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Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source
281–290 of 334 posts
Re: Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source
#282It's interesting, but being even casually interested in strength training and muscular hypertrophy means that I read as far as the second paragraph and thought "It's probably sleep apnea". It's a relatively common issue in larger individuals, including those carrying a lot of muscle. Probably better than half the heavyweight powerlifters/strongman athletes that I know use a CPAP.
Re: Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source
#283Sleep 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…
Diagnosed at 24 with sleep apnea. I tried a bunch of things. What worked for me was regular cardio exercise and daily doses of high absorption magnesium. The magnesium is absolutely unproven pseudoscience nonsense that can't possibly work. But if I stop taking it my sleep suffers massively.
Presuming that there is no causation, a placebo that works is still an effective treatment.
Re: Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source
#284Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly this. I've also dealt with the whole CPAP thing, and the extent to which the whole industry is obviously infantilizing-for-profit is infuriating. Over the years, it's gotten increasingly difficult to just "buy the supplies yourself," (aka easily and/or cheaply) and the extremely condescending "reasoning" we get is "oh, it's medical equipment and therefore dangerous so we get to control it." And here , having…
Actually, there is. Improperly designed tubes can accumulate or retain moisture, and that small fan will blow mold into your lungs overnight. Would you trust an Alibaba CPAP sold on Amazon for $50?
When the alternatives are prohibitory expensive or impossible to source, then I guess I don’t have much of a choice.
Re: Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source
#285I sleep with a short silicone tube jammed into each nostril, and I highly recommend it to everyone!! I get what feels like twice the amount of air, with zero effort. It was very uncomfortable the first couple of nights, but now I don’t even feel it, and I now always use them to sleep. https://a.co/d/18eLtdw
How do you keep them in? I have tried them but they tend to fall out very quick. My nose gets moist and they slip out..
The pack I linked has different sizes, so I picked the biggest one that wasn't uncomfortable. It sometimes slips out but usually only on one side so if I wake up I jam it back in.
These nasal vents are my weirdest-most-effective life tip :-) The idea seems so uncomfortable, but I sleep so much better when the air flows so easily.
Re: Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source
#286Earlier quoted context omitted.
>> Very much not a believer in supplements …why? Vitamin, mineral, and nutrient deficiencies are a very well known science.
Sure, but the supplement industry is 99% woo and most of what is sold has no proven benefit. In general people most people taking supplements don't have any known deficiency (including me, blood tests show my mag levels are fine).
"Known deficiency" is a thorny issue in itself. The various serum levels and necessary intakes vary widely by individual. And recommended daily allowances for many kinds of vitamins and minerals are set conservatively low to avoid overdoses from people chugging the bottle.
"levels are fine" can still mean fine, too low or too high for your individual need. As long as you don't overdose, trying out a supplement nonetheless can be worth a shot, but of course it can also be a waste of money.
Unfortunately, "normal values" in medicine aren't as normal as one would like.
Re: Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source
#287A couple of things: 1. Sleeprider deserves to be raised to knighthood or some kind of medal or something. The man is a hero and a living legend, who has helped untold number of people with their apnea. I'm not kidding. Thank you, Sleeprider, for all that you do. 2. OP really should pursue the NHS route. Maybe it'll take a while, but once the gears are in motion he'll at least get access to a steady supply of ASV mach…
I used the Swift FX for a long time, which is the predecessor to Airfit P10. Unfortunately they do not make them any more, and for some reason the P10 feels like it is putting my septum in a vice, it pinches it so hard. I can use a little bit of tape to cushion it, but it is a pain and still not the greatest.
I've ended up going with the N30i which is okay unless I'm a little congested as it kind of pinches my nostrils shut slightly, in which case I use the P30i fitting with the aforementioned tape. I miss the FX.
Re: Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source
#288Earlier quoted context omitted.
If they're unproven, how do you know they work better than standard (=proven) care?
Unproven doesn’t mean ineffective. Cranberry juice isn’t FDA approved to help with urinary tract infections, but is frequently recommended by urologists and works. Another example is that isopropyl alcohol, which is an effective disinfectant, doesn’t meet the EPA standards for being a pesticide… which is because it’s existence predates the process. It’s expensive to go through that rigorous process, and there’s no ec…
Funnily enough, cranberry juice does not show any clinical benefit for treating UTIs over and above simple hydration, and it shows minimal benefit for UTI prevention.
https://www.healthline.com/health/baking-soda-for-uti#bottom...
Re: Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source
#289Earlier 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…
>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. It actually baffled me that it wasn't his doctor who picked this up. A person waking up several times with confirmation from someone sleeping besides him that he has stopped breathing, I'm no doctor and gee maybe it's because there are a few cases in my family but th…
Exactly, I was thinking this was about sleep apnea after the first two paragraphs.
Re: Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source
#290I had surgery to expand my upper jaw and palate three weeks ago, and the improved ability to breathe during the night and day is absolutley life-changing. I used to wake up multiple times a night with a pounding heart, and could never get a restful sleep. Within a few days after surgery, I could sleep through the night and my blood pressure dropped enough to start weening off my hypertension medication. If somebody i…
I am not exactly sure which surgeries you are talking about but for people curious there are basically 3 surgeries to consider:
1. MMA - Break both jaws and advance them forward to expand the airway. Most invasive, most effective. It is a major surgery and should not be taken lightly.
2. Maxillary expansion - Less invasive depending how it's done. Be skeptical of maxillofacial surgeons who do Le Forte osteotomies as part of the procedure. There are many variations of this surgery. EASE is probably the best
3. Nasal surgery.
If you can afford it consider Kasey Li https://drkaseyli.org/ease/