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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

#291

Post by Wagthesam »

M5x7wI3CmbEem10 wrote: post #141
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…

what’s the solution to congestion?

if its allergic, then treat the allergies. non allergic I have less experience with, but my understanding is flonase / antihistamines could still help

many other causes though (nasal infection, diet, etc)

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

#292

Post by Wagthesam »

n8henrie wrote: post #271
jackblemming wrote: post #70

I don't know if I actually buy this cause and effect. The writing and other hints sounded like some kind of neuroticism unrelated to sleep apnea. I wouldn't be surprised if it comes back in the future and the author "finds" some other cause such as eating gluten or anything else en repeat.

I'm also curious as to the conclusions drawn -- it seems like there were a lot of relevant potentially confounding variables changed. Was there a followup sleep study? Or something to confirm the suspicion of an alternative form of OSA (upper airway something something)? I don't think I have OSA, and I've always had poor sleep (ongoing), but going on allergy immunotherapy shots has tremendously improved my quality of…

I did not put strict detail in the medical interventions as this is not meant to replace medical advise and its not as engaging in story form to list things rigorously

But I did followup home tests after treating it, and have done polysomnography which is the gold standard of diagnostic test. I also wear continuous spo2 monitoring on a monthly basis to see where I am from my own device bought on amazon

To treat, I needed a team of specialists (sleep doctor, allergist, ent, maxillofacial surgeon, GPs, and a gastroenterologist) to tackle the various causes and measure the effect. I also consulted Dr Kasey Li, probably the world's leading expert on sleep apnea surgery. He recommended his own surgery expanding the maxilla, but I don't think I need to go that far as its very expensive and I am much better today. I've seen several sleep doctors, will list Dr Sinha at peninsula as someone I would recommend, along with AXG Sleep Diagnostics for an affordable polysomngraphy if you need to pay out of pocket. For ENT, I will also recommend Dr Gerald Kangelaris (skilled surgeon) in SF and Dr Andrew Murr (head of ucsf ENT) if you need a second opinion

Also a lot of my interventions are done daily. So if I miss things or get lazy I can recognize if there is a difference. I also motion record myself automatically every night. In the morning I review how much I toss and turn. Its been about a year of experimentation

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

#293

Post by samuraixp »

So happy for the author that they discovered the solution to their chronic health issues. Some estimates suggest that 10% of the population are suffering undiagnosed health issues. Thats a lot of people whos quality of life is being potentially severely disrupted because the health system is not designed to provide deep dive diagnostics. Surely the productivity gains in solving these health issues would easily pay for themselves. I hope this is an area where AI will truely shine by providing an effective stepwise differential diagnosis for anyones set of vague symptoms and conflicting biomarkers.

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

#294

Post by joveian »

a-dub wrote: post #60

nasacort/flonase can be quite good for opening up congestion, but please beware of any vision symptoms as both are associated with glaucoma and cataracts under long term use regimes. read the insert/talk to your doctor. that said, these days i swear by melatonin. sleep deprivation is no joke at all.

Also the headaches and nausea are no joke either. I can't recall the details but it was one of the worst medical reactions I've had and it took too long to notice. Be careful with flonase.

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

#295

Post by Wagthesam »

elric wrote: post #263
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…

The good news is, if you're snoring, you're still breathing. You might not be breathing well, but you are still breathing. The bad news is, long term snoring will damage your airway, which could even cause sleep apnea in the long run. You can (usually) treat snoring with CPAP, which is reasonably easy to do and low pressure settings will probably do the trick (compared to full blown apnea where more pressure might be…

A sleep test diagnoses sleep apnea. DISE can give clues, but Dr Kasey Li is against it saying it gives a lot of false positives from his experience. Home test + polysomnography is his standard, along with using his experience to review your CBCT scans

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

#296

Post by Wagthesam »

raspberry1337 wrote: post #148

Hello WagTheSam, thanks for a good write up. Can I just ask, what air cleanser did you get? I am thinking of trying this, I don't trust my apartment buildings air vents. What is the gain compared to just opening a window - if you live in a not too toxic environment?

They are all about the same. What you want is flow rate. Meaning 99.9% efficiency high end filter is not that much more than 99%. But if air gets filtered 2x vs 5x every hour then the 5x worse filter will probably be better

So just make sure to not place the air purifier in a corner, but more central. And turn it up to a higher power. Or run your AC fan continuously

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

#297

Post by Wagthesam »

endorphine wrote: post #161
raspberry1337 wrote: post #148

Hello WagTheSam, thanks for a good write up. Can I just ask, what air cleanser did you get? I am thinking of trying this, I don't trust my apartment buildings air vents. What is the gain compared to just opening a window - if you live in a not too toxic environment?

Opening your window during pollen season will wreck you, if you have spring allergies, for example.

Yes opening windows brings in dirt and car fumes and pollen. AC and air purifiers much better for environmental health

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

#298

Post by Wagthesam »

bitL wrote: post #132

How about trying acetazolamide or high dose thiamine (1500mg+) for it? They both act as carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, therefore could be used to treat altitude sickness and thus be beneficial for (central) sleep apnea as well.

I don't have central apnea thankfully. One thing to note

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

#299

Post by Wagthesam »

spirit557 wrote: post #136

I'm trying to understand how exactly do they know sometimes if there is central sleep apnea or obstructive sleep apnea happening with the tests. Is a CPAP or other machine helpful for central sleep apnea?

if you suspect central sleep apnea, you need to work with a specialist that has done research in central sleep apnea. Its a poorly understood condition. But from my understanding treatment is different

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

#300

Post by Wagthesam »

jstx1 wrote: post #112

Can something like a fitbit be used as an initial screen? Mine detects multiple very short sleep interuptions every hour during sleep and I have no idea how to interpret this. (I'm chronically tired and distracted and I have no idea where to start - sleep apnea, ADHD, food intolerances...)

Possibly. But you need continuous sp02 monitoring, whereas fitbits only do it a few times per hour.

A take home sleep test is easy and is covered by insurance.

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