making phone calls, and preparing and eating food or having sex while asleep.

Drake and Belenky both consider sleeping pills to be fine for the short term if taken properly.

"Sleeping pills are a temporary solution," Belenky said. "If you're upset about something or have situational insomnia, or you're trying to sleep at the wrong time of day because you've traveled across time zones, they are effective."

But, both doctors noted the pills will do nothing to help a chronic sleep problem. "They don't address the pathology of their sleeplessness," Drake said.

The U.S. National Institutes of Health offers these tips for getting a good night's sleep:

• Stick to a regular sleep schedule.
• Avoid exercising closer than five or six hours before bedtime.
• Avoid caffeine, nicotine and alcohol before bed.
• Avoid large meals and beverages late at night.
• Don't take naps after 3 p.m.
• Relax before bed, taking time to unwind with a hot bath, a good book or soothing music.
• If you're still awake after more than 20 minutes in bed, get up and do something relaxing until you feel sleepy. Anxiety over not being able to sleep can make it harder to fall asleep.

Thankyou for this article! It just hit me. I have slept too little for a couple of weeks, four-six hours a night. It´s definitly too little, usually I have needed seven eight hours night sleeps. I have a feeling like I have a hangover or something, so I felt a bit tired daytimes. I just have to improve my habits. This article was a very good reminder for me. Now I´ll start at once on this night go to sleep earlier!

Hope you have better luck than I do--it's 5:30 in the morning here and I'm still awake.

Thanks for the article it's interesting.

I go to bed at ten every night (school night) except for weekends but when i get into bed i find myself lying there awake until at least three o'clock in the morning. Last night i went to bed at ten and was awake until 3:20 am, i eventually woke up at four o'clock and went on the computer until something past five, the thing is though every time i stay awake all night and get up early i feel really bouncy and hyper, and lately it's been mixed in with this incredible feeling of happiness.

I know it's not good for you to have lack of sleep but i feel less tired when i don't sleep than when i do.

I'm wondering if it's some sort of sleeping disorder, but to be honest if i feel like this if i don't sleep it's not a disorder to me Lol!! I can also concentrate fine after lack of sleep.

I think it's weird or it could just be me Lol!!

....Pinkie....

I used to feel the same way....about 30 years ago. rofl. Now it's just kicking my butt. I have a brand new, crisp five dollar bill to anyone willing to strike me in the head with a hammer. Anyone?

How about an iron hammer? (A figurative one)

Now, I don't sell vitamins from my trunk, but when is the last time you had you're iron checked?

I'm just a couple years younger than you, and had really bad insomnia for a couple of years -- blamed it on change of life. I also had the restless legs. I ignored them because it really wasn't that bad, and I didn't really want to be on another medicine.

It turned out that both problems were caused by a rather severe case of anemia, not uncommon among women our age. I took iron for a short time while they diagnosed the cause of it. The iron helped somewhat, but after a quick outpatient gynocological procedure, my iron shot right back up, as did my energy level, and my insomnia improved dramatically and my restless leg completely disappeared.

It may not be the same for you, but when was the last time you had your iron level checked?

I'm taking iron supplements currently--65 mg. I do have the restless leg thing but I've had that since I was a child. I also take stress formula daily vitamins. I've only just started taking these about two weeks ago--hopefully it'll do something for me. I still haven't been to sleep yet.

I saw this article last week and thought of myself. I am somewhat comforted in knowing I have fellow insomniacs on this board with me. I have never been a good sleeper and unfortunately I am not one of those people who can get by on 3-4 hours a night. Anybody have any techniques or rituals that help them fall asleep? I have tried everything - sleeping pills/meditation/soft music/talk radio/Chinese breathing, etc, etc, etc.

I'm pretty sure I can get the desired result using a rubber mallet. I can't figure out a way to control how long I stay unconscious, however. It's just a minor snag in an otherwise brilliant plan. Hammering out the details now, even as we speak.....

LOL, a rubber mallet! Now that's something I haven't tried. Of course with my luck I would just manage to give myself one hell of a migraine.

When I go to bed, I always pray. I thank God for my blessings, pray for my children, friends, the sick, and so on. I get so relaxed, talking to the MAN, I always fall asleep before I finish my prayer. Anyway, it works for me.

Being raised a catholic, I used to pray every night before going to sleep...usually for food. rofl. I haven't tried that yet, but I'd have to pray for a windfall so that I could pay all the bills and car repairs that have me up worrying all night in the first place. rofl. All joking aside, if I don't get this sleeping thing fixed real soon, I can definitely see myself ending up in the hospital inside of the next six months at the most. Just the headaches and the memory loss and my nerves fraying have me concerned at this point. It was a minor annoyance several weeks ago when it first set in. Now it's becoming alarming. I still haven't slept yet. Going to give it another shot here, right after another quick trip to the loo.....

I used to pray every night like that. Perhaps I should start again. It can't hurt right? Good suggestion!

LOL, I had to laugh, Quinfran. I actually heard it suggested from the pulpit (years ago) that it was actually the devil that accomplished this to keep people from praying.

But whether the heavenly or nether realms accomplishes this, there is a correlation between prayer and sleep -- but not to minimize that there are also some serious health issues that can cause and/or come from insomnia.

I am so sorry you are going through this. I will be praying for you. Just know, that the Monk family loves you. We are all pulling for you. I hope that windfall comes your way very soon. Anna

I am having trouble sleeping right now too...think it must be the time of the year. I have been off because of a back procedure so I should have no problem sleeping the day away. The last 4 days I think I've gotten 12 hrs or so. We have had a lot of storms and such so the lightning isnt helping but I have kept my husband awake til 2:30 am on Saturday. He tried the radio(didnt work) I tried tea(didnt work) And because I cant exercise for another week, I cant tire myself. My mind wont shut off.

When I had a headache for a month, my husband made me go to the doctor. I got a CT scan. It did show that I had a large white spot over my left eye and a few other spots along my brain. I asked if I had a tumor. I saw a neurologist and he said he happens a lot with people with a lot of headaches. Basically going through a ton of different meds to prevent...nothing worked. Now I take a anti-depressant to help me sleep. It helps somewhat but not right now. I may have to call him for an increase or something. I do hope you guys get a good nights sleep soon. I picked up some bananas and may do a warm milk or hot chocolate to help me sleep. Good luck everyone!

OMG! That's it right there--it won't shut off. I take three pages to say what someone else can say in a single sentence. You just nailed it. It's on auto pilot. Worry, stress, worry, stress, worry, stress. The damn thing won't shut off.

One thing they tell you is to write down everything on your mind before you go to sleep and it should decompress your mind. See if this helps...I am spending more time here today than in the past few days so I can clear my mind before I go upstairs for the evening!

At this point, I'll try anything. Some tree is about to give its life so that I might sleep......

Good luck...you can aways do a list...like a to do or grocery...it may work

When I have the days on end with no sleep thing, it is usually because of the stress thingy, too. One trick I use to help me fall asleep is to imagine I am veeeeeeery sloooooooowly putting on a pair of panyhose, and I tell myself I feel each area of the body covered by the panyhose falling asleep. (Does that make sense?) It focuses my mind on that, and not the stress. Anyway, it goes like this: me, imagining the ph covering the toes, and I'm telling myself (not out loud) "Goooooo toooooo sleeeeeep toooooes." It could be a form of self-hypnosis, or maybe just a relaxation technique, but it works every time.

Meme

That is a really interesting technique and I could see how that would work. Anything to take your mind away from the stress. I will play out a favorite movie of mine in my head. I will get so lost in remembering what scene is next that I will fall asleep. Doesn't always work, but sometimes it does.

Here I am chiming in with my 2 cents again! LOL

Hi Yvette, when my youngest daughter was born (she wasn't sleep deprived) but she was on an up all night sleep all day pattern. After a few weeks of the adults in the house not sleeping b/c of this we decided to consult the books. (To all you youngins out there books was the solution to finding the answers, now its the internet) Anywho, my point is the books told us to slowly and lovingly keep her awake a little longer each night. They said it could take up to two weeks for the person/child to eventually reach the time frame you want to go to sleep.

For example: She would try to fall asleep at 7a and we would do everything and anything to keep her awake for another hour each day until she was starting to get sleepy at a normal time (8p lets say). This saved so many things, my sanity was just one of them!

Another trick I use which sounds weird is I just keep repeating the word sleep over and over and over again. Like this: I close my eyes and my mind is still thinking about things I need to do or things that already happened and I stop and just start muttering inside my head----sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep, etc. And for me it also helps if the house is the right temperature. Also you may want to try a white noise machine or a fan. We will sometimes use the whole house fan (the one inside the heat exchange to make noise. It's a distractor and has helped us many times over) Like when you're at a hotel and the guests are teens that just left for spring break w/o mommy or daddy and they are screaming up and down the hall. Just turn on that fan and the noise blends together instead of hearing kids screaming they get swallowed up.

Jeez this is so unlike me to ramble but I know the importance of sleep and have been a victim to lack of sleep and it doesn't make good 'bed' fellows!! Haha I made a funny.

Hey I just had another thought maybe this post will put you to sleep something boring always works!

Sue~

These are really good suggestions Sue! Having a mantra to repeat over and over can be helpful. However, I am so impatient that I usually get tired of saying the same thing over and over again so I give up. LOL Another thing that has somewhat helped me is yoga.

Thankfully, I finally fell asleep--it took me a day and a half this time but I finally managed it. I took aspirin and ibuprofen, simply because I had another headache and thought that might be keeping me up. No luck. Then I took two benadryl. That usually works in a pinch. No luck. Then I took an Estroplus--some store brand supplement for us old chicks. That did it. It's basically another kind of vitamin so I wasn't expecting anything, and it doesn't always work. I actually felt myself calm down this time. I didn't fall asleep until about 3 in the morning or so, but at least I finally did fall asleep.

As to saying "sleep" over and over again--you actually made me have a flashback there. My grandfather had Alzheimers for about 6 or 7 years before he died from the disease. In about the last six months, he would still manage to have a good day, even one where he seemed to remember who I was. But what he was doing in those last few months was he would be sitting on the sofa or at the table--it would be one of his bad days, and that's what he would do--he kept saying "sleep." He wouldn't say anything else but that--"sleep." I emailed my uncle about it. I said "I don't want to be morbid, but he's not talking about going to sleep." My uncle agreed with me. If someone's brain is being ravaged and dying a little bit every day, you have to think they know about it. I just went home and cried for the rest of the day. You just put me in mind of that--not in a bad way. You made me think of my Grandpa again. Here's my Grampa Frank. I lost a lot of time with him--my mother ran with us back in the '70s and we lost our family on both sides. I had to find relatives on the internet, which is pretty damn sad, but I finally found my uncle and from there, I found the rest of them. By the time I got to see my Grandpa again, 30 years later, Alzheimers had him. I was able to visit him a few times before he passed, but I remember I got one day with him where I looked at him and he looked back at me smiling, and I knew he remembered who I was. I could see him in there somewhere. Thanks for reminding me of that.

Don't worry about rambling. I'm the ramble-master 5000! I either have two sentences to say or I go on for a page and a half. Oh well. Sometimes you've just got more things to say. Thanx a bunch!

Glad you got some sleep finally...I am still having trouble...my husband got a call at 2:30 this morning! I was just about to passout...then ring! DAMN IT! I think I fell to some sleep around 4 or so. I will keep working on it. I even tried a nap later...got close but still no cigar. May just have to have a drink (alcohol) to pass out for some serious sleep time!

Shoot me. Another up-all-nighter. Nothing worked. Now I'm just blowing time until my radio show comes on.

Unfortunately I am in the same boat with you yvette. I couldn't sleep last night to save my life. So I dragged my tired butt into work at 8. And then at 10 I found out my mother was taken to the ER. This has not been a good day.

Is your mom okay?

I am still waiting to hear back from my dad to know exactly what is going on. She has been having some female health issues and apparently her doctor sent her to the ER because she was bleeding profusely and medicine wasn't stopping it. But thank you for asking. I am just sitting around here at work waiting to hear further news.

I just prayed for your mom. Let us know.

And Yvette, I just thought of something that worked sometimes when I went though all my insomnia -- and that was old movies. Now, the experts all say 'no TV in bed' because it keeps you awake. But I found out that if I just turned on one of my old favorite movies --- in black and white, and no musicals -- that they would help me go to sleep. (Now staying asleep was the other half of the battle)

I think they worked for me because I was in bed with my lights off -- there was no color to distract me, and no music. It relaxed me to the point that I wasn't thinking about not sleeping, and it didn't keep me awake because I'd seen them so many times that I knew exactly how they were going to end. And if for some reason I still didn't sleep, at least I got to see one of my favorite movies.

Best sleeping movies for me? Sabrina, Roman Holiday, and Without Love.

But it also helped when I cranked the room air conditioner down to 62 and cuddled under the covers.

Your prayers helped darling thank you! I just spoke to her. The doctor talked about giving her a transfusion but she didn't want to do that so instead they are putting her on iron pills. She has to stay in the hospital for a few more hours for observation and IV drip but then they are going to let her go home. She has to go back to her doctor Monday to see what to do next.

Glad to hear that your mom is ok.

My sleeping problem is still going on. I finally got around 6 hrs last night! I was so happy to not see the racoon eyes this morning. I did try the alcohol thing but it didnt work! I hope that I get 8 hrs tonight! I do hope that mj and yvette get some sleep soon. I think the black and white movie idea is creditable. Watch Casablanca, old Charlie Chaplin movies or even Hitchcock. Maybe they will help you snooze....good luck

Sleep, so elusive yet so desired. It's been my curse to have been born with a biological clock which wakes up at 4pm and winds down at 4 am, then I would sleep for 9 or 10 hours straight. I blame it on being born at 4:01 pm on a lazy, hot August afternoon.

My doctors once told me, "Anxiety keeps you from falling asleep, depresssion keeps waking you up." He then told me to stop worrying about being able to fall asleep at night because it was actually keeping me awake.

Being unable to turn your mind off, been there too often, but what the doctor said fits me to a tee. Now I don't worry if I can't fall asleep, I turn on CNN or MSNBC, something that doesn't catch my attention, turn he TV down low and let sleep find me. I've used the "sleep, sleep..." thing with success.. I've also just told myself to shut up, those things running through my mind are still going to be there when I wake up - that helps me, a lot.

I drink caffeine all day and night, a bath wakes me up, warm milk gives me a bellyache - go with a change. I stopped trying to sleep in my bed and took to laying on the sofa with the TV on and that change of scenery made all the difference. It changed my mindset since a bed is for sleeping and the sofa is for napping. Lol, works for me....you'll often find me on here at all hours of the early morning.

There's a lot of good suggestions in this thread. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one. I do have both anxiety and depression (not too bad, thankfully, but I do feel melancholy lately.) The upside is that I'm getting a lot of writing done. I'm nearly halfway through my book. The downside is, it's insomnia-induced writing so when I get back to normal, it may look off the wall to me. lol.

I like the black and white movie suggestion as well. I have my 4-disk "The Legend Begins" Alfred Hitchock DVD set, and then in my DVR, I have Frisco Kid, Picture Snatcher, Taxi!, and 13 Rue Madeline--a 4-movie Cagney-thon ready to go. I have to be at a job tomorrow at 9am so tonight, sleep's gotta happen, come hell or high water. Wish me luck.

Thank you! Alcohol never worked for me either, not that I tried that a lot! LOL But actually I think alcohol just makes it worse. Some say a glass of wine before bed helps but it never worked for me.

I fall asleep watching TV quit often. It also helps having my two cats curled up on the bed beside me. I also like having a very cool room temp. I do wish you luck.

I have to make sure that whatever is on the TV is something that doesn't interest me or else my ears wake up and my mind starts lpaying attention. I do the cool room too. I have a fan blowing directly across my face winter and summer, I need that coolness and, I shut the heat vent in winter. My sheltie curls up with me, either next to my tummy or behind my knees, that helps. Also, sleeping on the sofa I ca use the back for a back rest and pretend I'm sharing the sleeping space.

Since I live alone and don't work unless I'm needed to fill in for a day or two I'm fortunate I can let myself fall into a natural cycle. I don't drink so have never tried the alcohol trick, wine gives me a splitting headache and anything else comes back up as fast as it went down. Being the adult child of an alcholic parent I don't want to test my addiction probabilities but as a kid my grandmom would sneak me a small shot of Schnapp's to help me quiet down - it worked, but worked too well!

Think I got close to a full nights sleep...except at 3 am when some thunderstorms rolled in. I went and got my dog and she slept with me...then around 5 am she wanted outside to do her thing. I fed her...let her do her other thing and went back upstairs to go back to sleep. I would say somewhere around 7 hours give or take. I did get a 45 minute nap this afternoon. I finally had enough energy to wash the dishes! I pray for another full night tonight!

I am very glad to hear you were able to get a full nights sleep. I wish you luck in continuing to get a full nights rest. Sleep Well!!

Thanks...I am soooo glad to get back to normal. The tough thing was that when I was having trouble sleeping I was having nothing but nightmares when I did get to sleep. Not cool. My husband is glad too. He was trying to help me relax and try to get to sleep. Gotta love them. So devoted. These are the battles that we have to wage. Onto the next challenge.

I'm glad your sleep problem's been resolved. I'm still stuck in insomnia hell. waaaa!

Well, yvette...it came back last night...I ended up getting bits of sleep...I stayed in bed until almost noon just to try and catch up. I just don't know what is going on with me! I was just glad that I didnt have a nightmare. I just hope that good dreams come to me tonight!

I was up all night again. Got to sleep at 10 this morning--problem compounded now by having the flu. Managed to stay asleep until 3pm after getting up only 4 times during that time. rofl. The same friend was calling me over and over and over. If you call someone over and over, you're either broke down in a remote area or you're in the hospital. Nope. "Just wanted to say 'hi'." She's gotta a beat down coming to her as soon as I don't feel like crap. rofl.

Sorry to hear that your under the weather...could be because of lack of sleep that you got sick...I cant believe that "friend" would continue to call over and over to say hi...I would just leave a message not continue to call. My god...does she deserve to get a nasty flu bug!! Maybe you can bottle it up and send it fedex to her! What do you think??

I kept waking up all night, Friday and Saturday. I was also having some weird dreams. Do you think I`m catching it? All kidding aside, I really hope both of you get some sleep tonight. Hope the beat down goes well.

I have been having trouble sleeping over the past several days. I have been sick with strep throat. I am very hoarse and it hurts to talk, so the only talking I do is writing and online, which is why I have been on here so much lately. Once I would get to sleep, which has been a task to do, I would wake up several times in the middle of the night with these horrible coughing episodes. It would then take me a while to get back to sleep. I hope the two of you get a good nights rest tonight.

I had strep throat for 6 weeks when I was a kid...it was terrible. It was back in the days when they gave you penicllin pills (size to give to a horse). I had to take it with milk..yuck! I took them 3 times a day for 2 weeks. They didn't know what was wrong with me orginally. My mom took me to the ER because I was seeing things. She said that I was screaming that monsters were under the bed and that they were going to eat me. Not until she got me to calm down did she realised that I had been sweating through my pj's. When I got to the ER I had a fever of 103! I remember that I loved popsicles for my throat. My mom swore that gargling with salt water would help in the healing process. It is a terrible! Just make sure no one drinks from the same glass as you or eats after you because you can give it to someone else.

For your coughing fits use an OTC cough syrup that will numb you throat too. Robtussin is ok but tastes bad. I prefer Niquil..cherry flavor. You can use hard candy when you are awake to keep salva going so you may not cough as much.

Heal quickly and dont talk too much...save you voice...and get some rest too!

Eww, strep throat is nasty. My son was a carrier for over a year until the doctors finally decided to take his tonsils out. He would get so sick, high fever and vomiting and I'd get him in to see the pediatrician and he'd get a penicillin shot and by supper he'd be eating chips. A month later he'd get fussy and I could smell the strep, back to the pediatrician only since he had no fever he'd be put on liquid penicillin for 10 days, the next month, back to the high fever and vomiting. Between bouts the two girls would catch it frfom him - I was going crazy scrubbing cribs, etc., with Lysol. After his tonsils were removed he stopped having strep.

I use to keep ice chips in a plastic bag in the freezer for the kids to suck on. Funny thing, I never caught it from any of them. Cloroseptic spray helps...a lot. It numbs the throat. Just speaking from experience.

Strep is nothing to mess with. When I was a kid (before penicillin) my dad would take a long cotton swab on a stick and swab my throat with iodine - it was the only treatment available back then and when my mom was 10 strep throat developed into rheumatic fever...I'm so glad they discovered penicillin.

PS - I send healing prayers to everyone who is under-the-weather, Being sick is the pits so a speedy recovery to all of you and to 'mjwannabe's' mom too.