As a set-up: I don’t take any drugs except for aspirin, don’t drink, I don’t believe in UFO abductions nor other paranormal nonsense and have no (known) psychiatric issues.
I’m working from home this week, but keep close track of my days and responsibilities. On Thursday (1/5) I did a bunch of housework, online work for the class I teach, cancelled a meeting, and exchanged emails with committee members. Later, I went shopping for dress trousers, had a late lunch, fed the dogs, and lounged on the couch to watch some mindless TV. It was about 4pm on Thursday at last recollection and I have receipts for my purchases that show Thursday, 1/5.
A few hours ago I woke up from my couch nap and it was 6:30pm. on FRIDAY, January 6 – as in 24 hours just gone. I’m an insomniac, rarely nap, and in my entire life have never slept for 8 continuous hours. I hadn’t written any emails nor sent texts during this “blank time” and have no indication that I went aywhere/made any purchases.
Where in the Hell did Thursday night and all day Friday go???
Unless you have some reason to be exhausted I’d at the very least keep an eye out for any health related symptoms. Might wanna run down to drug store and check the blood pressure too.
Presumably you live alone, so no one else is around as a witness?
What about the dogs - if they went 24 hours without food and being let outside, I would think they’d be fairly frantic. How did they seem when you woke up from your “nap”?
Yes, I live alone and the doggies seem okay (I just re-fed and gave extra TLC just in case). Previous to last night I had endured three nights of virtually no sleep due to insomnia, so maybe my brain went on auto-pilot and I made it through Friday by rote . . . spooky.
That may be most likely, was there dog pee and poop in the house? Not many dogs would be able to go over 24 hours without having to go. If there isn’t, you probably let them out and don’t remember.
Not to be a downer or paranoid, but blanking out for 24 hours seems like a red flag, especially if there weren’t any drugs or alcohol involved.
I might see a doctor, if I was you. If you had been awake for three days, yeah, maybe your body just decided it was time to catch up. But a checkup is not a bad idea.
At my worst insomniac session (back in college) I went about 40 hours without sleep. Immediately after I slept for about 14 hours. Maybe 76 hours means a day of sleep catchup, but check with a physician just the same. Even more so if you find you had been sleep-walking through something like walking the dogs.
Ok, that might be cause for a little concern, if you let the dogs out and back in, yet have no recollection of it at all. I’d recommend mentioning it to your doctor. It’s most likely just the exhaustion as you suspect, but better to be on the safe side…
I knew a dog who refused to do her business on anything but gravel, since that was the normal potty area at home. She held it for 48 hours on a couple of occasions when she was staying with a family that didn’t have gravel in their yard. So it’s possible, depending on the dog’s level of cleanliness.
You don’t usually work from home, I gather? And would usually get up in the morning for work, probably with an alarm? And the dogs didn’t pee on the floor?
Obviously you should see your doctor, but it does sound like you were completely exhausted, so much that you let the dogs out in your sleep, and just caught up on your sleep.
Or you forgot Monday was a holiday, and that’s why you only worked four days this week.
Besides the dog bathroom issue, how about you? 26 hours is a long time to hold it, be you canine or human. I suspect sleepwalking. Check with your doc just in case.
Totally off-the-wall question: were you ever in a car accident? Someone told me that truly world-class insomnia of the sort you describe is at least somewhat correlated with car-accident-type trauma in childhood. I know at least one person with truly vicious insomnia like yours, and she indeed was in an accident as a child. Another friend’s insomnia is more run-of-the-mill, but she was also a car accident victim when young.
Neither has reported an amnesiac episode like yours, however.
