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Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source
51–60 of 334 posts
Re: Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source
#52I have a chance of having sleep apnea since my sleep is atrocious and extremely light, but I'm not overweight and I also can't sleep on my back or side, meaning a machine with mask ain't gonna cut it. Thus I've not even bothered. Also I wouldn't fall asleep in a sleep study location (I can't sleep outside of my bed, with any noise, lights, etc)
This is similar to my situation. I am a fit individual that is in the gym five days a week, runs marathons, backcountry skis multiple times a week, etc. and have diagnosed sleep apnea. However, I can't for the life of me get through a single night with the machine to the point where it has sat in a closet for months. I also sleep on my side or stomach so I immediately wake up to the mask blasting air at me due to a seal. The nose pillows didn't work as well.
Re: Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source
#53Sleep apnea is strange. Good news! We have a diagnosis, sleep apnea. You're bad at sleeping now, the thing everybody has to do all night long every day since birth. The solution is to wear a modern iron lung whenever you want or need to sleep forever. Many times it's because people are overweight but you aren't. Is that really all there is for treatment? No throat exercises or therapeutic sleeping positions? No diets…
I read a book called Breath by James Nestor, it’s all about the benefits of nose breathing. Anecdotally this has completely fixed my sleep apnea/ snoring/ energy levels/ etc. Highly recommended!
I thought I'd get a freebie there (like when you lose weight just by cutting soda - which I already don't drink. Another freebie lost), but when I paid attention I am breathing exclusively through my nose and to make matters worse my tongue is in the mewing position. So this is already the best case scenario for my weight, sleep and jawline. Bummer.
Re: Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's not anti-science to take your health into your own hands. It depends on how exactly it was taken into one’s hands right? Can’t really know if it’s pro-science or anti-science until you see what a person is doing. Most people do pretty irrational stuff, based on stories of a doctor in my family.
Experiments are science, and if we knew how they’d turn out beforehand they wouldn’t be experiments. Sort of definitionally you can get pretty weird or unsafe and if you’re comfortable with it not working it’s still a totally valid experiment.
The article is about someone following what is basically the established diagnostic and treatment flow for sleep apnea. It’s not exactly an experiment. He was pushing the process forward faster than his medical system could, but it wasn’t novel or experimental.
Re: Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source
#55Okay, serious question: The author of this blog post sleeps with his partner, and then discovered he spent 20 seconds of each minute gasping for breath, 40 times per hour. (Something like ~this). How did his wife not notice and tell him? Now I'm paranoid that I have sleep apnea. What's the cheapest wearable or device that can probably tell you if you have apnea?
There are more than a few free apps that can record audio of you the entire night in a zoomable, scrollable way (i.e. you look for the spikes in the waveform and listen to them) I used these for a bit in figuring out my own CPAP needs.
Re: Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
He recognized the signs of sleep apnea and pursued treatment with sleep apnea devices, getting confirmation of the problem with the help of his doctor. The DIY part was largely related to pushing the process forward, not doing novel experimentation. Nobody would call that “anti-science”. Anti-science would be something like ignoring the common treatments and trying to solve the problem with natural supplements or som…
On the flipside, there are also a small selection of unproven treatments that work better than standard care.
The standard of care doesn’t mean it’s optimal for everyone. Doctors will often explore alternative treatments when the first-line measures aren’t working optimally.
It’s a mistake to ignore proven, first-line treatments and skip straight to less proven alternatives, though. Some people have built an anti-mainstream bias that puts too much emphasis on the unproven, alternative treatments while downplaying the most proven treatments.
Re: Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source
#57Okay, serious question: The author of this blog post sleeps with his partner, and then discovered he spent 20 seconds of each minute gasping for breath, 40 times per hour. (Something like ~this). How did his wife not notice and tell him? Now I'm paranoid that I have sleep apnea. What's the cheapest wearable or device that can probably tell you if you have apnea?
How did his wife not notice and tell him?
You don't really understand how heavily some folk sleep - and you can sleep through quite a bit. Including snoring.
Re: Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
I read a book called Breath by James Nestor, it’s all about the benefits of nose breathing. Anecdotally this has completely fixed my sleep apnea/ snoring/ energy levels/ etc. Highly recommended!
Wait, people aren't breathing through noses?
I'm not sure if it started this way, but I mostly breathe through my mouth at night due to significant congestion in my nasal passage. If I use a nasal rinse or flonase it helps but if I'm not diligent it regresses immediately.
Re: Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
He recognized the signs of sleep apnea and pursued treatment with sleep apnea devices, getting confirmation of the problem with the help of his doctor. The DIY part was largely related to pushing the process forward, not doing novel experimentation. Nobody would call that “anti-science”. Anti-science would be something like ignoring the common treatments and trying to solve the problem with natural supplements or som…
On the flipside, there are also a small selection of unproven treatments that work better than standard care.
Can you share an example of an unproven treatment that works better than standard care?
Re: Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source
#60Sleep apnea is strange. Good news! We have a diagnosis, sleep apnea. You're bad at sleeping now, the thing everybody has to do all night long every day since birth. The solution is to wear a modern iron lung whenever you want or need to sleep forever. Many times it's because people are overweight but you aren't. Is that really all there is for treatment? No throat exercises or therapeutic sleeping positions? No diets…
I read a book called Breath by James Nestor, it’s all about the benefits of nose breathing. Anecdotally this has completely fixed my sleep apnea/ snoring/ energy levels/ etc. Highly recommended!
What are the best strategies for increasing nose breathing?