Sleep, progress: June 14, 2013

The past few days it feels like I am in a limbo. 

I have been mainly focused on improving my sleep habits as inspired by Jitka on the ITSAN forums. My plan is to sleep at 10:30pm and wake up at 6:30. 

First couple of days I took 2 benadryls at about 9:30 then hit the sack by 10:30pm. The first night I had a ton of trouble falling asleep and rolled around in bed for a few hours. My poor dog was also antsy as she has been adjusting to not being allowed on my bed since I began TSW so I could hear her walking around until I don't know how long. I finally went to sleep and forced myself to get up at 6:30 when my alarm went off. 

The second night was a bit more successful and I watched TV in bed until I nodded off around midnight, though when I woke up I felt super groggy. 

That's the thing with taking benadryl. The sleep is not necessarily the best rest but at least it is an escape from my current reality. 

Last night, I tried ZMA (short for zinc magnesium aspartate) which I used to use to promote sleep and healing for my weight lifting days. I was able to get a good 7 hours of sleep with the added crazy dream. Think assassins fighting assassins. 

So why limbo? 

Well, my skin doesn't seem to be changing all that much. I wake in the morning and shower, scrubbing as much dead skin off as I can. Then olive oil and Vaseline. Then I go to work and try to keep my hands busy until around 4 or 5 when my skin really begins to crawl. I frantically drive home, starting to scratch my itches and when I get home, I strip off my clothes and see that my skin is shedding. Inside of my clothes are dusted with dead skin and the surface of my skin is all lifted with dead skin. I look in the mirror and think, it doesn't look THAT red. Then I plop on the couch, watch TV and movies, play some video games and go to sleep. 

Next morning I feel hopeful that my redness is gone but after I shower and oil up, I look practically the same as the day before. 

I am learning to cope with the symptoms day to day and trying to dampen my short term hope. Almost feel like a robot these days but I guess it's better than my initial feelings of desperation. 

Neck still looking bad? How can it be.

Torso less red perhaps. Seems the same to me. Even belly button has tiny hives in it.