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Going to bed and getting up at the same time daily. My pDoc would call it, “regimented sleep pattern.” The surest way for me to get there is to exercise every day so I’m actually tired. That, and benzos when I need help.
Getting a CPAP. It’s made such a huge difference. If you snore loudly, get a sleep study done!
seconding this. i felt so goofy the first night i wore the mask and used the machine but when i woke up the next morning and felt the difference in how rested i was, i was like ‘… i am never not using this thing again.’
i’ve been a pretty consistent user for the last six or seven years now. no regrets.
What do you do when traveling? Do you ever feel dependent on it?
What about the noise and bulk of the mask?
I’m a border case if I need or not. And I’m reluctant to make the jump.
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re: travel; unironically bring the whole damn thing. They make travel bags you can put it into. I believe you can get discounts/waived fees for medical equipment on planes with you though I have never tried that personally. ‘travel’ cpaps exist, but I have never used them and since I bought my machine outright and don’t travel much I am not going to spend the money to buy a secondary unit, haha.
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re: noise; the masks are actually totally silent if they fit properly. there is a moment or two of noise before you put it on and after you take it off, but when it is on you don’t hear anything. I was surprised by that too.
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re: bulk of mask; the masks are super lightweight. they have this little… cushion thing where the face meets the mask itself, and it is very comfortable. i am honestly not bothered by it at all. there’s this swivel arm thing at the base of the mask where the hose attaches, and so you essentially have free range of motion without having to worry about snagging the hose. it’s great.
the main issue i have had with the mask is when the cushion starts wearing out and i have to adjust the tensions on the mask harness. i tend to crank it down too tightly and then i make my face uncomfortable. this is all easily remedied by just replacing the cushion thing like you’re supposed to, of course. 😂
if you are reluctant and are going through insurance, why not see what they are willing to cover and just giving it a try if they do cover everything? worst case scenario you send it back.
Oh, I didn’t answer the ‘do you ever feel dependent on it’.
I fall asleep without it every now and again and I can FEEL the difference when I wake up afterward. I feel physically more sluggish and unrested.
Am I capable of not using it and surviving? Yep. I do it all the time (usually not intentionally), but the after effects of not using it (of getting a reminder of what I feel like when I am not using it) get me right back on the wagon.
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Cannibis Indica.
Being tired as hell. Improves my mood too by reducing overthinking.
only if you sleep 8-10hrs, anything less than that makes you even more tired.
As regular as possible bedtime routine.
No caffeinated drinks in the second half of the day.
Regular exercise.
Actually not sleeping too long in the morning either.
Melatonin.Boxed breathing in some rare cases.
Gummies with CBN
Yikes
Tried those once and I felt like I got weaker and weaker until I couldn’t stand, I felt like I was dying and we ran to the hospital. Wasn’t until entering the ER that it passed and I started feeling better
Probably won’t try those again
But yeah, in general, those can be a huge help for sleeping and general anxiety
My wife has wrestled with anxiety for decades now and every now and then she’d tried the valium and what not, and every single time it was a horrible experience for her in a wide variety of cruel ways. Since the past two years I started having anxiety symptoms as well.
Weed, THC and moreso CBD has been a godsend for us both. Anxiety shows up, and it’s an anxiety-be-gone for us.
It’s important not to over do it, especially when using it regularly, use low doses, just to cut that edge off, but after 2 years, it saved my wife’s life, our marriage, our sex life, and our sanity. We actually ended up firing my wife’s family doctor because she had great results with weed, super happy and she registeredy wife as an addict and simply wouldn’t take no for an answer on the valium and Xanax and other crap
I myself now do have issues with PVC, my heart every now and then had a cylinder misfire which feels shit, and I’ve cut weed off completely for a while to let that pass and then we’ll see. Still though, zero regrets
PS: this is not an “ignore your doctor and do my thing” thing, this is our own personal experience, GREAT experience, but ours nonetheless. Whatever you do is your decision, be careful, listen to your doctor.
There is a perfect combination of booze and depression that can get me to sleep for 10-12 hours in a single sleep cycle. Could probably sleep longer if I didnt wake up because I was about to piss myself from the copious amoont of alcohol consumed prior to sleeping.
When you kiss me goodnight
💋
Not sure if I’m just weird or if this is a general rule for insomnia, but for me, what works will vary and there’s no foolproof recipe to make me sleep, but below are some things that do help me.
- Exercise
- Consistent wake up time
- No screens 2 hours before bed
- Blocking sunlight early (sun currently sets after 10 pm)
- No food for at least 6 hours before bed
- Stop liquids 3 hours before bedtime
- White noise during sleep (I prefer the sound of rain)
- Don’t leave things unfinished before bed, especially tasks that will make you worry or have anxiety
- Decluttered bedroom
- Clean bedsheets
- Air purifier
- Aromatherapy diffuser with lemongrass
Mitigating things that prevent sleep mostly. If there are things that are keeping me awake I just get up and deal with them, it’s faster than trying to ignore them or push through. Light bothering me? Block it or turn it off. Stuffy nose? Netti pot or go outside for a bit. Noise I can’t stop? Create white noise. I get shin splints at night so I either compress them with bandages or sleep on my stomach with my feet hanging off the end of the bed and squish my shins. If I can’t get my mind to stfu sometimes I’ll get up and doze off on the couch or read a book, NO SCREENS! If the dog is laying next to me having a hand on her gives me the relaxing time brain chemicals, sometimes even if she is already leaning on me she’ll do the crab scoot closer thing and that feeling helps too. Once in a while there is nothing I can do and I know I won’t be sleeping, fortunately I have a job where I can take time off with little notice.
White noise. I have “sleep headphones” which are a fabric headband with very flat bluetooth speakers in them.
Various white noise types (rain on a tent, being on a train, spaceship engine noise - though sometimes also stuff like “sleep meditation for anxiety”) seem to get me asleep in 15 minutes (it helps turn off my wild thought spirals), and generally staying asleep until morning.
There’s probably a ton of other factors about room temperature, eating times, reading e-book instead of phone before bed etc, but I think the white noise was the most noticeable and immediate change.
I use a site called MyNoise which has a ton of white noise soundtracks. My favourite soundtrack for sleeping is called “rice fields” and consists of frogs, cicadas and water sounds. If I’m struggling to sleep I go “ok, froggy time” and put this on. Works 99% of the time.
This might sound completely random, but completely cutting sugar from my life. For my entire life my sleep has been bad. Couldn’t sleep at night properly at all. Then one day I tried Keto and within 1 week my sleep became normal and healthy. I didn’t keep doing keto for long because it wasn’t sustainable for me personally, but I kept the 0 sugar rule and it’s been great. Sleeping like a
babyadult.Earplugs, but it’s terrible for earwax build-up
Prolanolol, side effect from the aim at reducing migraines. You can try Physiological sigh, they’re great at completing the stress cycle. Detoxing from light sources for a couple of hours before sleep. No screens, dim all lights. Theres one where you tense every muscle, hold and then relax and imagine its super super relaxed, one at a time, all the way from feet to head.
Personally I have to listen to a show that’s just interesting enough to keep my attention and not too interesting that it’ll keep me awake to see what happens. (And without a super boppy intro outro, or it’ll wake me back up.) I can sit there for hours and not sleep, trying without a show, turn a show on and I’m out in less than 5 minutes. It’s insane.
Sleep earbuds and a science-y audio book at 90% speed
I turn on a tv show i have seen many times. Enough to distract my brain from working on something, but not enticing enough to keep me awake.
My favorites are star trek and stargate tv shows.
