My worse symptoms... can anyone relate?

LiquidFry wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 21, 2018 2:38 pm

Mikebear wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 21, 2018 10:08 am

LiquidFry wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 20, 2018 11:59 am

This board is awesome, and I hope to find some help or guidance with my own situation.

I’m dragging all day until 10pm when I start feeling alive. Because of that, I don’t even bother going to sleep until 1:30, then having to wake up at 8.

Thanks for any help!!

A lot of this appears to me to be sleep debt. I highlighted the sentence above that's most appropriate. The way you cure that, is you go to bed BEFORE 10pm, while you are still "dragging" per your own words.

You MUST do this before your brain goes back into the 'alert status' mode again, causing you to peak up and stay awake until 1:30am.

Thank you so much.

I suspected sleep debt has a lot to do with my situation. I haven’t slept right in 5 years due to my young boys who are either crying at night, trying to get in our bed, or waking up super early.

The problem also is that I get home from work at 9:30. I guess I just want some time to myself after work to unwind. But I guess the repercussions is that I feel how I feel today.

If you do start going to bed before 10pm consistently, you should start to normalize your schedule as you catch up on your sleep debt and can then perhaps change your schedule successfully to a little later. However, do NOT try to get rid of ALL your sleep debt! Everybody has some greater or lesser, and you need to find out what works best for YOU.

wrote: everybody has some greater or lesser (sleep debt)

A healthy person who has healthy habits wakes up in the morning with no sleep debt. Sleep debt slowly accumulates during the day until he goes to sleep at night. The next morning, the sleep debt is gone, and the cycle starts again.

To the OP, running is not for everyone. It can be extremely effective and efficient if weight loss is the goal, but let's face it...it can be a real thud if you like thinking about things, discussing them, or if you like variety. I am a bit of a dullard, so I just reduce my already diminished cognitive function by about 50% and stay that way until I get to the end of the run. My running mates, when I have them, say they can't tell.

Seriously, that you are here, inquiring, says a lot for and about you, so you get full props from me. To the extent that you are scrupulously and relentlessly honest about your circumstances, including your motivation, it bodes well for continued discovery and improvement. Again, full props.

I mentioned variety. Running can be agonizing for some, especially if you are constrained to the same routines, spaces, views, and sensations. You may profit from attendance at a spinning class, even if it is once a week for variety's sake. You'll look forward to that class all week! Pilates, cycling outdoors (soon), stand-up paddle boarding, swimming laps, dancing...do whatever it takes to keep you on top of yourself and still having fun. An after-supper stroll is what millions do, singly and in pairs. It helps to settle the stomach, you can enjoy a slightly cooler time of day maybe, and you still get the benefits of that activity with plenty of time to plunk at the computer or TV before retiring for the evening.

Wouldn't it be great if you had to adjust your PAP settings for the better by July because you had so many other positive changes by then?

How about a rowing machine or indoor bike?

I can relate. I am 35, 5'10, was 220 lb three month ago and now 185 lb.

depression and fatigue (more precisely, it's a lack of mental stamina) are my symptoms

I can speak from my experiences that you need look no further than sleep disturbed breathing. it's actually common, especially in mid-aged males.

I just want to say thanks to all that have replied. I am lacking the mental stamina to respond to everyone, because I’m so damn tired.


I had a sleep study 10 days ago. They put me on a Cpap right away. First we tried nasal pillows, but I couldn’t cope. It was quite hard for me to think of anything else but keeping my mouth closed. Then, they tried a full mask. I finally fell asleep for a couple hours, but tossed and turned for the rest of the night. I was dismissed at 3am.


My PCP called yesterday to tell me I have no apnea events when I actually did sleep, and is ordering a cpap for me.


I really I hope I can get on with it. I am tired of feeling tired. I’m tired of feeling nothing but crap.


And I got a nice new symptom in the last couple days. I feel like passing out. I thought it was high blood pressure, but after measuring it at a CVS, it came out normal. I’m not sure if it’s anxiety or what.


I am so frustrated with the way I feel.

LiquidFry, you may be having some anxiety symptoms. The thought of having that alien thing stuck on your face every night can be frightening. The best advice I can give you at this point is just relax, read the posts at the top of the first page and learn as much as you can before you get your machine. This all sounds scary, but it can be life changing for you if you embrace it and get the best therapy you can. Welcome to the hose head world. There are a lot of us here that will help you with your journey to better sleep.

Why is a machine being ordered if you don't have apnea? What else have you been tested for?

Okie bipap wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 11, 2018 2:30 pm

LiquidFry, you may be having some anxiety symptoms. The thought of having that alien thing stuck on your face every night can be frightening. The best advice I can give you at this point is just relax, read the posts at the top of the first page and learn as much as you can before you get your machine. This all sounds scary, but it can be life changing for you if you embrace it and get the best therapy you can. Welcome to the hose head world. There are a lot of us here that will help you with your journey to better sleep.

I will embrace it, because I feel like I have no choice. If I don’t embrace it, I will keep feeling like this. Thank you very much for the reply!

Julie wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 11, 2018 3:31 pm

Why is a machine being ordered if you don't have apnea? What else have you been tested for?

Sorry if I wasn’t clear Julie. I had no events while I had the CPAP on.

They actually didn’t even have me sleep without CPAP that night. I had been diagnosed with mild sleep apnea through a home test.


What do you mean what else was I tested for? Do you mean at the study or in general? In the last year I have had all sorts of blood work plus a brain MRI (all clear thankfully). One thing I still need to get blood work for is testosterone.

LiquidFry wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 11, 2018 3:39 pm

I will embrace it

Do it! Ask for help here. Nothing is too small to ask about.

Regarding being able to relate, I can very much relate. Life can put you into one of those negative spirals where the downers feed on one another to where it seems impossible to climb out of the hole you find yourself in.

In my case I had serious sleep apnea most of my life. As an Air Force Recruit in basic training, the dorm guards started timing how long I would go without breathing and write it down on the white board with it sort of being a game as to which dorm guard during the night would get the longest number. Back then the doctors response when I inquired was to simply say that's common with some people and since it didn't seem to be causing me trouble they didn't worry about it. It wasn't until I was in my 50s getting some minor surgery when the anesthesiologist informed me that I had severe sleep apnea and needed to see someone right away. Sleep apnea was viewed differently then and I finally treatment. To be honest, I had never realized how bad of headaches this was giving me until I received treatment and they went away. Treating my sleep apnea definitely improved my quality of life, but I wouldn't call it life changing.

I experienced the sort of issues you describe fairly recently in my life, when life ganged up on me to the point where depression/anxiety set in, grouped under the PTSD term as described by the counselors I saw. In my case I was a hardened combat vet, been through cancer with my wife, combat, and being blown up by terrorists in the middle east. My breaking point was when my son in law took the life of my daughter, both of my grandchildren, and my ex wife prior to taking his own life. From the moment the police knocked on the door to notify me of what had happened, I was sleeping a max of 2 hours a night, eating way to much and gaining weight. I went from normally active to being a moping slug, and can't really tell you for sure how I got though the days at my high stress job. I got to the point of hallucinations and was having health issues significant enough that my doctor advised me I had months at most to live if I didn't get thing under control. Seeing a good counselor, and working with a sleep specialist in regards to medications and advise finally got me through it, but there was no easy fix. Drugs would get me up to 4 or so hours of sleep, but I would have to keep changing them as they lost effectiveness fairly rapidly and with some I got suicidal even. Over time, working the mental issues I was dealing with along with getting back to an exercise program made the real fixes.

As has been mentioned, physical exercise, especially of an aerobic nature works better in fighting depression than any single medication on the market. It's not magic though, and doesn't happen rapidly. You kind of have to fake it until you make it for weeks to months before the effects start taking hold, and constancy is quite important. Also, it doesn't have to necessarily be hard core workouts. Even a brisk walk of half an hour to an hour a day can work wonders. Keep working with your counselor for other parts to the puzzle. While I haven't found that they have answers in the traditional sense of the word, they can be great in helping you find and develop the mental tools and techniques to move from downtrodden and beaten to being a survivor than can overcome, and be stronger for it. It's not easy, and there aren't necessarily any magic easy answers. It's just working through the issues one at a time until the positives, and good starts building on itself much like the dark and negative is doing to you right now.

Hang in there and good luck.