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Insomnia, Stupidity and Saved by The Bloggess

Ah, the holidays. I don’t know about you, but for me and the hubs it means lots of driving combined with sleeping in strange beds all wrapped up in being around 4 germ-infested children.

This year’s Thanksgiving was a little more hectic than usual as we visited his family in Long Island for the first time (surprisingly it was the drive there that caused yelling, panic, getting lost, and stress – leaving LI on Black Friday morning was actually easy). I’ve been battling insomnia for quite some time now; usually my fibromyalgia puts me through long cycles (not unlike bi-polar disorder) where for months I’m passed out by 10pm without help followed by months of me stumping doctors as drug after drug fails me.

I was taking one of the benzo’s, Klonopin, which if you read about it on Wikipedia starts to sound downright scary for longterm use. Couple with the fact that I was immune and to the point where 4mg was barely affecting me. For reference: most people are started at .25mg. Many doctors don’t want to prescribe anything higher than 1mg. I wrangled 2mg pills yet quickly needed 4mgs. It was then that I gave up and started to slowly wean myself off it.

Except….what NOW? Over the years I’ve been on:

Ambien (crazy ass dreams)
Lunesta (didn’t work, plus crazy dreams when I would sleep)
Elavil (worked for awhile, til it didn’t)
Trazedone (worked until I required such high doses that I would be hungover til noon)
Various herbal teas
Lavender
Kava
Melatonin (works, then it doesn’t, then it does)
Advil PM
Klonopin
Valium
Xanax
Flexeril (nope)
Soma (nope)
Zanaflex (nope)

I’m sick of being reliant on drugs. I am. I’m thankful right now that I don’t work because I’d be a mess. No sleep = fibro flare ups. Next up on the River of Dreams is a cocktail of supplements. Namely, I’m going to increase the melatonin and get a timed-release version. Adding in timed-release 5-HTP. And a combo pill (which I’ll be lucky if I can swallow) of Calcium and Magnesium.

You’re wondering where the stupidity and Thanksgiving work into all of this.

I’ve been trying to sleep at night without taking Klonopin. I’ll take it if I’ve been up more than 1.5 hours after taking the melatonin and Advil PM. Despite my exhaustion, this was of course the case Thanksgiving night at his family’s house. I had to sleep….we had a 4.5 hour drive the next morning to see my family. Plus I was having a flare-up and/or coming down with something. Because he was tossing and turning I thought he wasn’t sleeping, either. I asked him something. Then I asked him “Where is your Klonopin?” because I couldn’t find my bottle. He had told me earlier he didn’t bring much spare Klonnie, and in his sleepy stupor he thought I asked “Did you take your Klonopin?” He answered ” ‘course”. I heard “purse”. When we travel he sometimes keeps his meds in my purse. Except now that he takes Klonnie only at night, that’s no longer the case.

Anyways. I go to my purse. Yup there’s a prescription bottle. Take 2 (he had 1mg pills, I have 2mg). Go to my bottle of Coke Zero. Throw the pills in my mouth. For a second I experience a bitter taste and swig in a mouthful of Coke and pause before swallowing….wait..why are they bitter? Maybe I should turn on a light and check the bottle before swallowing….nah. its fine.

Yeah, it wasn’t Klonopin. Instead, I took 20mg of Ritalin. Why I even bothered to fucking look after the fact is beyond me. I likely would have slept if I hadn’t jacked up my adrenaline from fear and panic. I’m ADD, so stimulants don’t wake me up. In fact, too much puts me to sleep. However I haven’t taken Ritalin in well over a year and a half. I’m currently taking Nuvigil during the day and while it should be gone after 12 hours I know that there’s a half-life and some was still in my system. I panicked on how it would interact with the Nuvigil from the morning and the Nuvigil I’d take the next morning. Would I die? Would I be sick? So I did the only thing I could think of. I went to the bathroom and forced myself to throw up – something I’ve never done before. Where’s the fucking uber-sensitive gag reflex when you NEED it?!?! The process was difficult. And painful. And I have no idea how much of it I got out of my system. And I was sick for days as a result.

I will NEVER fucking do that again.

Oh, The Bloggess? She mentioned this NeuroSleep drink that helps her sleep and Neuro Drink was sponsoring the post. Jenny has RA and insomnia as well so if it works for her, I feel like it could work for me. Thanks to her I’m trying it out soon and I have fingers crossed. Of course I also have ordered those supplements too (which, I know, don’t take those plus the Neurosleep, I’ll be in a coma for 3 days) because frankly if the NeuroSleep works it would be a great item to take with me when we do the family visits for Christmas. Very portable. But I only found out about all these supplements because I was researching NeuroSleep. So unless I’m a unicorn and this all fucking fails spectacularly, The Bloggess saved me.

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Posted by Lilly | 17 Comments

What’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever masturbated with?

I wonder how many people have the cohones to truthfully respond to this question?

I will allow you to be anonymous and won’t spill the beans if I know who you are, I promise ;)

My confession:

A bedpost. Oh I know what you’re thinking. Like this, right? No no. no. The one in question was more like this. Yes it was long, and I yanked it off the bed. Yes I was desperate for anything that had a chance at helping me orgasm since I had nothing that could vibrate.

Why was it dumb?

1. Because it was probably dusted at some point using a chemical spray, like Pledge.

2. The accidental ramming of my cervix resulted in an hour or two of moderate cramping and spotting later on.

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Posted by Lilly | 6 Comments

Where I’ve Been: Comedy or Tragedy

I’ve not been around much lately. First, we were planning a weekend away which was cut short due to the winter storm that knocked out power for most of Connecticut. Then I had no power for days and froze my ass off and generally was miserable. THEN I had to go out of state to stay with my mother (actually, my great-aunt, where she’s staying, because her house isn’t rebuilt quite yet) and take care of her after a foot surgery. I knew she’d be a pain because she’s never been a good patient – is stubborn, wants to do for herself, even if it means she’s disobeying doctor’s orders. I thought I’d be able to go to a family member or two’s house every day for a few hours to get internet access…..but I wasn’t. That only happened twice in the 7 days I was there ( and I wasn’t supposed to be there 7 days, either). You know what happens a lot more when I’m away and without internet (as I have been at least 4 times for extended periods since late August)?

• People complain that I’m late with something, like this all is my whole entire life and not a side hobby
• I get more requests for invites to ToySwap when I’m gone. Coincidence I’m sure but still weird; and it’s difficult/impossible for me to invite when I have only my phone as “internet” so they have to wait for me.
• I get advertising queries that I can’t respond to right away and then when I do they never get back to me again
• My site goes down
• Drama happens (oh wait…that’s every week)
• Sex toys come in the mail and I can’t open them up and try them out immediately (hello, WeVibe 3)

At the last minute mom changed her mind about when I was heading home and suddenly I’m finding myself not coming home Monday, but late Wednesday. By the time we were done running errands Monday and Tuesday I was so exhausted I was literally falling asleep at the dinner table. Guess what wasn’t on my mind? Wanton Wednesday. But I wake up Wednesday morning with a few genuinely concerned people, some others who just like to harass me when I’m late on WW due to REAL LIFE and others still who don’t even follow me but are whining that the post isn’t up. Am I griping about every person who tweeted about it? No. Not everyone. But seriously I’m never more popular on Twitter than when people are whining that I’m late with something. It’s never the good stuff, lol.

I was already on a thin string and that kinda all set me off. And now I’m home, days later than anticipated, with e[lust] looming in front of me lest I get more irritated tweets wondering where that is (like I’m some kinda business and my services they paid for are down……).

Do times like this make me want to just pack it all in?

Yup. They do.

I’ve considered ending Wanton Wednesday. Others have volunteered to take over hosting it, but I’m on the fence about that. Perhaps my Wanton Wednesday has had it’s time and now it is time for someone else to come up with their own version. Of course there already is SinfulSunday and Wank Wednesday, so it’s not like the community is lacking for anything.

I keep bouncing around on ending e[lust]. Sugasm was way more erratic in the last 8-10 months that it was active, yet I cut back to a monthly digest instead of every 2 weeks, and take a month off sometimes due to holidays and suddenly there are people complaining that I’m unreliable with e[lust]. Really? You try running it tip to bottom just one time. See how easy it is. I’m now finding that a lot of the people who used to submit consider themselves “too” something to participate anymore: intellectual, serious, famous. Some just don’t post much anymore. Is sex blogging dying out? Sugasm had more entries in it their last 2 years because they allowed anything to be submitted; commercial sites, photos, reviews, etc. I’m not sure how the sex blogging community sees e[lust] anymore and if there’s a reason for me to continue it.

These past few weeks have bounced back and forth between comedy and tragedy, both in the greek sense and the literal. I’m about at the end of my rope. I’m also tossing around the idea of whether or not to keep blogging. I don’t think I have much to say anymore and I’m certainly nothing like I was the first year; me, my posts, my photos….nothing is the same. I’m pretty unsexy lately! There is nothing dangerous anymore.

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Posted by Lilly | 3 Comments

Can a new and better bed be a boost to your sex life?

In recent years I feel like I’m part of that little fairy tale called The Princess and the Pea. I chalk it up to my messed up back and fibromyalgia and myofacial pain syndrome, but it makes me a little high-maintenance when it comes to where I sleep. I can tell you exactly what I slept on and how I slept (and how I woke up) our first nights in our new places (both the current house and the old apartment) – because it wasn’t a bed. When we slept in our house the first time before we got the furniture delivered I remember getting up numerous times in vain to hunt down anything I could use to add some cushioning. Sleeping bag. Roll-up foam mattress meant for camping. Feather bed. Then I turned to the few bath towels we’d brought, the bath mat….you get the picture. But I still felt that hard floor underneath the carpeting.

You guys are used to me reviewing sex toys. So I know you’re wondering why the hell I’m basically reviewing a bed. It’s because it has made that much of a difference.

Two years ago I replaced my spring mattress with a not-very-expensive memory foam mattress from Ikea. I’d slept on it at someone else’s house, woke up without back pain for the first time in ages and came home and purchased one. Since it wasn’t even middle of the line in price or quality, it didn’t last me very long. I was more surprised than I should have been. For the last 2 months between my insomnia and my dislike of my mattress I’ve spent the majority of most nights sleeping on our couch. My husband missed my presence, even if we didn’t go to bed at the same time. Frustration culminated into doing a lot of online research about mattresses for the not-skinny with bad backs and fibromyalgia. That research told me to consider latex mattresses instead of memory foam. But you all know how I feel about unwanted chemicals in sex toys…..and my last latex foam pillow reeked so badly for so many weeks that it made me scared to sleep on it and breathe in the fumes that were off-gassing. And then I found a company that sells natural chemical-free latex mattresses. Here is some information right from their site about their mattresses:

Q: What is a natural latex mattress? Latex is a viscous liquid that exists within most plants – for industrial use however, the Hevea rubber plant has been the primary source for the natural latex we utilize today. A natural latex mattress contains natural latex as its primary component, and as a result offers a host of advantages that are innate to this material. Latex rubber is incredibly strong and durable, conforming, antimicrobial and hypoallergenic as well as biodegradable.

Q: How ‘natural’ is a natural latex mattress? It depends on the manufacturer – but at Tranquility Mattresses our products are 100% pure. Aside from natural botanically latex, the other main component of the mattress is air; purified (and then recycled) water – not harsh solvents or chemicals – is used to wash mattresses after the production process. And of course, latex is a renewable material that makes our mattress an eco-friendly and fully sustainable product.

Q: So is a natural latex mattress like a viscoelastic ‘memory’ foam mattress? In many cases it’s better. In terms of pressure relief, it is about 31% more effective. It does conform like memory foam, but does away with the ‘sinking’ feeling and heat retention that people complain about with memory foam. A natural latex mattress supports you in any position and adjusts on the fly as you move while you sleep. And best of all, a natural latex mattress is not synthetic and is completely chemical-free. In the whole damn thing, foundation, cover and all is pretty damn green. Organic cotton, real wood, etc.

I am always warm when I sleep, so the heat retention aspect interested me as well. But I admit: I was hung up on the price. That Ikea mattress was $199, and here I am looking at a mattress that’s over $1200, on sale? There was no way I could afford that! Until I realized that my credit wasn’t awful anymore and so I applied for their financing. And I was accepted. It’s something from GE Capital but I wasn’t expecting to get accepted. So all I need to do is make a certain amount in a monthly payment to have it paid off in 12 months and there’s no interest. I can do that. I’m an ADULT now ;)

Here’s where my bed information is a little different than yours and why my story might have sounded a little odd – we don’t have a king or queen size bed. When we moved in together we were given a lot of things. A bedroom set is one of them, but it was 2 twin bed frame and headboards. Which is actually just fine by us. We have our own bedding, my tossing and turning isn’t felt by him and nobody has a bare ass at 4am due to somebody else stealing the comforter. We just shove the beds together, put a body pillow over the gap so that cats and people don’t get lost when the mattresses drift apart, and it works and looks just fine.

Anyways. Unlike that Ikea memory foam mattress, this latex mattress from Tranquility Beds was ready to sleep on in hours (compared to 2 days). Since I was approved for financing – and I know that these beds require a better foundation than box spring – I got their wood foundation. It’s a little weird when you open the box because it is in pieces but it works out well. I tried the mattress on my old box spring and then the new wooden foundation and I could feel a huge improvement. And I think it’ll keep my mattress in better condition for longer. PLUS – it’s silent. No noisy springs to wake him up when I come to bed 3 hours later than him. NO NOISE.

In other words: Unless you’re banging the headboard off the wall, the bed won’t tell the other people in your house that you’re having sex. Which will result in fewer inhibitions and the ability to just let go and fuck like bunnies. In silence. If that’s your thing.

I’m deliriously happy with this bed. The people at the company were great (If you get Phyllis on the Live Chat or when you call, she’s a great help). Just make sure your FedEx delivery guy isn’t an idiotic douchecanoe who screwed up your delivery and gave you someone’s plywood instead of your foundation. The warranty is nice, the free shipping and the return policy took a lot off of my stress in buying this and there was no smell once the mattress had aired out a little (it comes vacuum sealed like those Space Bags are supposed to do with clothing and bedding, so there’s a little plastic odor for a bit from that) – and everything related to the bed is MUCH BETTER. My sleep, my back, sex, etc. I know that $50 isn’t a make-or-break when you’re about to drop $2000 but it’s a little something. I like this bed so much that yes, I’m naming names and linking and giving you a $50 coupon. And you know I don’t bullshit. If you decide you’d want to order just call and ask for Phyllis – she’s the only Phyllis there. Tell her you have a $50 off coupon code of “Lilly” and that’ll do it.

 

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Posted by Lilly | 2 Comments

The Dirty Little Secret

I’ll keep you my dirty little secret,
Don’t tell anyone or you’ll be just another regret.
~All American Rejects “Dirty Little Secret”

For some people, being or having a “dirty little secret” is erotic in and of itself. I might have considered myself one of those people in the past, but no longer. It’s taken being someone else’s secret for a few years to make me realize that it’s a sucky place to be. When the irony adds to injury, that there’s no reason for me to be a secret anymore because we’re now just friends, it stings a little more. And so, in my search on OkCupid for local friends, I’ve discounted married men who are not in an open/poly marriage. I specifically state that in my profile, yet of course they’re the type who won’t read a profile in full. Or worse, they’re the type who see that I don’t want what they’re offering and their ego says “Yeah but I’m different” and they contact me anyways.

I had one such debate recently with someone. Typical married-man profile: Not much information, no photo and in an introductory email he says he lives in city A when he listed city B on his profile. Usually I just tell these men to go to Ashley Madison instead, they’ll have better luck finding a mistress. The most recent guy insisted he just wanted a good friend. Nothing more. Except….I would still be a secret. It’s really hard to have a friend and be a friend when there’s secrets like that involved. For a number of years I knew that if my close friend should fall ill or worse, I wouldn’t know about it. No one in his life knew about me. I couldn’t text or call him whenever I wanted, no matter what. There were rules and restrictions. There still are. I explained this briefly to OKC guy and it was after the 3rd exchange that it sunk in my head that he wasn’t listening; was he even reading what I wrote? Or had he become such a master at evasion and redirection that he could be mistaken for a politician or lawyer?

“Sometimes it’s easier/better to keep things under a cover” In response to me saying I was not interested in being anyone’s secret, and I would only date/friend married men in open & honest relationships.

“I am sincerely lacking one aspect of a relationship, and you will get in return a Safe, Sane and smart companion. I don’t have anything else going, and no plans either, just one open and understanding friend.” Just one friend?

Again I reiterated that I’ve already been down this road and it doesn’t lead to a very fair or equal friendship and I wasn’t interested in doing it again. “I completely understand your stand, and there’s no force on my part. All I can do is try to tell you how “I” am. If nothing else worked out, I “was” pretty sure you’d be VERY much fun to plainly hang out with as a person. If you think this is about fairness, may be I was wrong.”

I know, you can’t fix stupid, but wow. So I’m no longer fun because I don’t want a secretive friendship? Nice.  I’m now ignoring all his messages because he can’t seem to get the hint. Something else he’s said three times in only 6 messages is that he won’t “force” himself on me/anyone, yet he keeps messaging me. The language he uses, the deflection and weasel words, all spell trouble. At least I’m smarter now.

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All Apologies ( i need a fuckin rainbow)

Life happens, shit happens.

Yesterday, I decided to go off of my “wakey wakey” drug for the day (Nuvigil, it does wonders for my ADD/fibro fatigue and fog) because I was getting a second trigger point therapy/beating, and the first one left me drugged-feeling and exhausted but unable to nap bc of the wakey drug. So I didn’t take it……and of course the second treatment didn’t affect me like the first. Then of course the doctor delivered the news that this back pain might never ever go away. I’d had hopes, and they’re barely clinging on now waiting for more treatments.

What I did notice though was that this drug, which is only FDA-approved for things like narcolepsy and sleep disorders (it’s been trialed though a few times on fibro patients to great result), keeps the hopeless-depression at bay. It’s not a stimulant, but it wakes me. It’s better than Wellbutrin for my mood. Yesterday was this mired pit of “I cannot bear to spend the next 30-40 years of my life in this constant daily pain and inability to do things” and said so many times I couldn’t bear to live with it that I scared my husband into fearing he’d find me dead upon coming home from work. The first time this sort of depression happened I wasn’t on any drugs, and it was after we moved here and I felt utterly USELESS. Like my life was pointless, I wouldn’t be remembered after death, I’d done nothing to leave an imprint on this world, etc.

The problem with the Nuvigil is that it will cost me at least $300 a month. This is in addition to all other health-related copays and such. And we do not have room in the budget for $300 a month. So I need to find myself a job that guarantees about $400 a month that I don’t hate and doesn’t exacerbate my pain levels too much.

Then last night my family world collapsed. My mother called me in fearful tears – a flash flood happened. She’d built her dream house on land next the creek she spent her childhood years growing up at, three houses down from her Aunt’s house (now her cousin’s house). She had her screened in porch with a full view of the creek below. It’s no stream, mind you. I’m terrible at judging distance but it’s perhaps 50 feet across and sometimes as wide as 100 feet? But during normal water levels you can walk across it, the water being no higher than knee/thigh level, sometimes as low as ankle. Anyways. Even in the flood of 72, the worst one, the water didn’t go inside her cousin’s house – this house is 100 years old I think. This time, it quite quickly became apparent that the water was in fact going to come up to the houses. She had very little time to rescue items and move them upstairs. Even one of her two cats had to stay behind, because said cat hid in the chaos. I was heartbroken equally about the cat as I was the house. She was safe, with her cousin and neighbors, in a house nearby but higher up. But 5 minutes into our call they lost power. Sometime later they lost phone service. There is no cell reception there, so we were cut off. I did nothing today but sob and worry about the house, her beloved deck, her cat, our family heirlooms and photo albums (with my declining memory, they are sometimes all I have of my past). I watched news broadcasts online all day. I saw viewers’ photos being posted on the news Facebook page. I panicked and freaked when I saw ones near her, of bridges gone and roads ruined. I still had no idea if her house was okay.

In the end, it is…..mostly. The cat lives. But there was 3 feet of water in the house. Recovering will take a long time, especially since she didn’t have flood insurance because she wasn’t on the flood plain and she was told she didn’t need it. We can only hope that FEMA will be available to help financially. I can’t get to her…..not to her house, because of the ruined roads nearby….not even to my family who live close to her, because of the PA areas being hit right now with flooding and major highways closed.

I have been updating family and her friends. It is reminiscent of calls made the day my dad died. I am retelling the grief and the destruction over and over and yes there is good….she is safe…she has a standing house…but she faces much financial, emotional and physical stress.

Husband and I were going out of town this weekend for a lovely late-anniversary overnight trip to Mystic but we cancelled – even though we now know we can’t do anything for Mom yet, I couldn’t possibly leave this house or do anything but worry. We’ll go another time, soon.

So….tomorrow and this weekend I crack down on cranking out e[lust], doing a much-needed temp job, as much as I can do of it before I go to my mother’s where I will be unable to communicate or have internet. I’d even typed up a few blog posts the other day but….I don’t feel like posting them. I don’t have the ability to be “here”. I can only focus on my mom and what we’re going to do, and making as much money as I can in 4 days. And trying to forget all the abominations I’ve seen on the CalExotics website, or the fact that they claim that TPR/TPE is a “safe” material and non-porous. :)

Next week’s WantonWednesday is prescheduled. e[lust] will be published to the best of my abilities. This blog will be stagnant for a little bit.

I really need something awesomely spectacularly good to land in my lap, soon. Very soon. Universe, I beg of you….give me a break. Give me a little rainbow….

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