The Subtle Art of Inconvenience

Last night I decided to be extra on top of things when it comes to my nighttime medication.

Usually, I will go to bed and forget to set the alarm to wake up for my second dosage. For context, my medication is a liquid medication that I take twice a night that helps me get restful sleep.

Preparing for a good night's sleep

Like I said, I wanted to be extra on top of things, so I decided to take my first dosage and then tell Siri to set an alarm for 3 hours later.

I was prepared. I was ready to tackle the oncoming onslaught of that annoying buzzing tone just so I could wake up and feel great. Wake up feeling normal.

Vivid dreams that don't make sense

You know the phenomenon where you start to hear things inside of a dream that don't make sense in the context of your dream? For instance: You're playing baseball in your dream. Suddenly, a guy comes out of nowhere, wearing a fuzzy pink bunny suit. But he also came in on a monster truck with flames on the side and huge spiked wheels. Like, where did this guy come from? That monster truck is pretty rad. This is all very confusing.

The guy walks up to you, fuzzy pink bunny suit and all, and he says, "Bzzzt, bzzzt, bzzzt." That sound comes out of his mouth. At first you're like, “Yo, I'm in the middle of this baseball game, my guy. Why are you on the field bothering me?” But he looks at you again and he goes, "Bzzzzzzzt, bzzzzzt, bzzzzzzzt." This time it's a lot louder.

Waking up to a medication alarm

You blink twice. Oh, yeah, you don't play baseball. You have never played baseball. You literally write poetry and sing awkwardly to songs in your car.

The fuzzy pink bunny suit man starts to fade out of existence, and you recognize that he is just a sick dream metaphor for your alarm clock. Boom: eyes open. But you're not even fully awake. The automatic behavior sets in, and you reach over to grab your medication. However, this time, the time that you planned for, the time when you were totally expecting yourself to do the thing, you end up doing the thing that you're not supposed to do.

Falling back to sleep without my second dose

Something in your brain forgets to put the medication up to your mouth and actually take it. You lay there with this open container of medication. You start to slowly drift off back to... Wait, no, it's not even slow. You're out like a light again.

The only time you come back to is when you feel the wetness of the liquid medication all over your shirt. You curse under your breath, take the last little drops left and roll back over.

Narcolepsy is an inconvenience

For me, at this moment in time, this whole process is called "the subtle art of inconvenience" because that's what narcolepsy can be more than half of the time. An inconvenience.