Abandoned, Drugged, and Exhausted (Me)

I've been sick for the last week. Nothing serious, just feeling really yucky. And it occured to me as I got well that I was running the show alone. None of the alters had come forward to take over much during the whole time I was sick. It would have been nice to share the burden of dealing with it, but no such luck. It was my illness, all mine. Now, granted, that makes sense. If you were an alter, and could choose to either inhabit a sick body and feel bad, or hang out 'backstage', as it were, and just wait for the sick to go away, what would you do? Yeah, no one wants to be sick. But I missed them - I felt abandoned a little bit.

So in the past I've noticed that I seem to need less rest/sleep as a functioning multiple than I used to, and certainly less than my singleton friends seem to need. But while I was sick, I was completely exhausted! Just a simple trip to the store was enough to wipe me out. I wasn't sick enough to make me that tired. My thought is that I've become so used to sharing my time with alters that I'm just not prepared, rest-wise, for a full day in charge. And it wore me out doing 24/7 and being sick as well.

Of course, the drugs I was taking surely didn't help. Drugs sometimes hit multiples in unexpected ways, or so I'm given to understand. Non-narcotic pain pills rarely have any effect at all. The last time I took narcotics, I shifted fully to Kiara and wasn't even coconscious with her. Allergy meds can put me to sleep, or dry me out. Valium-type medications can have a very delayed onset. The only thing that seems to work 'as advertised' (and then some) is Nyquil. It cures every symptom I might be thinking about having and knocks me out for a minimum of eight hours. Usually. Once or twice it's done nothing at all for me. The only thing that seems to be reliable about taking meds is that they ALL raise my blood pressure. So here I was sick and drugging myself appropriately, and sleeping almost the entire time. As far as I know, no one shifted in for the whole weekend. But my memory's still fuzzy thanks to the drugs instead.

Well, yesterday I felt reasonably healthy - a lingering cough and stuffy nose to remember it by. Hey, it's Spring - everyone has a cough and a stuffy nose. And last night, back came the crowd. Minutes from falling asleep, and Kiara bounces into the forefront. She got a snack, bounced on my new bed a little, talked to my boyfriend till he fell asleep... generally just entertained herself. At 2 o'clock in the morning.

So over the weekend I slept literally half of each day. Now I'm back to a sleep deficit. Thanks, little girl.