People offer many tips on how to get a good night’s sleep, but when your lips on fire because of burning mouth syndrome, it’s just not possible. I don’t need tips on how to fall asleep, good sleep hygiene, all that stuff. What I need is to be able to stay asleep for longer than a 20-minute stretch. On a good night, I might get 45 minutes straight.

This is a usual night for me. Some nights it’s even worse, much worse. My sleep function on my watch is on for a little over 7 hours, I doze (very lightly) for a total of 5 hours – but less than 2 hours are the deep restorative sleep I need:

The burning lip pain just keeps waking me again and again and again. On Friday night, I slept soundly from about 9:45 to 10:30. After that, although these times are approximate – they’re a good representation – I woke at 10:50, 11:10, 11:40, midnight, 12:25, 12:35…. I doze. That’s what I do. Then, every so often, I’ll get 30 or 40 minutes of a deep sleep.

Sleeping pills aren’t a solution. I’ve tried. They don’t help me sleep and they just leave me groggy the next day (both prescription and over-the-counter products). And, as I said, I don’t need help falling asleep. That’s rarely a problem because I’m so damned tired. I need help *staying* asleep.

Interestingly, during weekend days, the pain level wasn’t that bad. Go figure.