Your Life, -your job, family, health, spouse, etc

[Admin note:
this post about insomnia was made in response to another board member's post about insomnia;
in February 2009, that person requested that their posts be removed from this thread, which is why you no longer see their posts here]

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I suffered from insomnia for years, mostly in my early- to mid- twenties.

In my case, it was due, I think, to psychological issues, not physical ones (staying awake due to worry. My mind was constantly running, and I couldn't shut it down to drift off to sleep).

Ironically, the more you dwell on your insomnia, the worse it will get - at least that's what happened to me.

Some advice I got that helped, form reading magazine articles - if you can't sleep, get out of bed. Don't lie in bed trying to "force" yourself to go to sleep. Get out of bed, go watch tv, read a book, whatever - even if it's 2:00 in the morning.

Another good piece of advice: only use your bed when you are ready to turn in for the night, to get some sleep. Some people with insomnia seem prone to sit in bed during the day, while reading or watching t.v., which isn't good.

I had to train myself to shut my mind down each night. I don't allow myself to think heavily on the day's events or to dwell on problems, fears, etc.

This may sound as though I'm contradicting myself here, but - one thing that helps me to get drowsy and fall off is to read a book while in bed. If I'm trying to go to sleep at 10:00 p.m., then I'll get in bed at 9:30 p.m. and start reading a book. I guess reading a book takes my minds off my worries.

I wish I could give you better advice, but that's all I've got.

Can't safety/environmental violations be reported somewhere?

I'm sorry that your job bites and that you have a cold.

I've had a cold now for about two weeks - I usually go through a cold in about 4 to 5 days, but this one has stuck around now for a long time.

I've found that if I use "Cold-eeze" brand losanges (spelling?) the first day or two of a cold, it really does help shorten the duration of the cold. This time, I was fresh out of them - unless I have some tucked away in a drawer and overlooked them. Anyway, you may want to give Cold-eeze a try, you can usually find it at Wal-Mart.

When you say the building you're working in is a prison or used to be one - do you mean literally?

The last office job I had sure felt like a prison!

I know - if you're working in a place that is steeped in office politics, they generally like the status quo, and they absolutely HATE to have anyone call a spade a spade.

You're supposed to pretend that everything is hunky-dory, perfect, and great, even when it is not. If you speak out with any thing remotely smacking of criticism (even if it's for the best of the office/organization), they begin saying you're not a "team player" and all that crap.

It's one of the things that drove me mad having to work in a highly politicized office setting last time. I'm a very straight shooter, I call it like I see it, and I HATE having to play mind games with people and hint at things, the way they expect you to.

Oh- and people there didn't do any real work, at least that was true for some of them. One boss (one who was quite incompetent) considered holding staff meetings a hundred times a week to be the same as "real work," when all we did was sit around and talk about work - meanwhile, no actual work was being done.

I prefer doing 'real' work as opposed to talking about work or pretending that sitting at a meeting is work (because I get bored easily just sitting around listening to people blab about stuff - I have to be actually doing something or making something).

Good luck with getting a new job

Out of curiousity, what kind of general questions have interviewers been asking you, e.g. "What are your greatest strengths? What are your greatest weaknesses?" - etc?

So, after having intestinal issues, pain in my back, and lots of nausea, went to the Dr last week. They sent me to get an ultrasound done of my pancreas, liver, and gallbladder. *sigh* I"ve got multiple gallstones, which means surgery to remove the gallbladder. I'm petrified of having surgery, the last one I had done was when I had clips put on my fallopean tubes after childbirth.

Has anyone else been through this ordeal? Right now, I"m going all low-fat, and avoiding any foods that would normally give me gas. (I hate spicy foods, so that's one area it's easy for me to avoid). Since I've reduced the fat intake in my diet, my pains from that region have been minimal, which is helping me in the waiting process. I've got a "consultation" appointment this Friday with a surgeon, thankfully since my husband's sister is married to a Dr, he's been a great source for recommendations on my diet and the surgeon. Turns out these 2 are really good friends, and the surgeon is highly respected. That won't stop me from being scared though. Does anyone else have tales regarding colecystectomy? My fancy Medical Secretarial schooling with Medical Terminology helps to understand some of the technical stuff....



MH

well, my husband got the job in Kentucky he interviewed for last week when we were out there, so now my interneting and pre-planning have paid off. We put an offer on a house while we were out there, and will hopefully close on it the beginning of next month. This house is a newly built one in a new subdivision close to town, which means that cable isn't available out there yet, and those geniuses at Bellsouth don't have DSL available either. So, I"m going to be without my net for a while . The worst part is, I'll miss all the good gossip in here, and all the trash-talking I enjoy reading so much. I dread the thought of going back to dial-up again just to get internet access, but I might have to. Well, at least I can stay on till the beginning of August, after that, the moving truck will be coming to take my 'puter away!!!

BUMMER!!!


MH

Good luck with your move. I had to move a lot up until I was about 20 yrs old, and I know how bad it can be.

I use dial up, and it is very slow.

You can also get on the internet at public libraries, if need be.

Some universities or community colleges might allow the public to use their computers to surf the web (but some won't let you in their computer labs unless you're an enrolled student).

Some Radio Shack stores have display computers that are hooked up to the web - I went on one time and checked one of my e-mail accounts from it.

I'd write more, but I may be going out in a bit, and I need to get ready to leave.

Since I"m going to be pretty busy for a while, setting up house, I"ll probably not get to the net until the middle of the month, unless Adelphia gets the cable hooked up to our house and make cable net available for me. That would save me having to buy a phone package just to get DSL. Both of us have cell phones, so I don't see the need for a local phone out there right away.


MH

First, Congratulations on a job well done. I'm very excited for you on your brand new journey and hope you are back soon. We all love to hear from you.

I've been wearing eye-glasses since I was about 12. I'm near-sighted and have a slight astigmatism in one eye.

The prescription for my glasses has gotten gradually stronger over the years, as my eyesight has gotten gradually worse. I hate having to wear them, but right now I don't have another option. I have difficulties with contact lenses and LASIK is too costly for my income (it's anywhere from about $300 to $500 per eye, sometimes more).

I do plan on getting LASIK eventually, and I'll most likely get it from these guys.

I don't think glasses make you look especially smart or studious. And people who think glasses are "cool" obviously don't have to wear them day in and day out.

I hate to dampen you, but I had Lasik, the newest form called Intralase, I think they have a website.
It cost me 4400.00. My husband had PKR (or is it PRK) the older kind which is has a little more risk, it's cheaper. I don't know how much, the Army paid for it for him.
On the good side, I felt nothing, I mean NOTHING. I just watched some cool lights, then got up off the table and had 20/20 vision. I was 20/2000 a few minutes before. I had to even swim with glasses. I almost lost them on a skydive, plus I went to Hawaii last year to snorkel with dolphins, and it was either wear the snorkeling gear or go without. The goggles wouldn't fit over my glasses, so I swam but couldn't snorkle.
I wish I had done it years ago.
Oh, you or your parents can apply at carecredit.com to get a credit card for medical expenses. The place that did my eyes took it as payment, now I'm paying it off over time.
Don't let the price stop you, it's worth it.

^ Knight, be sure to see Lady Chadwick's post right above mine here, she has some good tips/ advice for you.

I got LASIK about 3 or 4 years ago, and it cost me about $3,200 or $3,400 -( and that was a sale price. Regular price was like $3600 or something.)

I had enough money from my job to go ahead and get the procedure done. Maybe the price has gone down since then.

If at any time you want to try it, you have to go in and see if you're a candidate for the procedure. Some people can't get the procedure done.

I was so near sighted I had one eye doctor laugh at me for it when I was a teenager.

I used contacts off and on since around age 12. I took care of them religiously, but still, after an hour or two, they'd feel very dried out on my eyes.

Also, when you get home at the end of the day, and if you're very tired, the last thing you feel like doing is taking the contacts out and cleaning them, on top of removing make-up and whatever.

I usually would go back to wearing my eye glasses.

Over the years, the care of contacts has changed. (I had the daily, soft kind, btw.)

When I first got contacts, to clean them you had to...

Daily care:

1- use the cleaning solution on them
2- rinse well with Saline solution
3- put them in their case then put them in this box that heats up (the heat was supposed to kill any bacteria or something).

Weekly:
fill up two vials with saline solution, drop in a fizzy tablet in either one, then place contacts in them. The contacts had to soak for hours, don't recall how long.

When I got contacts again in my mid or late 20s, I was amazed at how simplified things had gotten.

Rather than having a cleaning solution and a saline solution, companies invented one all-purpose cleanser, and I no longer had to soak them in the fizzy tablet stuff or use a 'heat box' thingy.

Did you like reading the form deal, where it says stuff such as, "I recognize I may go completely blind from this procedure!" -etc?

On a follow up visit, one doctor told me that I should avoid (or be careful about) sky diving, skiing, or whatever kind of sports/activities I participate in.

I laughed and said, "That won't be a problem. I'm a book reader / computer using / couch potato kind of person. I jog several times a week, sometimes bike ride, and that's it."

Me go sky diving? Me???

After the procedure, I had to wear these goofy plastic things over each eye. The doc told me to go home and get some sleep. So I did. When I woke up, I went to the bathroom, checked my eyes, and they were filled with lots and lots of this white gunk - gross.

I could see perfectly, though.

Lady Chadwick - another thing I like is that when I wake up in the morning, I can see my clock without having to squint. I can see in the shower, which makes shaving my legs much easier.

Yep, they will give you tons of tests to see if you're eligible. And I wore plastic lenses with holes for air, at night too for a few days. They don't want you rubbing your eyes in your sleep and pulling that cornea off. Plus you have to watch a Disaster Film warning you of the horrible things that go wrong 1 in a million times.
Oh, contacts. Yecch, I have tried them in the 80s, 90s, and even again last year. I cannot deal with them. No matter what brand, I would blink and they would ride up. Plus I am a bit presbyopic, I need a small reading glass. SO here I was lugging around a bag with contact lens case, cleaning solution, wetting drops, spare glasses for when I had to take them out, reading glasses, and sunglasses.
Seemed like a lot of trouble!

Yeah, me too. And the plastic eye shield things were held on with medical tape.

I didn't get to see the disaster movie. Darn.

However....

The legal form was enough to scare me, with all the disclaimers like,
"I understand if an eyeball accidentally gets plucked out, I cannot sue the doctor..." etc.

I weighed my fear in one hand and how nice it would be able to see w/o corrective lenses of any kind and went for it! It was so worth it!

I knew better than to wear any make-up the day of the procedure. The first thing the nurse did when she brought me in was to wipe most of my face with this stuff that's meant to kill germs.

When the doctor was using the laser on my eyes, I could see a white mist rising in the air. I take it that mist was my eyeball that the doc had fried off with the laser. Gross. (But so worth it!)

I was fairly calm while my eyes were being worked on, but the moment a nurse took me to a small room in the back to sit down, I was shaking badly. I think I was way more nervous than I had realized.

Glasses got in the way of most physical activity.

In gym class, I'd get them knocked off my face by other players. They'd jiggle up and down as I jogged around the track.

Another minor annoyance - leaving an air conditioned building in summer while wearing glasses. My glasses would always fog up.

Thank goodness for LASIK.

Other than wearing the plastic things over your eyes, and the gross white gunk, what else can I expect from it? Do you have to put a special solution in your eyes after the procedure's done?

I did a little reading on several sites, and they said it generally takes 3-5 days to recover enough from it to see well enough to drive and such...

Other than wearing plastic dealies for 2 - 3 days, and getting some white gunk in my eyes for 1 - 2 days, that's about it.

The only thing they advised me to get were natural tears, which you can buy at Wal Mart, and I had to use them for a short time, maybe a week or so. I didn't have to use any other kind of medications, pills, drops or what not.

Like Lady C. and I said, they warn you about

-any physical activity that may injure your eyes, and

-you are not supposed to rub your eyes at all for - (I forget how long was it days or weeks??)

Anyway, even after you just leave the doc's office, you can immediately tell a difference. Even though I had the plastic lenses on, I could see through them a bit, and I could see stuff crystal clear!

I don't remember it taking as long as 3 - 5 days, for driving or for anything. Seems to me the very instant I got up off their chair where they worked on my eyes, I could see perfectly.

Maybe that was just me and most people have a different experience

I had to post the latest in my adventures at the TV station here on (an Army) post. I won't post THE post because of maniac fans who apparently are in favor of all out violence!
First I was tasked to join the White House Press to video the President, yesterday I flew on a Blackhawk heliopter as part of an Army exercise! Civilians are almost never allowed, but since I'm with the posts' TV station I was allowed to go up. I sat in the gunner's seat, strapped in but with room to move, and before I knew it I was flying over the trees and sand, leaning out of a helicopter with a videocamera! Now I know how the folks at National Geographic feel.
Ah well, I coulda been waiting around for a pop concert, shucks..

Sounds cool, but a little scary too!

I'm glad you made it back in one piece

*gasp*
You mean Madonna concerts aren't the end-all, be-all of your entertainment world???

I am sorry you are having some scary health problems right now. I hope your biopsy results come back okay. Please let us know what the doctor says.

I realize the other day that I had a big history of vacations that went wrong (some of them went wrong before I even left my hometown ! )

Here's a little list for all of you to judge :

- In 1994, my family and I went to vacation for a month at my grandparent's house in Algeria. Someone threw a rock at my forehead while I was playing outside with my cousins. To this day, I still have the scar.
My Dad was very sick at that time. He came back earlier in France to go to the hospital. He died the day we arrived in Paris.

- When I was young my mom forced me to go to summer camp but I hated that.
In 2000 she sent me in an awful camp where we were obliged to sleep in a tent, on a plastic bed. We were 6 in the same tent.
There were some really nasty people in this place and I spent the most part of those 2 weeks alone...

- In 2003, I was supposed to spend a week at the house of my mom's boss, in Les Pyrénées or something like that, but she's had a heart attack the day we were supposed to leave...

- After that sad experience we'd decided to go to Besançon for five days where my step father's best friend had a house. While walking outside, I nearly got assaulted by a crazy guy and his dog. Fortunately for me, I have good legs.

- In 2008, I chose a trip in Turkey in a catalog with lower price, thanks to my sister's work. So I fill the paper and I go to the agency with the check.
They called us 1 hour later to tell us that my sister didn't have the right contract to benefit from this offer...

-2 days ago, I was supposed to go to Croatie.
My luggage was ready and we took a cab to go to the Airport.
When we arrived we went to the registrement section to register our stuff.
Unfortunately, we'd discovered that my mom didn't have the Visa to travel to Croatie.
These vacations went downhill before we even sat in the plane !

And you, do you have stories like that to tell ?

I want to know everything !

This post has been edited by M' D"ho"lla on Aug 31 2008, 04:28 PM