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Poor sleep drove me insane, and my long path to recovery

writing.samsonhu.com

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Re: Poor sleep drove me insane, and my long path to recovery

#101

Post by amoss »

Wagthesam wrote: post #3

This is quite raw and I'm actually somewhat afraid to share this. But I think sleep apnea is criminally under-discussed and underdiagnosed. It can f your life up sideways and can take years to diagnose. So sharing my story and hope I can advocate for it. If you have sleep apnea, no amount of sleep gadgets, good habits, exercise, will help you. You must fix the root cause

Thanks for writing this up and sharing. The rawness of the experience comes through very clearly, and while it must have been difficult to write it reads very well. Hopefully this can help other people in the same situation. Your level of persistence in getting to the root cause is phenomonal.

Re: Poor sleep drove me insane, and my long path to recovery

#102

Post by Llamamoe »

rubicon33 wrote: post #28
bboygravity wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. I bet close to all young skinny people with sleep apnea must remain undiagnosed. My generalist doc basically said "if you really insist we can do a polysomnography, but I'm pretty sure you don't have it, you're young, skinny and sporty. There isn't really much that helps that you can do about it anyway". I did insist and it turned out that I do have it. The changes in life I experienced are similar to yo…

Can I ask what symptoms you had as a skinny / sporty individual with sleep apnea?

Either sleepy or tired-but-wired feeling. Reflux. Mouth breathing during sleep(dry/stinky mouth), jerking awake while falling asleep, waking up with a headache, breathless or more tired than you went to sleep. Bruxism. ADHD-like and memory problems. Low blood pressure with cold extremities. Nightmares.

Re: Poor sleep drove me insane, and my long path to recovery

#103

Post by Wagthesam »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #6
Wagthesam wrote: post #3

This is quite raw and I'm actually somewhat afraid to share this. But I think sleep apnea is criminally under-discussed and underdiagnosed. It can f your life up sideways and can take years to diagnose. So sharing my story and hope I can advocate for it. If you have sleep apnea, no amount of sleep gadgets, good habits, exercise, will help you. You must fix the root cause

Good points, but also if your job is causing this amount of suffering, don’t wait. GTFO as fast as you can, otherwise you’re going to work your way into a death spiral that is even harder to get out of (poor sleep, weight gain, emotional distress, negative impacts to relationships, grinding teeth during sleep leading to dental damage, etc). Defend your sleep and well-being like you would a loved one. No one will do i…

I agree with this. For me, I stuck it out longer than I should have due to a combination of youthful idiocy with a chip on my shoulder, a work visa, and a fear that if I threw in the towel now I would never work again.

In retrospect, I would have been doomed if it was that bad regardless, so I recommend others to take the life raft while they can

Re: Poor sleep drove me insane, and my long path to recovery

#104

Post by yesseri »

Llamamoe wrote: post #99
Wagthesam wrote: post #3

This is quite raw and I'm actually somewhat afraid to share this. But I think sleep apnea is criminally under-discussed and underdiagnosed. It can f your life up sideways and can take years to diagnose. So sharing my story and hope I can advocate for it. If you have sleep apnea, no amount of sleep gadgets, good habits, exercise, will help you. You must fix the root cause

You're doing good work. I've had Sleep Disordered Breathing since childhood from a mix of recessed jaws and allergies, and my journey was a decline from extreme ADHD in my 10s, to overwhelming fatigue in my early 20s, to essentially dementia. Nobody offered or was willing to test for anything. I was gaslit and sent to psychiatrists any time I tried seeing a doctor. By now, it's not my only debilitating chronic condit…

This makes me really sad to read. I really hope you don't do that. I can't imagine how hard this must have been for you.

I sometimes feel like life is to much. What helps me is the realization that life right now is hard but I am enduring. What makes it feel to much is the feeling that this burden is going to go on forever. So I try to be satisfied with the fact that I am capable of handling life right now, and the future is a problem for future me.

What techniques have you looked into for improving your condition?

Re: Poor sleep drove me insane, and my long path to recovery

#106

Post by Wagthesam »

Llamamoe wrote: post #99
Wagthesam wrote: post #3

This is quite raw and I'm actually somewhat afraid to share this. But I think sleep apnea is criminally under-discussed and underdiagnosed. It can f your life up sideways and can take years to diagnose. So sharing my story and hope I can advocate for it. If you have sleep apnea, no amount of sleep gadgets, good habits, exercise, will help you. You must fix the root cause

You're doing good work. I've had Sleep Disordered Breathing since childhood from a mix of recessed jaws and allergies, and my journey was a decline from extreme ADHD in my 10s, to overwhelming fatigue in my early 20s, to essentially dementia. Nobody offered or was willing to test for anything. I was gaslit and sent to psychiatrists any time I tried seeing a doctor. By now, it's not my only debilitating chronic condit…

Its been shown that sleep apnea related brain damage reverses completely within a year of treatment. If your issue is a narrow airway due to a recessed jaw an MMA can be curative. Insurance covers MMA if AHI > 15.

Do you have people around you that can help cover an MMA if you need to self fund? Or people you can borrow money from? Dr Alfaro in Barecelona will do it much cheaper than the US.

I understand the dread. I also saw multiple suicides in the UARS/Sleep apnea communities. I hope you find the strength to continue

Re: Poor sleep drove me insane, and my long path to recovery

#107

Post by findthewords »

Llamamoe wrote: post #102
rubicon33 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can I ask what symptoms you had as a skinny / sporty individual with sleep apnea?

Either sleepy or tired-but-wired feeling. Reflux. Mouth breathing during sleep(dry/stinky mouth), jerking awake while falling asleep, waking up with a headache, breathless or more tired than you went to sleep. Bruxism. ADHD-like and memory problems. Low blood pressure with cold extremities. Nightmares.

I've been dealing with similar problems for a few years now, ever since all my wisdom teeth were removed.

Re: Poor sleep drove me insane, and my long path to recovery

#108

Post by mfgs »

For anyone using or considering a CPAP device, you should also do some research into mandibular advancement devices (MADs). They’re basically a mouth guard that opens your airway by moving your lower jaw forward.

They are lesser known than CPAPs but are much simpler and way less invasive. They’re often well suited for people who are thinner and/or have milder OSA symptoms.

I couldn’t use a CPAP but using a MAD has helped significantly (although perhaps not completely).

Re: Poor sleep drove me insane, and my long path to recovery

#109

Post by Rechtsstaat »

Razengan wrote: post #91

I am extremely affected by outdoors noise during sleep. Traffic, construction, kids crying, people shouting.. I try my best to convince myself "I'm perfectly comfortable, nothing's happening in my bedroom, whoever is causing that noise can not affect me in any way" but to no avail :( If the source is indoors, like the whirr of a hard disk (very annoying on recent Macs + external hard disks, constantly spinning up and…

Oh man, I know that feeling of dread as you're waiting for the next shout or clank. It took some time to try out various earplugs, which at first made me sleep even worse, but once I was used to wearing them while sleeping (after 2 weeks) the difference was night and day.

Re: Poor sleep drove me insane, and my long path to recovery

#110

Post by findthewords »

culebron21 wrote: post #63

Very useful read. My friend, an osteopath, says neck issues also can create breathing obstructions, and it makes a good deal of people wake up in the middle of the night and stay awake, even though they don't even think it's a problem. Symptom to watch for: you wake up and your nose is stuffy, can't breathe through it, but there's no snot. And in 5-15 minutes it gets clear. If you have it, it means lymph flow out of…

Thank you, very useful information. Never thought of neck problems but my ergonomic situation has been bad for a couple of years now and lines up with these problems.
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