Yesterday morning was no different in that regard - I was quite tired and doing a very poor job of staying on task at work. I had plans to meet a former colleague for lunch. It had been five to six years since we had last been in touch, so I didn't want to show up half-asleep and looking dazed. I decided I had better take some of my stimulants to ensure I would be awake enough for our lunch, so I took 10mg around 11:30. Thankfully it was enough to wake me up and our lunch went very well. We talked for quite some time, caught up on each other's personal and professional lives, and made plans to stay in touch. Late in the afternoon, after returning to work, I took another 10mg because I was getting very sleepy again and wanted to make sure I would be alert enough for the drive home. A few months ago when I was completely dependent on my stimulant meds, taking a single 10mg dose would have had absolutely no effect on me whatsoever. Apparently the long drug holiday from the stimulants lessened my body's resistance to them.
Last night I took a single dose of Xyrem. I was hoping to take both doses but it didn't work out. I had to get up at 6am to get ready for work, and I didn't make it to bed until about 10:45pm. I set my alarm for 2am to take the second dose, since that is the latest I can take it and still get up at 6am. I sort of woke up when the alarm went off, but immediately laid back down without taking my second dose, and next thing I knew it was 3:15am and way too late to take it. So from 3:15am until 5:30am I laid in bed, tossing and turning and getting very little sleep - maybe an hour at most during that time. Of course right around 5:30am I suddenly got really tired and could have slept for hours, except I had to get up for work at 6. And, I didn't really sleep all that well during the Xyrem phase either - I woke up several times during the first part of the night while drugged. As a result today I was extremely tired. I made it into work okay, but as soon as I got to work I started having a lot of trouble staying awake. I took 20mg of stimulants and after about half an hour wasn't noticing any difference at all so I took another 10mg. Finally about another half an hour later they finally started to kick in and I've been doing fairly well since then. I'm expecting I'll have to take some more shortly though.
I ordered my next shipment of Xyrem yesterday also. It's supposed to arrive tomorrow. I just can't get over how ridiculously expensive the stuff is!! My final copay (after insurance and the pharmacy's copay assistance program) is roughly $410. And that's for just a single month's supply of the medication. I've discovered that I can still get the benefits of the drug by taking it at a reduced dosage or just one time a night, so I can stretch the supply out for about two-and-a-half months. It's still crazy expensive though.
