Asleep at the Wheel



Something is wrong with me as of late when it comes to driving and staying awake.  I have been having serious trouble keeping my eyes open while I am driving.

It started on Monday afternoon, as I was driving my mom and niece down to Tukwila where they were spending the night in a hotel so as to make an early morning flight out of SeaTac.  As I was driving, my eyes kept closing and I kept having to try to force them back open.  I felt myself swerving a bit a few times and I finally had to wake my mom up (guess we were all a little tired) and have her drive the rest of the way as it was scaring me.

We got to Tukwila and had dinner.  After eating and relaxing a while, I felt much better, so I took my mom and niece to the hotel and headed home with the kids.  It’s a little over 2 hours from Tukwila to my house.

About a half an hour into the drive, I found myself nodding off again, so I called Skip.  I was too far to go back to the hotel to spend the night.  Talking on the phone with Skip seemed to keep me awake, so I talked to him a bit and then stopped at Jack-in-the-Box to get a large Dr. Pepper.  And man, was it large!

As I went through drive through (at about 8:30 pm), Calista woke up so I set her up with a movie and got situated.  That was when it hit me as to how bad I had to go to the bathroom!  With three kinds in the car, I couldn’t just run in anywhere, and I wasn’t going to wake the boys, take them out of their seats and drag them inside to go to the bathroom, so I looked around for a place I could pee.  Too bad there were no such places I could find.  In desperation, I grabbed a diaper and put it on the seat next to me…  just in case.

I started driving again, and the Dr. Pepper worked for a while.  But then I started nodding off and feeling myself fall asleep again.  I tried opening the window, turning up the radio, singing, and anything else I could think of to keep myself awake, but it wasn’t helping much.

It was all I could do to make it to Fairhaven, which is about 30 minutes south of my house.  That’s where I stopped at a friend’s and ran in to use her bathroom (sweet relief!) and I made it home.

Maybe that could be written off as just being really tired, but it happened again on Tuesday.  I left my house at 6 pm to mae that 30 minute drive to my massage therapists, and about 15 minutes into the drive, I felt like I should go home, that I shouldn’t be driving.  It was much worse than the day before, and I know that I was a danger to myself and others.  And once more, this morning, as I headed int town at 9:30 am, I just could not keep myself awake.

I was fortunate enough that our nanny, K, was able to pick Calista up for school for me so I wasn’t driving like this with the kids, but I need to figure out what is going on and put a stop to it.  The first thing is going to bed early — as soon as I log off, I am going to bed, which will be about 2 hours earlier than my usual bed time.  Then I need to talk to my doctor — I’m wondering if I am anemic?  I had been having horrible dizzy spells and sudden episodes where I felt like I was just going to fall over and fall asleep, but those had stopped, so I thought I was ok.  But something is clearly not right.

Now that you’ve heard about my driving issues, I’ll be sure to write posts to fulfill the other requests over the next few nights.  :)

7 Replies to “Asleep at the Wheel”

  1. I’ve had this problem too. It’s been awhile since it’s happened and I do have thyroid issues that my meds had to be adjusted for. Let us know what the DR says. It’s very scary, especially when you have your lil ones in the car. I was driving an hour in the sun and nodded off on the freeway w/ both kids in the car. I was so upset and scared when I realized that I was hitting the bumps that divided me from the center divide and jerked my eyes back open.

  2. I have diabetes, and when my blood sugar is high, I’m VERY tired and have to go to the bathroom lots. When I was diagnosed, it came on suddenly, and as long as I was busy, I didn’t notice the tiredness. When still (like driving) I would fall asleep. Doctor visit time! Thinking of you.

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