Did not sleep well this weekend, though waking up Saturday with both cats snoozing on my bed was noteworthy even though they were at diagonally opposite corners. I have the occasional anxiety-driven "white night," with both fretfulness and sleepiness growing as the night wears on; I don't recommend them.
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One of Huck the cat's behaviors really amuses me; he has a stuffed toy, a little cow, that is scaled to him about as a largish goat would be to a medium-sized tiger. If I throw or slide it, he happily pounces, picks it up by the throat, and waddles off with it to his scratching post, where he sets it down, grabs with front paws and "disembowels" it with his back paws, quite often by reaching around the post. I'm starting to think he believes himself to be a miniature tiger
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Tamara's cat Random Numbers -- "Rannie Wu" -- dislikes sharing a water bowl with Huck; she'd rather lick water from a sink or bathtub spout and I'd rather she did not. I poured her a bowl of water in the kitchen this morning and Huck was so very interested in pestering her as she drank that I ended up as the cat-lady version of an old cliche, cooking while holding a cat (instead of a child) at my hip. Huck put up with it, too. For a wonder -- it could have been a real mess.
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And that had better be it for this morning. Some kind of visual migraine is trying to lay hold of me and I need to head it off before it makes any more progress.
Later: Ibuprofen didn't work. Great.
Best o' luck!
ReplyDeleteI started those ocular migraines last fall. I am older then you and have had some heart related problems. I thought I was stroking out but I refused to tell anyone. I have to say sorry to my co-workers but I would rather start cooling off on the shop floor then spend the next 20 years in extended care.
ReplyDeleteMy heart goes out to you as a fellow sufferer of sleep problems (bound to get worse, now) and migraines. I would do something for you if I could, but I can only sit here and wish that it wasn't happening to you.
ReplyDeletePerhaps cats look at us the way we look at mice in mazes. I hope you feel better.
ReplyDeleteJim
I hope you feel better soon and I fully understand the reference to "white night's" you described them very well along with providing an appropriate name. Huck sound's as though he's developing into a first class tommy.
ReplyDeleteThe point of counting sheep isn't enumerating the ovines, it's a mental exercise intended to shift processing cycles away from whatever it is that's fretting you. Zen works for some people, and Lee and Miller (the Liaden stories) mention the "rainbow" exercise. For you, possibly a careful review of every step, however obvious or trivial, in stripping, cleaning, and reassembling every firearm you've ever owned, carefully visualizing each part as it's removed or replaced, thinking about what pattern of wear might indicate incipient failure -- something complex but not immediately important to focus on in lieu of worries.
ReplyDeletePsychosomatic illnesses can kill you, as I'm prepared to testify from personal experience -- the docs say I was ten minutes away, twice. What you describe is the first stages of a particularly nasty one, and the treatment has to come from within to really work.
Drugs can help, especially very low doses of Valium-related tranquilizers. I think I can anticipate your reaction, but I'm not talking about just taking the pill and *zonk*. I'm fond of Excedrin PM for that purpose, to take the wire-edge off, the little unnoticed aches and pains, and help you concentrate on whatever mental exercise you choose. Work on it.
Regards,
Ric
Warlock has advice worth considering. That is one of the approaches that I've had help, and would be part of the advice that I would give.
ReplyDeleteI could mention more, but a blog reply isn't the right place for it. And you don't know enough about me to understand where I'm coming from. But I can relate to how you feel. I'm sorry anybody has to go through this.
Pet ownership is an ongoing exercise in ethology, for sure.
ReplyDeleteVisual migraines suck massively. I've never found a solution for them, thankfully I rarely have one last more than 1/2hr so I can usually find a corner where the fact that I can't see isn't obvious till it goes away.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of hard to drive, though.
ReplyDeleteI may have something else going on; tummy didn't do well and the visual effects morphed into a more normal migraine: I have spent several hours laying down with a warm damp cloth o my face, trying to not make sounds.
Hope you get plenty of kitty therapy, and are feeling better.
ReplyDeleteI'm starting to think {Huck} believes himself to be a miniature tiger
Surely you know that every kitty knows that she or he is a Tiger/ess.
My friend Jack has headache problems. He claims daily doses of Claritin help.
ReplyDeleteok true, driving is difficult with a visual migraine, I've tried.
ReplyDeleteYou've got it backwards. Tigers are just scaled-up cats.
ReplyDelete