Yesterday I woke around 7:00 to get ready for work, took my shower, reached for a tiny traveling pill bottle, shook out my blue blood pressure pill and a tiny, oblong dark rust colored pill that I was, at that hour, certain was an Advil. (The Advil was in a separate bottle, since they would NEVER share the same pill bottle. HA!) Down they went with a glass of water. I was staying at Jenn's, so I went into the kitchen to cobble together a salad for lunch since there is little food available where I work. After about ten minutes I began to feel quite odd. A little spacey, light-headed, couldn't quite figure out where my feet were. This never happens to me unless I am drinking heavily (which rarely happens these days) and thus I was a little unprepared for this bizarre physical weirdness. Especially before 8:00 in the morning!
Even with the fuzz in my head, a light bulb went on in my spongy mind and the realization that I had taken an Ambien instead of an Advil became a certainty. Holy cow! I was due at work in 15 minutes. What to do? My son was up, I mentioned it to him, he suggested I not go to work. Not an option. He suggested I not drive. Again, not really an option, I was fine. (Again, HA!)
I floated out to the car, lunch in hand, and somehow my car knew the way; I got to work safely (it's only 3 miles after all) but when I walked into the Clubhouse, my coworker looked and me and very hesitantly said "Good morning..... are you OK?"
I wasn't. It was not unlike being drunk, the room was shimmering a bit, tilting a little, my thoughts were as scattered as tumbleweeds in a wind storm, my eyes were a bit unfocused and things remained that way for a couple of hours.
Trying to stay awake after taking a sleeping aid is quite difficult. Ambien is a sedative and can be a hypnotic. It is an immediate release drug, so no wonder it hit me within ten minutes. Once the drunk feeling dissipated (after about 3 hours) it was a struggle to not curl up and take a nap. My shift was over at 5:00 and I was certainly "sober" but very tired. Back at Jenn's for the night I spent a bit of time just staring into space, my mind and body exhausted.
Lights were out before 9:00 pm and when the alarm went off this morning at 5:50 am, I felt like I could have slept for 8 more hours but so, so relieved that I actually just got a good 8 hours of sleep.
We learn life lessons everyday if we are paying attention. Small ones, big ones, some important and some trite, but lessons nonetheless. There will never be another Advil-Ambien mistaken identity in my life, of that I am certain. Lesson learned.
vs 
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