dream a little dream

DREAM A little DREAM

i am on a roll
dreamin like crazy

why just last night when i was working in the
emergency room as an add on doctor for the
night since they were expecting a busy night
in the emergency room
this guy
this truckdriver
he needed to move his semitruck across the highway
so he could go through the check out line those trucks
have to go through with the highway partrol

he couldnt drive
right now i cant remember why
but in the dream it was explained to me why
so
i got in the big semi
backed that thing back
going north
then drove it over the median
you know where you arent suppose to go
but the police do it all the time
so
i ued it
where i turned there was a big trench deeper
then the truck
as i was uing the wheels on one side dropped
into the trench
down down into that trench it went
it luckily didnt turn over
it just slid kerplunk into the trench
all wedged in like it was in a box
so
the truckdriver swapped places with me
so i wouldnt get in trouble
then
i went back across the highway
back to working in the er
then
in walked the highway patrol
they asked me a lot of questions
i knew for sure
i was in trouble
but
then
i just woked up
solved that dream didnt i

i told them
just call tom hell get that truck out of there

now im on a dream roll
im not sure why
these dreams quite vivd at times
i call my aricept dreams
the medicine i started 8 years ago for alzheimers
has this side effect

i do realize though
that these dreams are part of the disease process
as it progresses
just hoping thats not why

sometimes i think it might be better not to know too much

some nights im having three dreams a night
if i happen to wake up twice during the night
thats three vivid almost real dreams
that i can never finish

i thought about it a lot this week
when that teenager that they were going to harvest his
organs for donation since he was brain dead
he woke up
then described this death dream he had

then
i read where yale is going to do this death dream research
i call it where brains will be kept alive outside the body
they are using pigs
so i guess all they can do is dream and thats it
sounds creepy to me

thats what my dreams feel like sometimes
like my brain is out of my body

lucky for me
many times in my dreams i do something that wakes me up
why just this weekend
i was in my high school gym in mt holly
demonstrating how i could go up and over a tall person
and
do a one handed left hand dunk
as i dunked i heard this loud thunk
i completed the dunk in my dream
but
woke up quickly

there on the other side of the bed was a throw pillow
laying where it bounced off the wall

i was saved again
from
the confines of my dream

dream a little dream for me

the organicgreen doctor

herbal medicine

HERBAL MEDICINE
i take aricept (donepezil) for possible alzheimers disease
and have been on it for almost 4 years
the thinking is that by starting it early in the disease process
it will have its greater effect
the later you start it the less effective it is
there is so much damage done upstairs that nothing helps much
as it progresses
and
sad to say never will either even when they get a cure or treatment

the aricept causes a decrease in an enzyme called acetycholinesterase
which causes a rise in the chemical acetylcholine
which sits in the nerve cell connections in the brain and
elsewhere
the aricept then causes an increase in acetylcholine
which makes the brain cells work better
even the damaged one work better

so aricept is an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor

this causes the side effects we see with this medicine
sleep problems leg cramps vivid dreams dizziness blurred vision
hyperalertness after taking restless sleep stomach issues

now i would say the worst side effect i have is the sleep one
my wife says im restless when i sleep
i wimper some time
heck i even hit the bedside table once and bruised my hand
when i was fighting off an attacker one night
in my dreams that was

i lose about two hours sometimes three each night
because of this side effect
eg last night i went to bed at 900pm and was wide awake
at 230am
i get up have my two cups of coffee
then later in the morning around 600am i take my aricept
on a full stomach
the coffee and the aricept keeps me perky and alert
until about 100pm then i start getting real tired and sleepy

thank goodness i am retired and get lay down for a nap
usually a 2 hour one so i can gain back those two hours i lost
the night before

i have even stopped my aricept for a period of time and my
sleep pattern returns back to its normal 7 hours
i feel good and need a short nap in the afternoon

now i have been known for years and years for
falling asleep on people when they came to visit
so i cant blame that on the aricept

ive tried a lot of prescription meds
the ones i gave folks when i was in practice for sleep
that all seem to have the opposite effect on me
real restless and cant sleep like i drank a ton of coffee

ive not taken ambien and the newer ones since there
are concerns about its safety
i personally at my stage am not worried about drug addiction

i even tried some edible marijuana which made me feel
like the prescription sleeping aids

benadryl works well at a low dose although it leaves
me tired the next day
and
it counteracts the effects of the aricept so the two arent
supposed to be used together


so each day i get 10 articles on alzheimers disease to my email
there was one about an indian herbal root that was used in
alzheimers research that may help in alzheimers disease

in rat studies the amount of that bad stuff beta amyloid in
the brain goes down
and the rats did better on memory tests when they took the
herbal medicine
i always wondered how they tested their memory
i know they cant draw a clock or spell world backwards or
count from 100 by substracting 7

so i went to the national standard website and read about it
it is also used for anxiety and calming folks down
and
its used for sleep
and
it also acts just like aricept does
as a acetylcholinesterase inhibitor

could this be the answer
so i went to the herbal vitamin store
now im not going to give the name of the herb
since i as a doctor read up on it and was well aware of the
potential side effects
it causes the blood pressure to go down and im on meds for that
it could potentiate the effects of the aricept
i dont want folks going out and just buying this stuff and
using it

so the night before as i layed down to read my book
i got my glass of water and took my first pill
started to read my book
then the next i know its 7 hours later
i woke up feeling real groggy
so i made my coffee and after drinking my first cup
it was all gone and i felt great
all day i did

however
theres always a however
i had the most disturbing dream ive had since i have been
on aricept
then at nap time it was even more disturbing
so i skipped the pill the next night
but the dreams were still disturbing
then i didnt take any more pill and the disturbingness of the
dreams have gradually faded a lot

heck last night a lot of relatives came to visit us
we lived at my moms and dads house
they all flew in on a helicopter piloted by my younger brothers
son in law
yes my younger brother who died recently from alzheimers
disease and my mom who died also with it was in my dreams
my brother an avid outdoorsman was helping to negotiate
a small but flooded river in a motorboat
now that one wasnt disturbing
it was good to see him again with his smile
he seemed the same as before he was diagnosed
the same with my mom

so i guess the point im making
is just because something is a herb doesnt make it not
have potential side effects
and can and probably will interfere with your prescription
medications


nationalstandard.com

so discuss it with your doctor
they probably want know most of the side effects though
so go to the
national standard website 
https://naturalmedicines.therapeuticresearch.com/databases/food,-herbs-supplements.aspx
and
look for what the herbs potential side effects are

me
im going back to my good ole vivid nondisturbing dreams
and
will continue to nap each afternoon to regain my
lost hours of sleep

the organicgreen doctor