Poor sleep drove me insane, and my long path to recovery • Hacker News Board

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

#211

Post by schwartzworld » Mon, Feb 27, 2023, 3:43 PM UTC

patrickdavey wrote: post #46

I found this hard to read. I have struggled with poor sleep for years (like, 10 years probably). It's not _that bad_, but, memory isn't great and definitely don't feel rested in the mornings. But I'm still reasonably functional, can hold down a job etc. A while back I got tested for sleep apnea, had a 6 or a 7 on the scale (mild). I tried the CPAP machine for 6 weeks (inside the time I could return it). My number wen…

> For anyone who has successfully used CPAP, did it really take 3-6 months before you found it made a difference?

It took me a year of active effort. I was waking up multiple times a night choking, so I didn't feel like a had a choice but to stick with it. Some people don't fully wake up, so it may not seem like such an obvious thing to them. I never would have made it through without https://www.sleepfiles.com/OSCAR/

We went away for the weekend recently and I forgot the power cable for my CPAP. It was a rough trip for me, and I remember thinking "I can't believe I used to just feel like this all the time".

It's not easy to sleep with something on your face. It's mentally upsetting to think you're reliant on a machine. Most people need to tweak their settings to get maximum benefit. And you're working with like 10 years of sleep debt. Why would it NOT take 3-6 months to see a difference?

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

#212

Post by schwartzworld » Mon, Feb 27, 2023, 3:47 PM UTC

porphyra wrote: post #36

I have a horrible snoring issue and I have some problems with burnout, "brain fog", and inability to stay focused. I have a snorelab score in the 50s and my wife kicked me out of our bedroom since she can't sleep. I did a take-home sleep study with Kaiser once but they said I just have mild disordered sleeping but no apnea. I'm not super fat or anything either (BMI = 23.9). It seems like I very likely have something…

Many cardiologists also treat CPAP, since undiagnosed apnea can result in heart issues. Probably one of them could order a sleep study. In theory your PCP could order one too, but many are uneducated on apnea. My mother's PCP said she couldn't have it because she was "too cheerful".

Bear in mind, surgery is not considered the best treatment. Before you let someone cut you, you should really look at the numbers

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

#213

Post by schwartzworld » Mon, Feb 27, 2023, 3:49 PM UTC

eknkc wrote: post #43

We have 2 cats that I love but one of them makes sure that I do not get a good nights sleep. I could not find any solutions so far. On top of that my wife snores and I’ve had long periods of poor sleep as a result of this. I realised that this is an issue while traveling. Being able to properly sleep in hotels and feeling rested / clear. Trying to find solutions. Ear plugs don’t feel good and even though sleeping in…

If it were me, that cat would either be crated at night a few rooms away, or better yet, rehomed.

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

#214

Post by myrandomcomment » Mon, Feb 27, 2023, 3:50 PM UTC

Wagthesam wrote: post #59

myrandomcomment wrote: post #41

At some point I went nearly insane. Turns out that ADHD medication can mask sleep apnea. You need the medication but when you cannot sleep properly you go from meditation that is good for your to acting like a meth addict when your actual sleep is 2 hour a night for 2 years. At the worse point of crazy the doctors figured if out and also asked how I was not insane?!? Honestly I was at the point of CT with contrast lo…

Good to know. I almost went down the route of getting adhd meds. Yeah a baseline is key. Having a personality baseline is important as well, a personality change was one of the biggest indicators something was very very wrong

I was not saying anything against ADHD meds. They are very important if you require them as I do.

It is really important to understand your body and yourself. Sleep apnea is not a joke and people miss the signs.

Major personality changes are a huge red flag.

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

#215

Post by soiler » Mon, Feb 27, 2023, 4:01 PM UTC

bick_nyers wrote: post #154

Llamamoe wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 rationalized that this is a combination of getting older, ADHD, and childhood trauma. Will have to look more into apnea.

It could be all of the above. I was diagnosed with "mild" sleep apnea and a CPAP hasn't really made an improvement on my day-to-day.

The main difference is that occasionally I used to wake up feeling completely hung over and near death, and now that no longer happens if I'm using my CPAP.

Most days, I am still tired - I am learning that is probably due to depression/anxiety (working on treatment now), ADHD (can't treat it until the former is stable), and poor stress management (undiagnosed autistic kid with zero social/emotional support).

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

#216

Post by dymk » Mon, Feb 27, 2023, 4:02 PM UTC

rwl4 wrote: post #182

monroewalker wrote: post #42

Thank you for sharing! Skimmed for now, but saving this to read later. I've had a history as well of never getting good sleep so I'm curious to see what your experience was and the steps you've taken. A few things I've done that have helped a bunch: - Using BreatheRight nasal strips every night - Latex earplugs ("Mack's Pillow Soft Silicone Earplugs"). I could never sleep with foam earplugs in my ears but these are g…

Great tips. But it seems like maybe you should remove the part where you suggest people intentionally buy, use, then return an air monitor. It's one thing to buy something and return it because you are genuinely dissatisfied, but what you are suggesting is called wardrobing and is pretty unethical, and it incurs costs for retailers and manufacturers. Also, it can be damaging to the environment if products are needles…

these multi-paragraph holier than thou soapboxes are so tiring

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

#217

Post by inkcapmushroom » Mon, Feb 27, 2023, 4:05 PM UTC

madaxe_again wrote: post #111

Sweet Jesus. The illness this young man has is an advanced case of capitalism , not sleep apnoea. While I still worked at the technology mill, my sleep was terrible, I had apnoea, I ground my teeth to stumps, and suicide was a frequent point of contemplation. I changed my life, entirely. Stopped subjecting myself to the incessant cruelties we are expected to accept as simply normal. We have an entire planet filled wi…

>And they wonder why the birth rate is in the ditch. Stressed creatures in captivity do not reproduce.

This seems reasonable, but I wonder why we are so much more stressed in modern first world countries than in places and times where they have had "real" problems, like figuring out how to source potable water or how to not get shot or bombed in a war-torn country. It's usually the case that the harder it is to survive an environment, the more people seem to reproduce, and birth rates go down after most citizens' well-being is secured, which would seem to run counter to the idea that stress lowers birth rates.

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

#218

Post by dangwhy » Mon, Feb 27, 2023, 4:07 PM UTC

FollowingTheDao wrote: post #208

aantix wrote: post #146

I recently discovered that I’m a slow metabolizer of caffeine. Via my raw 23andme data. https://you.23andme.com/tools/data/?query=rs762551 C/C genotype. https://www.geneticlifehacks.com/liver-detox-genes-cyp1a2/#C... Instead of coffee being a net positive, it actually takes caffeine 4X the time to process through my body and increases my cardiac event risk by 2X. I can drink a cup of coffee at 8am and it still impact…

CYP1A2 does not only metabolize caffeine, it is also involved in the metabolism of various endogenous substrates, including fatty acids, steroid hormones and vitamins. Focusing only on caffeine metabolism is one of the pitfalls of 23andme's reports. This gene change might mean you have higher cholesterol as well. To see everything this gene does check here: https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P05177/entry

> This gene change might mean you have higher cholesterol as well.

I have C/C in 23andme like gp and experience same caffeine effects. I have high cholesterol despite being active, fit and good diet.

Would you know of any literature that might explain this in more layman terms. I had hard time reading the link you mentioned.

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

#219

Post by soiler » Mon, Feb 27, 2023, 4:09 PM UTC

wahnfrieden wrote: post #194

theonething wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume you mean freelancing. I tried that too, but found that I'm not good at sales/marketing side of things, so I went back to a regular job.

I don’t freelance / sell my time

So how do you pay your rent? Most of us aren't working for others because we like it.

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

#220

Post by culebron21 » Mon, Feb 27, 2023, 4:11 PM UTC

brailsafe wrote: post #195

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…

This sounds like some of the pseudoscience my friend was talking about before he had psychotic episode. Is there any legitimacy to Osteopathy?

He studied at a legit medical university and studied a lot of materials, digged into older books and anatomic atlases. So judging by his rigorosity, I trust this information.

There are criticisms to osteopathy, and he has a reply to that, but anyway, whether or not osteopathy is a valid treatment science, does not change his knowledge of anatomy.