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Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source

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Re: Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source

#321

Post by nvarsj »

diob wrote: post #129
lunderdog wrote: post #126

I 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…

Wishing you the best of luck, but when I looked into this 10 or so years ago the long term success rate of surgery seemed dubious to me. I read that scar tissue ends up building up and making the problem worse than before, so it ends up being a solution that works until then. I did end up having turbinate reduction / deviated septum surgery, so at least I can use comfy nasal pillows now. The turbinate reduction defin…

> turbinate reduction / deviated septum surgery

I had this too, and it did nothing at all for me - except I now have a permanently numb spot on the top of my nose.

Surgeries are a massive source of profit in the US. I'd recommend getting multiple medical opinions (preferably from the surgeons who don't own multiple yachts) before doing any kind of surgery.

Re: Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source

#322

Post by nvarsj »

tootie wrote: post #189
rolisz wrote: post #168

Anyone got any other experiences with things that cause brain fog? I don't think I have sleep apnea (my wife often falls asleep after I do and she doesn't report any kind of weird breathing issues for me, nor snoring). But even though I generally sleep 8 hours a night, I am quite tired during the day and I often have trouble focusing. At night, I fall asleep like a log and I don't wake up during the night.

Talk to a doctor. Idk why OP spent so much time solving what a doctor could tell them. I had similar symptoms and doc pinned it on narcolepsy before I could finish explaining. Googling symptoms never turned it up. Getting tested for sleep apnea is very easy with an at-home device. Narcolepsy is more involved. Long COVID is another candidate. So is thyroid which requires a blood test.

I guess you've been lucky. Most doctors are crap, in my experience. I've actually had a doctor "diagnose" me by typing my symptoms into webmd and telling me I have IBS (which is basically a non-diagnosis). I've heard countless stories of misdiagnoses from friends, or herculean efforts to diagnose rare conditions. The western medical industry is great at handling common, obvious problems, and pretty much terrible at everything else. Especially stuff related to sleep and digestive tract issues.

Re: Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source

#323

Post by senectus1 »

LoganDark wrote: post #308
senectus1 wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes this

I know someone who has to make a "vacuum seal" with their mouth, that is, make some slight suction on the inside so that they won't drool in the night. Is it anything like that?

um... not consciously no.

I think its more just being mindful. Something i feel we could all benefit from doing more of.

Re: Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source

#324

Post by rolisz »

nvarsj wrote: post #322
tootie wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Talk to a doctor. Idk why OP spent so much time solving what a doctor could tell them. I had similar symptoms and doc pinned it on narcolepsy before I could finish explaining. Googling symptoms never turned it up. Getting tested for sleep apnea is very easy with an at-home device. Narcolepsy is more involved. Long COVID is another candidate. So is thyroid which requires a blood test.

I guess you've been lucky. Most doctors are crap, in my experience. I've actually had a doctor "diagnose" me by typing my symptoms into webmd and telling me I have IBS (which is basically a non-diagnosis). I've heard countless stories of misdiagnoses from friends, or herculean efforts to diagnose rare conditions. The western medical industry is great at handling common, obvious problems, and pretty much terrible at e…

I've had a dermatologist look up my symptoms on Google in front of me...

Re: Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source

#325

Post by LoganDark »

senectus1 wrote: post #323
LoganDark wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know someone who has to make a "vacuum seal" with their mouth, that is, make some slight suction on the inside so that they won't drool in the night. Is it anything like that?

um... not consciously no. I think its more just being mindful. Something i feel we could all benefit from doing more of.

> I think its more just being mindful. Something i feel we could all benefit from doing more of.

Absolutely, I'm always surprised by the lack of this in some people. Like are they not self-aware or concerned at all? Just floating through the world existing? Ignorance is bliss but I sure wouldn't want to live like that myself.

Re: Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source

#326

Post by elkos »

ir123 wrote: post #315
elkos wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although this isn't a proper setting to provide consultation and I have to remind you that a trained physician in sleep medicine in a sleep laboratory setting could be more specific on answerimg your question, here are my thoughts. Are there any signs of gastroesophageal reflux? Like burping, or feeling hearburn, maybe even non-cardial chest pain? If so, I would suggest consulting with a gastroenterologist before vis…

what could the gastroenterologist possibly do to help in this case? i do have GERD and fragmented sleep, after having gone to multiple gastroenterologists, i still haven't got help for this particular issue. any suggestions? it would massively help me.

A gastroenterologist should treat GERD (to the extent possible) then we should be checking sleep. As soon as GERD is under treatment a consultation with a sleep laboratory could be considered since some reflux may still happen during the night and may result in (mostly central apneas).

Re: Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source

#327

Post by senectus1 »

LoganDark wrote: post #325
senectus1 wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

um... not consciously no. I think its more just being mindful. Something i feel we could all benefit from doing more of.

> I think its more just being mindful. Something i feel we could all benefit from doing more of. Absolutely, I'm always surprised by the lack of this in some people. Like are they not self-aware or concerned at all? Just floating through the world existing? Ignorance is bliss but I sure wouldn't want to live like that myself.

too much stimulation. the ways in which we are and can be stimulated are increasingly devisable and persistent. Information or stimulation addiction is a thing...

Re: Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source

#328

Post by LoganDark »

senectus1 wrote: post #327
LoganDark wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think its more just being mindful. Something i feel we could all benefit from doing more of. Absolutely, I'm always surprised by the lack of this in some people. Like are they not self-aware or concerned at all? Just floating through the world existing? Ignorance is bliss but I sure wouldn't want to live like that myself.

too much stimulation. the ways in which we are and can be stimulated are increasingly devisable and persistent. Information or stimulation addiction is a thing...

Hah, preaching to the choir here, ADHD brain that basically shuts down unless there is a constant supply of new and interesting stimuli. I usually can't even get enough, so I end up sleeping for 13 hours and then not even staying up for 8 afterwards. I literally need "stimulants" in order to even have a 24-hour schedule, lol.

Re: Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source

#329

Post by theriddlr »

Out_of_Characte wrote: post #141
lapetitejort wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you share an example of an unproven treatment that works better than standard care?

I can come up with examples but know its ironic to try to proof treatments that are, scientifically or medically, not verified. Theres diet, sleep, exercise. Which require no studies to know that taking better care of yourself will help you regardless of the pathology. Then there's the somewhat strange case of orthodontist John Mew, who advocates for setting your tongue posture to the roof of your mouth in order to c…

Mew is right. Jaw position actually fixes sleep apnea. The cause of sleep apnea is the airway collapsing when supine. Fix the cause not the symptom. Either surgery or expanders to allow the lower jaw to be forward.

Re: Night of the living brain fog dead or how I hacked myself better via open source

#330

Post by aszantu »

ir123 wrote: post #315
elkos wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although this isn't a proper setting to provide consultation and I have to remind you that a trained physician in sleep medicine in a sleep laboratory setting could be more specific on answerimg your question, here are my thoughts. Are there any signs of gastroesophageal reflux? Like burping, or feeling hearburn, maybe even non-cardial chest pain? If so, I would suggest consulting with a gastroenterologist before vis…

what could the gastroenterologist possibly do to help in this case? i do have GERD and fragmented sleep, after having gone to multiple gastroenterologists, i still haven't got help for this particular issue. any suggestions? it would massively help me.

My Gerd went away when I cut out anything that triggered it. Curiously, depression went better as well.

Sadly that left me with mostly meat and coffee

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