Miracle! I slept last night. To explain, in order to get relief from my severe diabetic neuropathic pain, I was put onto Duloxetine (again – I’ve used it before). The relief was almost immediate. The absence of pain was noticeable, which means something because you often don’t recognise the absence of pain. That was good.

But! The side effects that made me stop taking it a couple of years ago came roaring back: (1) insomnia. It was immediate. I lie there all night and I just cannot drop off. I’m as relaxed as a jelly, but I’m fully aware until about 6am or so, when I finally drop off. Then I sleep for a couple of hours, maybe three, but then I’m awake and have to get up. I manage to get a few hours during the day, but for the past week or more I’ve been living on only 4-5hrs a night, every night. Not good. I’ve thought I might get used to it, but not so far (except for last night, I suppose).

And (2) The second side effect is restless leg syndrome. It’s an overwhelming need to tense the muscles in the legs and lower body, especially the buttocks. The result is, as well as being unable to sleep, I’m writhing around in the bed for hours at a time. It’s awful.

I tried varying the time of day when I took the med, from breakfast time to immediately before lights out. No difference.

Maybe I’m sleeping very lightly and unaware of it, that’s possible. I feel reasonably rested when I get up. But it can’t be good for me.

The headline refers to the fact that last night I managed to get a good night’s sleep, for the first time in about ten days or more. Why? How?

First, I only went to bed at 1am, reasoning that if I’m not going to sleep, then I may as well stay up. Second, I had a milk based hot drink before I went to bed. Maybe? Third, for the first time in weeks I didn’t use my Samsung tablet in bed before turning the light off. I have it set to night time (warm) colour, to cut the blueness. I read a book for half an hour instead.

So the test will be to try it again tonight. Stay tooned for the next exciting episode.

Nearly forgot – I have a referral to a pain specialist to talk about this neuropathy. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the soonest I can get in is 21 October! This is terrible. It’s lucky my pain is not too serious. Too bad if you have serious chronic pain 24/7. Same as getting in to see my GP. Even though I’ve been a regular for 10 years, I can’t get appointments sooner than for 7-9 days ahead. Too bad if you’re suffering.

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I’m drinking a new beer at the moment, with a very strange name: “I CAN HAS IBU? Volume 2”. I don’t understand it. It has a black and white stick-on label on the can with a couple of pictures of a black cat, and, in a star logo, “107.7 IBU!!” It’s brewed in Melbourne and is 8,7% alcohol b/v, $28 for four cans.

What does it all mean? Ibu means mother in Indonesian, of course, but what’s that got to do with beer and cats? And why Vol. 2? Why 107.7? I have no idea. It tastes good and with that amount of alk, I can feel it already. Yum.

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No car news lately. I admit I haven’t even driven the Peugeot since I got it back on the 8th of August. The Honda is so much more pleasant to drive, and has so much more carrying capacity. It feels so spacious, and the seats are so comfortable. I think I’ll sell the Pug. It’s good, but the novelty has worn off.

I looked on Carsales for the same model, and wow! There are five listed at the moment and the cheapest is $8,500, while the other four are around the $14,000 mark. Wow! Same model, roughly the same year, very similar specs.

Since I only paid $4,400 for mine (and I have to add the $2,400 for the cooling system repairs), I reckon I should be able to get my money back with a bit to spare. Hmmmm.

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I’m regretting my purchase of the Aldi capsule coffee machine. I just don’t find the coffee to my liking. I like it strong with body, and I’m not getting that, even though I’m using their strength 14 capsules. It also doesn’t seem to make it hot enough.

Even though I rebel against Nespresso, due to Nestle’s marketing techniques, I may have to sell this and buy a Nespresso compatible machine, mainly because there are now so many capsules of different brands that are Nespresso compatible. Wider range than Aldi, too. I find I’m not using my Aldi machine because I don’t really like the coffee much.

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Korea is hot. TV, that is. I mentioned that I found Extraordinary Attorney Woo and I’m up to episode 15. Enjoying it immensely. It’s a little inconvenient having to read the subtitles all the time, but it’s not too bad. Attorney Woo is utterly charming and if this is just an actress without autism playing her, it’s a remarkable performance. Remarkable!

I started another series about time travellers and some story about people from the future coming back to do… something… but I got too confused with names. Korean names tend to be… difficult for me, and I have to say, without wishing to offend, that so many Koreans look so similar that I have trouble telling them apart. I gave up on that one after four episodes.

Last night I watched Train to Busan. I visited Busan on the cruise in 2014 and thought I might recognise something.

But it turned out to be a zombie movie! What a joke. Since I wanted to stay up, I watched it to the end. That was two hours that I won’t get back. I avoid zombie movies usually, but I got sucked in for that one.

Anyway, in general, I’m not averse to watching Korean TV shows. Not bad stuff, usually.