Advice & Help Please!

Yep.... Lie. Tell work you are coming down with the flu, then go home, have a nice milky drink, get into bed (alone) switch on itv and watch daytime crap until you fall asleep through boredom. Note..this only works if you have no scruples about lying and can pull it off convincingly. A.

Yes, concentrating makes it worse. I spent all night talking to a writer - a real artist, makes me feel like a fraud - which was great and fascinating and I think I'll smile whenever I think about it. BUT...now I have to spend all day talking about...well, the things I have to talk about at work. And that's no good. No sir, no good at all. Camus- Going home not an option. Also, I have to go out tonight. Not going is not an option. Ben

I know exactly how you are feeling Enzo for the past three months I have been working 18 to 20 hour days 7 days a week trying to get the game I am working on finished on schedule. You have my sympathy but I'm afraid I cannot suggest anything that may help you other than to drink a lot of coffee or feign a sudden illness. Chin up old bean, try to struggle through and get an early night tonight.

Then oodles of pro-plus and red bull. You will be unable to hold a pen or write due to the caffeine induced tremors, but hey, you'll stay awake. ;)

Thanks. Pro plus is on the cards I think. Quick trip to superdrug down the road and everything will be alright. Also, I'm giong to have a kip in the park at lunch. GENIUS. Ben

How the hell did you know about my pins and needles??!! Actually, I've been smiling a lot today. I have every right to smile, too. When good things happen, you smile, right? I'm smiling... PS Also, I'm stuttering (you forgot that as a further side effect of sleeplessness, Jas)

Dear Enzo, I was going to suggest Red bull and Pro plus but that has already been done. A little nap can be good as you said but also can have devatastating results as you may feel ten times more tired than before. Be careful... Smilling is a great antidote for many things...sleep not one of them. May we know what you are smilling about?

You're right about napping Soraia, it could go either way but I don't think I've got much of a choice. These pins and needles need to go. Oh, and I'm smiling about last night. I have been fortunate enough to make the aquaintance of someone pretty special. She's vibrant, beautiful, smart, funny & exceptionally talented at all kinds of artistic expression. I'm tired, but I'm smiling. I look pretty stupid at the best of times, but I'm getting some really funny looks at work today....

Does this mean, Enzo is in lust perhaps? Which will hopefully mean another 'Bedtime in...' story?? She sounds very special indeed. And don't worry about the smile, smilling for no reason is the condition of the young and fervent.

Drink water, as lack of sleep leads to dehydration. Also, rather than pro-plus take some paracetomol for the headache. Another good bit of advice is to remember to eat, nothing too starchy or sugary as that'll give you a bit of an energy crash. Something nice and sustained. I may be an old stick in the mud, but I'd suggest that you try to get some sleep eventually, otherwise you'll make a massive blunder at some point, like going to the toilet at work then going back to your desk having forgotten to put your winkie back in your trousers. Something along those lines. Cheers, Mark Brown, Editor, www.ABCtales.com

UPDATE: Tried to sleep in the park at lunch. Failed spectaularly. Mark, you're right. I've been drinking loads and it's helped. I will lie in tomorrow. Thanks. Maybe I'll try bananas on the food front. I have no idea about how to look after myself, but fruit sounds like it can only be good. Jasper / Soraia - So quick to apply labels! Love...lust...no, no and no! It's not about what I'm in, it's not about me at all. It's about how great SHE is. And she is. Another 'bedtime' story? No, I don't think so. Another story of some kind? Undoubtably.

Needles and Pins was a hit for The Searchers.

I'm sorry that you didn't get much sleep, but most importantly are you still smilling? I for one am with Jasper on this one either lust or love or both even! If you refer to someone as great and try so very hard to tell us all by refering to her time after time, it is probably somethig. Did you find your Eliza? Or your Anamysztike? Don't be embarassed of your feelings I wish I was in your shoes : ) it's great to have people in your life that make you feel stuff, even better if it's good stuff that makes you smile! Congrats! Soraia

UPDATE 2: I'm now very hyperactive, probably due to me completely ignoring Mark's good advice; drinking loads of Lemon Fanta and eating Refreshers. It's brilliant. Work is great. Life is great. There's no such thing as a crash. :) Ben

Soraia, you are truly wonderful. Such a positive outlook on life! I'm not embarrassed...well, you've made me a little embarrassed now...:) I think my shoes would be WAY to big for any girl... PS Eliza? Anamysztike? People actually READ my stuff? Eeeek.

I'm sorry to pull rank - but I will. I was awake for 71 hours recently. It's what happens when an alcoholic stops drinking cold turkey. And if I could use the time to be creative I would, but when you shake so much that you can barely hold a cup of tea, holding a pen or picking out the correct letters on the keyboard is an impossibilty. But as you fall asleep the explosion in the head occurs. It's as if someone has set off a grenade right by your ear. And you settle down knowing that you'll get the bliss of at least two hours sleep. Oh and TC if you really want to hear how Needles and Pins should sound, listen to the original by the writer/singer Jackie De Shannon. The Searchers version just didn't get that feeling that you felt when you were 12/14yrs old and you saw her. The ache that was in your gut. Oh and she also wrote 'When You Walk In The Room' also a hit by The Searchers. And she gets that feeling into the song, unlike The Searchers.

Sorry to state the obvious but it seems to me you should see your doctor and ask for some Zimovane. I never saw a person it didn't put to sleep.

'Zimovane, you probably think this song is about you' La la la.