Last night, I tried to go to sleep, but coughing spasms every thirty seconds wouldn't let me. I couldn't even do my normal breathing exercises, because, well, breathing deep caused coughing. Instead, I decided to stay awake and active until I could take more DXM and have it be effective. I hate DXM: it's a dissociative, and really messes with my ability to concentrate and be present. All week I'd been moving around well, doing stuff efficiently because I was paying attention; I took some DXM yesterday morning because I couldn't deal with the coughing, and immediately I start doing stuff sloppily around the kitchen, forgetting things, my attention jumping to the next task before the first one was finished. I was up until about 4am, whence, I slept until almost 9. On the other hand, while I was being awake, I went out to run errands and finally got a new clock, which excites me in the manner of all things that perfectly fulfill a function I find useful. In this case, the display is big enough to read with my glasses off from a few feet away (if I squint), and the red doesn't make the room glow the way my used green one from the thrift store did.

I got a non-DXM cough suppressant from a friend, though, and that seems like it may be working well enough. If the cough doesn't let me sleep by Thursday or Friday I'll go back to see the NP at the doctor's office, but in the absence of bronchitis (which I don't have), I doubt Western medicine will have much to say about it. But hey, the pinkeye seems to be clearing up!

I am learning valuable lessons about the hazards of staying up very late (I got sick after New Year's) or an entire day of eating off my diet (I got even sicker after a day of eating crepes and sushi). After the first couple times it gets self-regulating for me: it's really just not worth it.