If I had the sense God gave an Irish setter, I'd be in bed, trying to sleep. I'm too tired to study, so I'll have to get up a bit early and do some last-minute cramming before my mid-term at noon. But I can't sleep yet.

One of the reasons I can't sleep is that my stomach is on fire. Hear me, people: generic Prilosec is not an adequate substitute for real Prilosec. For a while now, two capsules of Prilosec a day kept the hospital away. Without it, I was prone to ridiculous, inexplicable bouts of violent sickness (I'll avoid the actual terminology) which nearly always ended with me in the emergency room, getting rehydrated via IV and dosed into calm with Ativan.

This went on for years. They tested me for everything they can think of and came up negative again and again. Multiple ultrasounds, a CAT scan, an endoscopy, an upper GI (read: drinking lots of barium). Finally my doctor and I agreed that I'd just take Prilosec every day to head off the attacks.

Which worked well, mostly, until the generic came out. The generic form of Prilosec costs almost as much as real Prilosec and I'm starting to think it doesn't work. I've taken everything I'm supposed to take and more and my stomach is still burning.

A little too much information, maybe. Sorry 'bout that.

I'm also sad and stressed out, which must be annoyingly obvious. But I can usually sleep when I'm sad and stressed out. Tonight, I'm afraid to lie down.

It's my stupid stomach. If I lie down and relax into sleep, the acid in my stomach can drift up my esophagus until it hits the back of my throat, at which point my trachea closes off to keep from getting burned.

There is no faster way to wake me; I'm out of bed and gasping desperately in an instant. It is, to put it bluntly, really fucking scary. I don't want it to happen. Therefore, I can't sleep.

Sleep well, amigos.