ARGH.

[revolutions]

So, I have this cold, or bug, or virusy thing, whatever it is. It is not actually that bad. I mostly feel like I have a sore throat and a kind of annoying sniffle, maybe a mild cough. So, as bugs go, pretty unthreatening.

That is, as long as I'm standing up. If I attempt to lie down, even briefly, I immediately feel like my head is full of concrete and my lungs are trying to hack their way out of my chest cavity. If I stand up again, however, within thirty seconds - literally - I feel normalish again. This is just weird. It is also not very conducive to getting any sleep, which is why I am up and typing a journal entry at half-past five in the morning. I am so sleepy that my eyes feel like they are full of sand, but lying down is not just not working for me. Does anybody know how to sleep standing up?

Comments

[flurgh]

When my dad was in the Navy there was a sailor onboard the submarine who could sleep standing up with his eyes open. He would go lean against the bulkhead at a corner and just fall asleep.

[evenstar]

Oh, that one! It's called the "Aw, F*ck Me Dead" virus. Because I tend to say that a lot when I get it.

Does anybody know how to sleep standing up?
...this is probably not encouraging, but not even when I was too tired to stand and yet enduring full-body tremors so violent they flipped me off the bed when I lay down, could I sleep standing up D:

[phoebesmum]

Not standing, but if I have enough pillows and bolsters I can (just about) sleep sitting up, though it's not very restful. I've had to do it sometimes when my chest decides that breathing is an optional extra. I hope you feel better very soon!

[forodwaith]

I've got the same thing right now and my salvation is NyQuil. A dose just before bed knocks me out hard enough that I can sleep. I'm groggy and dopey in the morning, but in a slightly better way than being groggy & dopey from lack of sleep.

[hop]

Horses seem to manage it, but they're not telling how.

I can usually sleep in a recliner with the back about 2/3 of the way upright. It seems to help for headaches when it's too painful to lie down.