Terminal insomnia is bad, but probably not a prosecutable war crime
A former colleague of mine had once written an expert program to help physicians diagnose different sleep disorders. He thought the coolest (his word) was one occurring most-frequently in otherwise-healthy young men from Southeast Asia. I don’t remember the name, but by his description, it is a degenerative neurological condition in which the sleep center of the brain is slowly destroyed. One gets progressively more severe insomnia until the sleep center is gone, then is incapable of sleeping and dies (from lack of sleep) within a week.
The only sleep disorder I’ve found in Google that is correlated with being a young Southeast Asian man is SUNDS, but the details don’t match up.
SUNDS, though: “Sudden unexpected nocturnal death syndrome”. That has been associated with an extension of the heart’s QT interval. And I’m on medication that can cause lengthening of the QT interval, such that I have to have regular EKGs.
So yeah, panicked insomnia is fun. I think, “Oh my God. I am never going to be able to sleep, and I’m going to die.” Completely rational, right?
Thought so.
I just knew that there had to be another reason for resenting being Southeast Asian — something other than Henry Kissinger alone.
Think the United States will start supporting the ICC when that fuck dies?
Thought not.
Wikipedia’s list of war crimes. I think they forgot to list one of the possible crimes against peace: WAR. Damn. Am I missing something? Isn’t war by definition a crime against peace?
Yeah, yeah, blah blah blah, aggression, treaties, blah blah. Can a country (the U.S., to pick one at random) really sidestep this by claiming that another nation (pick one) is trying to weaponize a particular metal? A metal of which the first nation has already weaponized and deployed approximately 1.86 trillion times as much? And actually fucking used those weapons on Real Live People?
I did finally get to sleep yesterday, and slept my normal 3.5 hours. You know how you can cut your foot on a piece of broken glass, and only then realize just how many steps you take in a day? Insomnia is like that. We tend to take sleep absolutely for granted, like breathing. And then we forget how to. Fun stuff.
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4 Responses to “Terminal insomnia is bad, but probably not a prosecutable war crime”
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October 18th, 2008 at 09h48
Last night: one hour. One hour. 8 am to 9 am. Awakened by an anxiety attack.
In the words of Eddie Izzard, “Fuuuccckkkkinnnngg Hell! Get me off of this thing!”
May 1st, 2010 at 12h13
sometimes i also have anxiety attacks and when it happens, i just breathe slowly and deeply to help me relax.-,*
May 5th, 2010 at 11h43
Sleep Disorders like sleep paralysis really disturbs me at night. I usually experience it when my throat gets dry.,-”
May 6th, 2010 at 11h51
Relaxation techniques and meditation can help a lot during Anxiety Attacks. .*”