Apparently this is a common thing. I was just reading something about how
people will push themselves beyond what they should do. And instead of
taking a nap or just going to bed, they will grab the chips and dip or
whatever is around.

I don't think I do this. Nope. I reach for caffeine. So much so that I
would have to say that at times I was an addict. When I was younger, I went
to extremes. I remember not getting much sleep one weekend in Jr. High. I
was doing a report on drugs for my health class. I had no yet discovered
coffee. So I mixed up a pitcher of instant tea, putting in far more tea
powder than should have been in there. It was unsweetened tea and it was
very bitter. I don't like sweet tea and we didn't have any lemon but we did
have some OJ. I remember putting a little of that in there trying to make
it taste better. It didn't. I slugged down two tall glasses of the stuff
and kept on chugging. And then I began to sweat and feel shaky. I was home
alone. Not sure where my family had gone but I had to stay home and do my
report. I looked in one of my mom's medical books and sure enough it
appeared that I had a caffeine OD.

I did it again a couple of times in high school. Once it was drinking
coffee at a party. As in several pots of coffee, pretty much by myself.
The other time it was caffeine pills. I was working for that inventory
company at the time. Sometimes I would go to work right after school and
not get home until 4:00 a.m. I would need to get ready for school in a
couple of hours. There was no time to sleep. So I would take a shower, do
my hair and makeup and down some caffeine pills. Apparently the way those
things work is that you build up a tolerance for them. And then you have to
keep taking more and more for them to have an effect. But in those days I
thought I was invincible. Sleep was highly overrated. It all came to a
head when I finally took two bottles at once and then would up throwing them
up. That was my wakeup call. No more caffeine pills.

But then I did it again the other day. Due to various reasons, I was not
allowed to sleep. I can't even remember the particulars of that day because
I have been pretty sleep deprived most days. Between my husband calling at
all hours of the day and night, Angela being sick and injured, the pharmacy
calling at all hours of the day and night, heavy rain, me being sick to my
stomach and then the eye problem (blepharitis) and then the construction
going on right outside my bedroom, it all adds up to a lack of sleep.

I just remember thinking... If I can just get enough caffeine in me, I will
be fine. And I started downing the Diet Cokes. Most days I will force
myself to drink water and other beverages that do not contain caffeine. But
not that day. And then along around midnight I was like... Ah... Finally!
I feel refreshed. I am thinking this is not right. But this is what I do.

I can't really see how eating would help. Unless of course you are feeling
tired because your blood sugar is low. I do remember once eating a bunch of
Danish butter cookies at work. Yuck! My coworker (who was a type 2
diabetic but had yet to be diagnosed) suggested that we do this to get a
sugar high. We were having a bad day. I don't think I have ever had a
sugar high and that sure didn't happen that day. We just felt bad that we
took in all those calories and the cookies just didn't taste good. We kept
eating different ones out of the tin trying to get one that tasted good.
But that never happened.