Day Two: Wawa to Dryden
Yesterday was a challenging day. The sleep deficit put my nerves on edge. The Trans-Canada Highway between Wawa and Thunder Bay frequently curves past precipitous drops guarded only by the old-fashioned posts and wire, not concrete barriers I've become used to. On two occasions I got hit with vertigo. Although the drive was beautiful, all I could do was focus on getting through it. The distance between towns became longer, and we stopped briefly at most of them, which helped.
Leaving Wawa in the morning we drove into boreal forest-dominated by spindly spruce, white birch and tamarack-which dominated the landscape for the rest of the day. Our only lengthy stop was at Pukaskwa National Park, for a short hike and lunch. We didn't have time to explore much, but I got a glimpse of unusual shoreline and would like stop on our way back, if possible. We hiked around the edge of a small lake, where we found this flowering shrub (photo), which is unfamiliar to me. The trees were heavily festooned with old man's beard, nourished by fog from the lake. Across the forest floor, wild currants were ubiquitous.
Northwest of Thunder Bay the highway becomes unexpectedly straight and level (I had expected rugged Precambrian hills most of the way to the Manitoba border). People don't like this part, and even The Rough Guide to Canada calls it dreary, but it was far more interesting than the stretch of Highway 401 between London and Windsor, which I've driven a zillion times in my life. The thin spruce forest is endless, occasionally broken by rocks and small lakes. The land feels incredibly open. Anyway, it was a lot easier on my nerves.
Danny has brought some melatonin capsules to improve his sleep. Last night I did a little research to see how it would interact with mirtazapine, and came up with the startling discovery that "Taking mirtazapine results in enhanced secretion of melatonin at night." This explains very simply why the drug has helped regulate my sleep cycle, hence my mental health has improved steadily over the past six years. I wonder whether I could achieve these benefits solely with melatonin and dispense with the antidepressant. I won't try that without consulting my doctor, and unfortunately I couldn't find any information about whether it is safe to take mirtazapine and melatonin together. I found one individual blog entry from someone who was using them both to help her sleep, but that isn't especially reassuring. This article advises against the use of melatonin together with antidepressants, and recommends preference for use of mirtazapine over melatonin. However, the main concern raised here is daytime drowsiness.
I felt sleepy last night and decided to give the lower drug dosage another chance (without melatonin). I slept soundly for a few hours, not quite enough, but better than the night before. This time my brain did not quite turn on, so I lay in bed and dozed a couple more hours.
I can try taking some melatonin tonight. We'll be in Winnipeg and I don't have much driving to do the following day.