Quitting Smoking...

[ChadTower]

The brain damage that would go along with depriving your brain of oxygen for five minutes straight actally explains a lot about your posts.   

It's actually more like 150 instances of 30-60 seconds of deprivation.  It lowers the blood oxygen levels progressively.  Each person is different, obviously, and my oxysat counts never got below 90% during the tests.  That means that while I have a lot of incidents that destroy the quality of my sleep, I don't suffer nearly as much of the metabolic disruption as other people with the same number of incidents.  The tech's theory was that it was a function of being in far better condition than the average in my incident range.  My problems are all on the less dangerous side.

I was camping with a friend who was mildly snoring and once every 2-3 minutes he would just stop breathing altogether for about 15-30 seconds, after which he would take a sudden, sharp breath as though his body was panicking (which I suppose it probably was). 

It is the fight or flight response of suffocation.  Put your head underwater for a minute straight and see how your body reacts.  Now imagine doing that while asleep and without the rational involvement of doing it intentionally.

It's probably a stretch to apply this to sleep apnea, but have any of you with sleep problems tried melatonin? 

Different concept.  There are two types of sleep apnea:  obstructive and central.  Obstructive is simply that your esophagus closes off and you can't get air through.   Central is a disruption of the unconscious cognitive signal to breathe.  Neither one is a function of the inability to get to sleep.  Both are functions of the inability to sustain breathing while sleeping.

[shmokes]

Have you ever considered hooking yourself up to a respirator while you sleep, like coma patients?   

[ChadTower]

That's what a CPAP machine is.  It's a computer controlled air compressor.  It blows into a rubber tube that attaches to a breathing mask.  The mask uses very precise amounts of air pressure to force your esophagus to stay open.  The mask most often prescribed is very much like a ventilator mask.  I couldn't use it, I freaked out after about 90 seconds.  Claustrophobia.  My heart rate was at like 175bpm just lying there.


EDIT:  erm, not esophagus, airway.  You're not eating the air.   

[FrizzleFried]

The brain damage that would go along with depriving your brain of oxygen for five minutes straight actally explains a lot about your posts.

BASTARD!

 

 

[FrizzleFried]

That's what a CPAP machine is.  It's a computer controlled air compressor.  It blows into a rubber tube that attaches to a breathing mask.  The mask uses very precise amounts of air pressure to force your esophagus to stay open.  The mask most often prescribed is very much like a ventilator mask.  I couldn't use it, I freaked out after about 90 seconds.  Claustrophobia.  My heart rate was at like 175bpm just lying there.

I've used the regular ole' mask that covers the nose and straps around the head.  I used the nose "cushions" that only tough the nostrils.  I even paid a pretty penny for a mask that snaps on my teeth.   The one I go back to most is the regular ole' mask...silicone edges...

The teeth one works kickass except it gives me a toothache after a couple days using it.

[ChadTower]

The tooth mounted thing has been theorized to cause dental problems, definitely.

I tried at first the full plastic mask that goes over the nose and mouth.  That lasted a few tries of about 90 seconds.  Hell no.

The nasal mask was better but had sealing problems because of facial hair.

I eventually settled with the nasal pillows that you've described.  They're decent if you can manage to keep your mouth closed while you sleep.  The silicone piece that actually fits in the nostrils dries up really fast, though, and loses elasticity.  They only seem to completely seal for about a month.

[shmokes]

They're decent if you can manage to keep your mouth closed while you sleep.

And if you comment in real life as much as you comment here, keeping your mouth closed is probably quite a feat.   



*---goshdarn---, I'm no one today.

[ChadTower]

I actually had that joke in my own post but pulled it out for some reason.   

[FrizzleFried]

They're decent if you can manage to keep your mouth closed while you sleep.

And if you comment in real life as much as you comment here, keeping your mouth closed is probably quite a feat.   



*---goshdarn---, I'm no one today.

You are on a roll today!

 

[shmokes]

Heh . . . I just realized that I am no one today.  That was supposed to say "on one".   

[ChadTower]

I was wondering WTF you meant by that.