Helpful podcast I recently found

[[te...]]

Hi All,

yesterday I somehow discovered this podcast called "breathe better, sleep better." as you may have guessed, it's is mainly about sleep apnea and other airway problems that interfere with sleep. The main guy who hosts is a Ear, Nose, and Throat doc. I know that sleep apena is NOT what most of us have, but, the podcast is informative and talks about a lot of other sleep factors. There are many different topics, and I've just now gotten into it. I will keep listening and browsing and see if there are any episodes that we could benefit from more, but the general information is really helpful! I am beginning to think I DO have sleep apnea, based on my sleep patterns and a bunch of other things. I just finished day 2 of an at home sleep study, just some small equipment monitoring different things. The main thing it is checking for is apnea. So we'll see. Many people go a long time with this undiagnosed, and the public has a lot of myths about who gets it and who doesn't. People who have it can have revved up nervous systems, and the stress response kicks in when they lay down because the brain remembers and expects its going to stop breathing a lot during the night...anyway, thought I'd share. I know most of us do not have this, but if anyone does, I would be interested to hear from you and see what your experience has been!

[[Bu...]]

Hi Teal,

 

When I was in acute withdrawal for a while there, breathing was a real issue, night and day. I started using breathe right strips  . Those things work great!

 

Be careful some Doc's love to diagnose apnea, it's a real cash cow for them...

 

Cheers Buddy! 

 

Wilson 

[[Li...]]

Agree with above poster, sleep "doctors" have one diagnosis available to them - apnea. It's an easy diagnosis, it brings in the money, and if they diagnose someone incorrectly there's really no liability (crap treatment can't hurt anybody). I was diagnosed with apnea because I stopped breathing twice an hour. Hundreds of dollars later and many nights struggling with a machine it turns out I wake up just as much with a machine tied to my face. Benzo withdrawal awakenings mirror those of apnea.

[[te...]]

Wilson, I was thinking of trying breathe right strips!! They mention that in the podcast.

 

I get that many people get overdiagnosed with stuff. But the information on the podcast is not fear mongering about apnea. It's actually great information about sleep, breathing techniques, holistic medicine, anxiety, etc. They do tie a lot of it back to issues like sleep apnea, but the info on there would be great for everyone! Not to keep pushing it. It just helped me a lot! Any information helps me, though. 

 

I'm actually really open to the idea of working with a sleep doctor - I know you guys don't agree  I got results back from my at home sleep study already, and I did have several apena events and other events throughout the night. It wasn't enough to be a serious problem, but I was relieved to see an actual finding occurred! I am waiting forever to get into a specialist, and will see what happens.

 

This whole process has been really interesting to me. I've changed my focus a lot and my perspective.