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Topic: My new medical problem  (Read 5400 times)

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Re: My new medical problem
« Reply #15 on: October 08, 2018, 09:19:46 AM »
I could Google it, but I'd rather ask here... what is Cheerwine?

Hehe... I suspect she will respond to this with her usual grace.  Tami can handle anything.  Even a re-energized Jimbo.

A predict a cat photo will be posted soon.  ;D


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Re: My new medical problem
« Reply #16 on: October 08, 2018, 04:28:17 PM »
I get the impression that sleep Apnea is pretty easy to diagnose, but getting it done through the NHS is ridiculously difficult.

I think, like many things with the NHS, it is dependent on your GP and to an extent, the consultant/specialist you see.  I've had multiple sleep studies through the NHS, and getting them wasn't particularly difficult.  The main thing was the waiting that's typical of non-urgent referrals to specialised services.  (though if you're significantly sleepy, you can probably get an urgent referral if your sleepiness could cause danger to yourself and/or others - usually for people who are drivers by profession or operate complex machinery on a daily basis) 

Probably the biggest hurdle will be convincing your GP (depending on your relationship with her/him) that your sleepiness is something beyond the usual suspects (like stress or anxiety) and that it's to a point where it's disruptive to your daily life.  Before a referral to a sleep specialist, you might have other things checked first like iron, thyroid, and B12 to rule out organic causes of sleepiness (disease, vitamin deficiencies, etc.).  You might be asked about lifestyle, sleep hygiene, and mental health.  Improving sleep hygiene is something you can do yourself, everyone should generally strive for good sleep hygiene anyway, and if you do it before seeing a GP, you can say that you've already covered that when it likely gets mentioned.

Also, I highly recommend doing a sleep diary for a week (or more if you can) that details what time you go to bed, the time you think you actually fell asleep, the time you wake up, and how many times (if any) at night that you wake up and for how long.  In addition, you can self score your level of sleepiness with the Epworth Sleepiness Scale to give yourself and your GP an indication of how severe your sleepiness is.


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Re: My new medical problem
« Reply #17 on: October 08, 2018, 04:31:59 PM »
Thanks for that last bit, I already feel significantly better and it's only been a few days.   

Glad to hear it!  Unbearable disruptive sleepiness is horrid.


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Re: My new medical problem
« Reply #18 on: October 08, 2018, 08:48:40 PM »
In spirit...  I’m not climbing into bed with you.  Tami, are you free?
Ok. Story time.

I met a guy on Plenty of Fish. Some irrelevant stuff in the middle. I go to his house. He lives with his mom. She made us dinner... other unimportant stuff. We went to his bedroom (I was spending the night) and he put on his CPAP mask. So not sexy. Other stuff. I went home in the morning. The end.

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Re: My new medical problem
« Reply #19 on: October 08, 2018, 08:57:20 PM »
For my Jimbo!

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Re: My new medical problem
« Reply #20 on: October 08, 2018, 09:23:27 PM »
I think, like many things with the NHS, it is dependent on your GP and to an extent, the consultant/specialist you see.  I've had multiple sleep studies through the NHS, and getting them wasn't particularly difficult.  The main thing was the waiting that's typical of non-urgent referrals to specialised services.  (though if you're significantly sleepy, you can probably get an urgent referral if your sleepiness could cause danger to yourself and/or others - usually for people who are drivers by profession or operate complex machinery on a daily basis) 

Probably the biggest hurdle will be convincing your GP (depending on your relationship with her/him) that your sleepiness is something beyond the usual suspects (like stress or anxiety) and that it's to a point where it's disruptive to your daily life.  Before a referral to a sleep specialist, you might have other things checked first like iron, thyroid, and B12 to rule out organic causes of sleepiness (disease, vitamin deficiencies, etc.).  You might be asked about lifestyle, sleep hygiene, and mental health.  Improving sleep hygiene is something you can do yourself, everyone should generally strive for good sleep hygiene anyway, and if you do it before seeing a GP, you can say that you've already covered that when it likely gets mentioned.

Also, I highly recommend doing a sleep diary for a week (or more if you can) that details what time you go to bed, the time you think you actually fell asleep, the time you wake up, and how many times (if any) at night that you wake up and for how long.  In addition, you can self score your level of sleepiness with the Epworth Sleepiness Scale to give yourself and your GP an indication of how severe your sleepiness is.
Your GP sounds pretty different than mine.  I just went in and said "I've got sleep Apnea" and she said "OK".  She didn't test squat, but I blew the Epworth scale out of the water.  At that point, I was literally falling asleep at my desk and trying not to get fired for snoring during meetings. 

Thanks for the tips for sure.  My machine keeps a detailed diary for me, and it's obvious I've got changes to make.  5.5 hours is not enough. 


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Re: My new medical problem
« Reply #21 on: October 08, 2018, 09:36:01 PM »
Ok. Story time.

I met a guy on Plenty of Fish. Some irrelevant stuff in the middle. I go to his house. He lives with his mom. She made us dinner... other unimportant stuff. We went to his bedroom (I was spending the night) and he put on his CPAP mask. So not sexy. Other stuff. I went home in the morning. The end.

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GOLD!!!!


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Re: My new medical problem
« Reply #22 on: October 09, 2018, 06:20:38 AM »


I don't know with the right accoutrements....

Like this sexy Soviet pilot lady.
I just hope that more people will ignore the fatalism of the argument that we are beyond repair. We are not beyond repair. We are never beyond repair. - AOC


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Re: My new medical problem
« Reply #23 on: October 09, 2018, 08:05:58 AM »


I don't know with the right accoutrements....

Like this sexy Soviet pilot lady.

Is that a person or a manican?  The eyes look really hot, but that neck is plastic. 


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Re: My new medical problem
« Reply #24 on: October 09, 2018, 08:12:52 AM »
For my Jimbo!

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All right, I see the theme in the top two.  Congrats for finding a cheer wine / cat picture, but what's that third one supposed to be?  Orange and 2 inches long like Trump's pecker, it's got nothing to do with anything in my bedroom.

As much as I  hate to say it seriously, the above was just a joke and thanks to the decline of civilization, we actually know that Trump's pecker doesn't look like that.  It's small but mushroom shaped at the end according to the porn star he slept with while his soon was being born.


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Re: My new medical problem
« Reply #25 on: October 09, 2018, 08:15:53 AM »
All right, I see the theme in the top two.  Congrats for finding a cheer wine / cat picture, but what's that third one supposed to be?  Orange and 2 inches long like Trump's pecker, it's got nothing to do with anything in my bedroom.

As much as I  hate to say it seriously, the above was just a joke and thanks to the decline of civilization, we actually know that Trump's pecker doesn't look like that.  It's small but mushroom shaped at the end according to the porn star he slept with while his soon was being born.
Vienna sausage Jimbo. Only you would turn it into Trumps pecker. Or yours.

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Re: My new medical problem
« Reply #26 on: October 09, 2018, 08:16:06 AM »
Ok. Story time.

I met a guy on Plenty of Fish. Some irrelevant stuff in the middle. I go to his house. He lives with his mom. She made us dinner... other unimportant stuff. We went to his bedroom (I was spending the night) and he put on his CPAP mask. So not sexy. Other stuff. I went home in the morning. The end.

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Did he put the mask on before the dance of the double-backed monster?  During? I need to know.

I was planning to discretely slip it on after everything was finished


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Re: My new medical problem
« Reply #27 on: October 09, 2018, 08:17:42 AM »
Did he put the mask on before the dance of the double-backed monster?  During? I need to know.

I was planning to discretely slip it on after everything was finished
I've blocked it out. While I can't say worst date ever, remind me to tell you about the time I invited a cross dresser over, it was up there.

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Re: My new medical problem
« Reply #28 on: October 09, 2018, 10:59:03 AM »
For my Jimbo!

I give it 0.0539 seconds before that mask comes off, and 0.0541 seconds before the person who fitted the mask gets savaged.


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Re: My new medical problem
« Reply #29 on: October 09, 2018, 11:14:41 AM »
Your GP sounds pretty different than mine.  I just went in and said "I've got sleep Apnea" and she said "OK".  She didn't test squat, but I blew the Epworth scale out of the water.  At that point, I was literally falling asleep at my desk and trying not to get fired for snoring during meetings.

Thanks for the tips for sure.  My machine keeps a detailed diary for me, and it's obvious I've got changes to make.  5.5 hours is not enough. 

Wow, yeah, very different approaches.

To be fair, I saw two GPs about my sleepiness.  The first one told me I was stressed and to practice mindfulness.  The second one (who is my main one now, for obvious reasons) ordered all the tests and did the referral.  And surprise!  It wasn't just stress.

5.5 hours is quite low.  Is that due to apnoea interfering with your sleep?  :(

Also, as many sleep disorders (wonderfully) present simultaneously, if you aren't finding a lot of relief just treating your apnoea it might be worth trying to get a referral in case another disorder is also contributing to your sleepiness.


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