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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

#311
post #160

I get insomnia. I've been doing CBT-i for a month. It's been transformational. Throughout this experience, I've learned a lot about sleep that I wouldn't have learned otherwise. 8 hours of sleep per day is generally a myth. The amount of sleep people need varies from person to person. Ironically, fixating on getting eight hours can cause some people to get insomnia. Insomnia is a condition that is often caused by som…

I would agree with almost all of this. The worst bouts of insomnia I had were caused by going without sleep for a day or two and then starting to fixate on all the issues it might cause if I did not sleep. The anxiety surrounding the problems I would have the next day with little sleep was the biggest culprit. You stick yourself in a programmatic loop by trying so hard to make yourself sleep. As you said, sleep just…

Thank you. This and GP's comment are refreshing to hear. All I see on the news about lack of sleep is doom and gloom. According to them, I'm totally fucked in a myriad of ways and it's too late for me since I've held a sleep deficit for so long now.

Yeah, I understand lack of adequate sleep is bad for me, no shit. I'm doing the best I can and you're not helping. (addressing those sleep gloom and doom people)

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

#312

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…

I can't edit the initial comment anymore, but another big thing for me was having an eye mask that was comfortable enough to sleep in. The MZOO brand on Amazon has been perfect for me: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KC5DWCC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b...

Same. For me earplugs, and a contoured eye mask (mine looks like a bra), and sleeping alone are huge.

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

#313
post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Apple ecosystem apps w/ IAP

That's awesome. You're living my dream.

The App Store is so competitive nowadays though. Any advice for newcomers? (without giving away your trade secrets). How did you come up with your app ideas?

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

#314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are also silicone devices which keep your tongue out of your airway by keeping it pulled outside. Studies show they work almost as well as a machine yet are much less likely to be rejected by users as opposed to a CPAP. Tongue stabilizing devices: https://www.verywellhealth.com/tongue-stabilizing-device-for...

These work decently but can really mess up your teeth by causing you to develop an open bite.

I'm seeing a jaw specialist right now to see if we can reduce the overbite I've developed from sleeping with a mandibular advancement device nightly for six years.

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

#315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple ecosystem apps w/ IAP

That's awesome. You're living my dream. The App Store is so competitive nowadays though. Any advice for newcomers? (without giving away your trade secrets). How did you come up with your app ideas?

I will start blogging in the open about this stuff because I have enough moat

I target language learning but that was just enough to escape wage labor and have irons burning now. My ideas all come from various hobby interests I know well, and focusing on problems that in some way help other people aspire toward making money themselves. I also find strategies where I can scale without costs or high maintenance needs (eg moving away from servers which can be spun as privacy consideration, despite my devops career; iCloud helps here)

Another tip is that now with SwiftUI enabling much easier cross platform mac/iOS native apps, there’s opportunity to cover those platforms solo where most incumbents are iOS exclusive or one platform is under resourced

I’m also now learning about worker syndicalism and trying to figure out how to build up some organized efforts beyond my solo work without taking on investors or employees

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

#316
It's interesting he mentions allergy shots. It sounds like his doctor didn't know about sublingual immunotherapy. It's similarly effective, but much less disruptive to the ongoings of daily life.

Disclaimer: I run Wyndly (https://www.wyndly.com/) a YC-backed startup that uses sublingual immunotherapy, among other allergy treatments, to help people breathe better.

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

#317

It's interesting he mentions allergy shots. It sounds like his doctor didn't know about sublingual immunotherapy. It's similarly effective, but much less disruptive to the ongoings of daily life. Disclaimer: I run Wyndly ( https://www.wyndly.com/ ) a YC-backed startup that uses sublingual immunotherapy, among other allergy treatments, to help people breathe better.

I know about SLIT, but from my research most allergists don't mix in enough to make it comparable to shots. From studies I read you need 30-100x the dose of shots taken in monthly aggregate for it to be comparable. For example Odactra which is fda approved for dust mites is 30x the concentration of a monthly maintenance dose. I am allergic to almost everything, so I imagine it will be too costly to treat properly

Also it is much less regulated as its not fda approved, so the quality you are getting is less certain than shots. I would not be surprised if the majority of SLIT use cases in the US are placebo due to cost constraints outside of the fda approved tablets covered by insurance. Yes studies is one thing and its shown clearly that its comparable, but you need the right concentrations

TBH I am skeptical of startups that operate in this type of environment as theres not enough oversight. For me to be comfortable it would need to be very transparent what is going into the mix

source: https://fairfieldcountyallergy.com/whats-the-story-on-allerg... "Sublingual immunotherapy is not currently covered by health insurance companies in the United States because it is ineffective as it is done here"

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

#318
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.

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

Do you know of any other alternatives for sleep tests that are not covered by insurance? Because the reality is sleep study in the United States is incredibly expensive. I did a sleep study and the insurance billed my company over $50,000 and a take home test was 2.5 grand.

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

#320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Did this help?

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/202502

CYP1A2 also metabolizes cholesterol so caffeine will increase your heart attack risk.

And this is why genetics are crucial in understanding your dietary risks.

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