• Mycatiskai@lemmy.ca
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    6 months ago

    Your brain can take a hell of a lot of abuse until it can’t.

    I was holding it together for nearly 3 decades before it was unable to keep up with major sleep deprivation anymore. 10-12 hours of sleep a night and a nap midday couldn’t keep me going.

    I was blacking out time while driving, had barely any memory, had involuntary muscle spasms and couldn’t physically recover from injury in a reasonable time.

    Once I started on CPAP I recovered by leaps and bounds, I sleep way less but am fully present in the world, like being on high dose of caffeine without taking anything.

    • Buglefingers@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I’m struggling myself there, my mental acuity has dropped, so has my social ability, understanding, and learning. I have UARS and need to get it fixed. I sleep in excess and its never quality. Several sleep studies showed I wake from REM 15-20 times an hour (not to consciousness though).

      • Mycatiskai@lemmy.ca
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        3 months ago

        To anyone not aware of sleep apnea it wouldn’t seem like there was anything wrong with my sleep. I don’t snore, I just don’t breathe continuously when unconscious.

        It took about 2 years to fully recover mentally from decades of this shitty sleep. I only found out from visiting my parents and my mom saw me not breathing while I was asleep on the couch. I’ve also had 6 sleep studies in 11 years to try and figure out why it is happening but it is idiopathic.

        I can’t remember what people on Reddit with UARS found to be the best treatment but the biggest step always seemed to be getting a doctor to diagnose it properly instead of just signing it off at regular sleep apnea. I hope you find a treatment that helps. The brain can bounce back, so don’t give up hope that you can get your mind back.

        • Buglefingers@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Thanks, I am trying to stay hopeful. My next step needs to be an ENT and probably to fix a collapsed nasal cavity. I worked with a neurologist for 3 years (where the sleep studies came from) but they ended up leaving state for persona matters. I live in the USA so I have to go through insurance which doesn’t really recognize UARS. Though I did scratch my way into diagnosis of apnea (sleep study recorded just above the 5% oxygen drop required by insurance) they refused to let me test with a CPAP. It was the only diagnosis my neurologist could use to get insurance to help, still, they won’t really do much for me.

          Hopefully soon I can sit in one place without the threat of falling asleep. Or wake up feeling rested and not my eyes burning feeling like I was hit by a brick lmao. Sleep issues are no joke and you’re right to tell people to make sure people get it properly handled ASAP