Yesterday ended up being another disaster of sorts. After watching Michelle Wie triumphantly win the U.S. Open, all during which I was self-medicating the insomnia, I went right to sleep from 6 to noon.

It's odd, I always drink all night right until I go to sleep, and that has little effect on how I am when I get up. But when insomnia is involved, I'm always groggy and fucked up after getting up, no matter how long I've been sleeping. That's why one of my general guidelines is no alcohol during insomnia.

I know that if people were studying my case, they would say it's about the alcohol. Even if I'd been drinking all night before going to sleep, then awoke because of insomnia and continued to drink, they'd say it's the increased amount of alcohol that fucks me up.

And I would say they're wrong. It's not the alcohol per se, but primarily the insomnia with alcohol as a contributing factor. They wouldn't get that and that's why the medical profession is so ineffective regarding this type of insomnia. For instance, if it wasn't an insomnia night but I just happened to wake up a few hours into sleep and decide to chuck back a couple shots and crawl back into bed, I'd be fine when I woke up in the morning. 

In fact, if I'm remembering correctly, I went to sleep at around 1, early for me but I was tired from the weekend, and slept for two hours before waking up at a little after 3 and felt lucid and sober. And it was because of the U.S. Open that I didn't even try to go back to sleep, maybe it could have been a good night's sleep. But then because I was up and doing something, I allowed for drinking.

I already know that going to the gym after insomnia is a bad idea, but I went yesterday and confirmed it. But it was weird because my calf muscle pulled exactly as I stepped in the door. Literally, I took one step in, felt the muscle pull, and stepped back out. I spent the next 15 minutes limping around the area deciding what to do.

I ended up going in with it in mind to lay off the calves, meaning elliptical is OK, no treadmill or stairmaster. But during weights, I realized I was too tired and left after only an hour, my shortest time at the gym.

The calf hurt for the rest of the day and I couldn't even cover up the limp. But it also occurred to me that I should be bracing my calves. Actually that was inspired by Michelle Wie who was crazy using what I learned from the broadcast as "physio tape", but found online is properly called "kinesio tape".

I might look for the stuff in Taiwan. I'd be surprised if doesn't exist here, but I'm not sure where to find it. But I did pull out a knee brace that I brought from the U.S. which can be used on calves, and if that's effective and if there's a need, I can buy another one for my other leg.