Does weary mean wiser?

[cyrano]

Stage One of Operation Get Your Ass Out Of Bed On Time To Get To Work has been successful.
I set the alarm for five this morning so that tomorrow when I got up at three I wouldn't be horrifically mortified. Or just sleep through the alarm blissfully. Now I am going to put together a list of Things I Can Do That Will Not Wake The Housemate. I think that will be useful in the upcoming months.
Idle concern #59257: A week from now I leave for Salt Lake City for a week, where my schedule will be M-F 9-5 or likely something very similar. Then I'll go back to F-T 5-1.30, and then in October I'll probably go to Los Angeles for another M-F 9-5 and back to SFO for a week and then back to LA for a week and then back to SFO. Will my brain explode due to the constant tinkering with my Circadian cycles? Or will I just become a cranky bitch who sleeps sixteen hours a day? (Or, worse yet, doesn't sleep at all.)
Idle concern #59262: It has been politely suggested that I do something about the noise I make when I sleep, if I am going to be sleeping in the same room as people who find themselves awoken by something that sounds like a grizzly bear who's had its upper lip caught in a wood chipper which badly needs to be oiled.
Does anybody have any remedies they've had success with, or have heard glowing reviews of, short of surgery? Now that I have medical insurance, I'm going to try and get them to look into the sleep apnea thing, but it's not going to happen this week.

Comments

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

On the shifting sleep-hours thing, my friend works shifts, and while I have no idea how she does it, she survives seemingly fine. For seven days she works 8-5, then she has two days off, then for seven she works 4-12, then two off, then for seven she works 12-9, then she gets like ten days off before she starts mornings again. I think I'd go insane or just give up on sleep, but she's fine with it.

And wow, 5-1:30 are keen hours to work. I'm pushing at work for them to put one support person (me) on a shift that'd cover EST folks (right now they need to call during normal PST hours or be screwed). You'll never hit rush hour traffic at those times, and you'll be able to get all sorts of things done after work. (Though I guess you'll lose the chance to do some nighttime things...)

[esmerel.livejournal.com]

If you've got apnea, you should learn to sleep on your side. Sleeping on your back makes it a lot worse. Sleeping on your side won't 'get rid' of it, but in some cases (like Merlin's), it makes it MUCH MUCH MUCH more livable. He still has trouble sleeping, but he sleeps far better now that I've gotten him into the habit of sleeping on his side. Apnea seems to be more common in large/heavy men. =)

Ways to do this, if you're not being prodded by someone - get into the habit of falling asleep while lying on your side. Take an old t-shirt, and sew a tennis/golf ball into the back. Wear it to bed. Your body will be uncomfortable when you roll over, so you eventually will get into the habit of NOT doing so.

Also, maybe get tested for allergies. I don't know if you've done this before, but if you have allergies, that also can seriously exacerbate sleep apnea. I got us a HEPA filter, and there are very obvious differences when the filter is, and is not running.

Other things that make apnea worse: drinking (it's a relaxant. Your throat is already relaxing too much when you sleep), bad pillows ( bad head position, causes the air passage to narrow, which is already a problem).

Surgery: Not so much with the useful. I have yet to see ANY surgical technique that actually works on anything resembling a reasonable basis. There just isn't one. Some of them help for a while, but eventually the problem tends to come back.

Finally: If your apnea is bad enough, you probably want to check out a sleep disorder center. You'll probably have to go through your doctor for that. If you go through a center, they can test you for the severity of your apnea, and there's a couple of techniques they can use. Most notable (and that I can remember) is CPAP - counter pressure and .. something. It's a mask that you wear to bed that uses air pressure to force your airway open. I worked with a gentleman who used it and LOVES it. He won't go to bed without it. If the power goes out, he'll just stay up until it comes back on, because his quality of sleep is so much higher with the CPAP.

There are different kinds of sleep apnea, depending on what part of your airway is being difficult =) Have I read up on this? Maybe a little =) Take a look at http://www.sleepapnea.org/.

I hope this helps! Apnea is really awful for you, and the people around you. Look into it sooner rather than later! It is amazing how much your quality of life improves when your body sleeps properly. In Merlin's case, I think his ratio of decent nights, to nights where he had nightmares has dropped HUGELY since I've gotten him sleeping on his side. He sleeps a lot more soundly. He still has trouble, but I don't think it's nearly as bad as it used to be. When you can't breathe, your body goes 'ACK' and shoots adrenaline through your system, which wakes you up a little. Think about what that does to your sleep. =)

[gconnor.livejournal.com]

What Ezzy said seems pretty right and helpful.

In my case, I have an allergy to... something in my pillow, probably dust or dust mites. I got one of those anti-allergen pillow cases and I put the pillow in that and then put a regular pillow case over it. That seems to make quite a big difference, though I have to change the outer case every couple days and the inside one every week or so. Perhaps if I were to change the pillowcase every day that would help even more.

I also got a snore-guard created for me by my dentist. This keeps my lower jaw from slipping back, and this seems to make a difference as well.

I have also tried taking allergy drugs (like Flonase) - this works well also. If I have taken the meds I don't have to change the pillowcase as often, and vice versa. The drugs seem slightly more effective than the pillowcase alone, but not enough to make me take the drugs all the time.

[tersa.livejournal.com]

You forgot to mention the Breathe-Right strips you mentioned making Merlin use every once in a while that seems to have worked, neh?