The Elusive Scarlet Cure for Insomnia +thoughts on addiction

Big ups to Monkey for the huge variety of insomnia suggestions. I hadn't heard of the Cal-Mag supplement before, I'll have to check that one out.

Despite the fact that I've crashed & burned on just about every insomnia cure known to modern man (hot showers, more exercise, dietary & bevratory changes, visualization, relaxation, white noise, no noise, sunlight, light box, complete darkness, view of trees & night sky, no view of trees & night sky, melatonin, serotonin, organism, oxycontin -kidding) there's one shiny spot. I have a non-addictive chemistry, which means I don't have to fear sleep meds.

You could say I got off easy. One spring morning during my first year at undergrad I finished off last night's cocktail for breakfast, because it had juice in it. Sure it did, if you count juice the way Albert Brooks' character mixed it into screwdrivers in the movie Broadcast News; he dipped a finger in frozen concentrate and stirred it in a glass of vodka. That moment made me stop and wonder if I was becoming an alcoholic. It was the first time I had to contemplate the possibility of addiction as a power in my own life.

I know now that I'm very, very lucky. I've smoked cigarettes, and I've gone 15 years without them. (And though I retried them both in Spain and in law school, a cigarette was always just a social key to fitting in.) I liked them, but I could walk away without looking back. Ditto alcohol. Ditto coffee. Ditto tea. Ditto chocolate. Ditto prescription narcotics. Ditto other stuff. And while I've kept clear of cocaine and crack and meth, if they were legal (and not so horrible for your health!) I could probably have them from time to time and walk away from them too. Like Jessica Rabbit, I'm just drawn that way.

I still try alternate ways to get to sleep at night (at the tone, Pacific Standard Time will be one forty-eight and twenty seconds. Beeeeeep). A pharmacy receipt is no one's favorite way to live. It's expensive and a little lame to explain that one of life's necessities lies just beyond your reach.

But I can accept that maybe I'm a person who has to take the sleep meds the way others have to take their insulin, statins or anti-psychotics. And even if I'm not that person, it's also restful to know that if I use them now, I don't have to worry about being hooked forever and ever, amen. I'm just drawn that way.

[side note to monkey] I'm not all surprised that you notice a difference between tea and coffee. the alkaloids at play are a little different. Tea does contain proper caffeine, but it also includes of lot of caffeine's cousin, Theophylline (leaf of the gods). Being as chemically insensitive as I am, I get very little boost from either, and only drink them because I like them.