HELP diagnosed w/ apnea; still very tired; CPAP doesn't work

[Janknitz]

I've recently started mindfulness meditation and next month I'm starting an 8- week mindfulness based stress reduction class. I still wake at least once around 4 am, but I'm not fighting my "monkey mind" to get back to sleep. I've also broken the habit of relying on iPhone podcasts to get to sleep. While they helped me fall asleep by covering the sound of my CPAP, they often disrupted my sleep, too. Now I do a little meditation and I'm not as irritated by the sounds and sensations of the CPAP.

My work is incredibly stressful and I realized if I don't get the stress and sleep under control it was going to kill me!

[tan]

And what do you mean by eating "healthy", Tigerbear? The great American food pyramid by chance? Or some other low fat abomination like Michelle Obama's Plate?

tan: I've jumped from diet to diet over time, but for the last six weeks or so I've been pursuing an anti-gerd diet: no spicy foods, garlic, onions, acidic foods or very fatty foods.

Lately, a daily diet might consist of: nonfat greek yogurt with some jam as a sweetener, chicken soup, stewed chicken, greens (kale, spinach), some rice, beans of various kinds. Generally, I've been trying to stay low fat, but mix in some greens and beans for variety, nutrition and fiber.

Yeah, thought so. That in bold does not look healthy to me at all.

And, yes, GERD can screw up one's sleep. If you don't feel heartburn, you may still suffer from what is called "silent reflux". Having the head of the bed elevated could be a good idea, some people here reported improvements within weeks. But your digestion is only a suspect. There may be some other factors as some people pointed out.

By the way, your SleepyHead charts look pretty decent to me. However I like to check everyone with similar symptoms for possible UARS, I have to admit that you don't look like one of them.

[tigerbear]

Yeah, thought so. That in bold does not look healthy to me at all.

And, yes, GERD can screw up one's sleep. If you don't feel heartburn, you may still suffer from what is called "silent reflux". Having the head of the bed elevated could be a good idea, some people here reported improvements within weeks. But your digestion is only a suspect. There may be some other factors as some people pointed out.

By the way, your SleepyHead charts look pretty decent to me. However I like to check everyone with similar symptoms for possible UARS, I have to admit that you don't look like one of them.

It's just nonfat, plain organic yogurt with a little bit of jam (maybe 1 tbsp of jam with 4 tbsp of yogurt.) Why is that so bad? I was hopeful, actually, that the probiotics in the yogurt would be helpful. It doesn't seem to be in conflict with the normal dietary guidelines for GERD.

That said, I can guess what you might find problematic about it -- the sugar in the jam. I have started an even more pure diet, where I eat just a couple spoonfuls of plain, sugarless, nonfat yogurt a day, no jam, no starches, lots of greens and low fat, boiled/steamed chicken. As another poster suggested, maybe that will help "starve out" any bad bacteria in my gut.

Thank you, tan, for your comments and for answering all my questions.

[tan]

Yeah, thought so. That in bold does not look healthy to me at all.

And, yes, GERD can screw up one's sleep. If you don't feel heartburn, you may still suffer from what is called "silent reflux". Having the head of the bed elevated could be a good idea, some people here reported improvements within weeks. But your digestion is only a suspect. There may be some other factors as some people pointed out.

By the way, your SleepyHead charts look pretty decent to me. However I like to check everyone with similar symptoms for possible UARS, I have to admit that you don't look like one of them.

It's just nonfat, plain organic yogurt with a little bit of jam (maybe 1 tbsp of jam with 4 tbsp of yogurt.) Why is that so bad? I was hopeful, actually, that the probiotics in the yogurt would be helpful. It doesn't seem to be in conflict with the normal dietary guidelines for GERD.

That said, I can guess what you might find problematic about it -- the sugar in the jam. I have started an even more pure diet, where I eat just a couple spoonfuls of plain, sugarless, nonfat yogurt a day, no jam, no starches, lots of greens and low fat, boiled/steamed chicken. As another poster suggested, maybe that will help "starve out" any bad bacteria in my gut.

Thank you, tan, for your comments and for answering all my questions.

I don't how and when I was helpful You are just being polite.

Probiotic is a good thing. The non- or low-fat can be a problem. Everyone needs fat in their diet.

[archangle]

One thing I tried at one time was to completely eliminate large classes of food for a SHORT period of time like a week.

For instance, no meat at all for a week, or only chicken breast for a week. Yes, it's a bad idea longer term, but only a week shouldn't do any harm. Maybe try something a little more balanced, but eat a fairly balanced mix of only 3 different foods for a week. If that doesn't work, eat normal for a week, and then try a mix of 3 other foods for a week.

Also try things like no vitamins or dietary supplements for a week or so. No OTC drugs, either.

Some things, such a gluten-free, may require a longer period of time, but you can eat a balanced diet without gluten or almost any other single class of food.

[tigerbear]

Yes, probably for a short while I will be a bit extreme in my food preferences -- no gluten, starch, lots of veggies, chicken and chicken broth. If that helps with my GERD, that would be great, if not, then I'll probably eat more moderately (though still healthy), with a bit more fat too. Thanks for the tips.

I was wondering, I guess my flow limitation stats did not look very bad -- generally, 4-8 brief spikes of around 0.2 to 0.25. How should it look for a person with mild-moderate sleep apnea? Also, I read elsewhere in the forums that Resmed machines produce different flow limitation data. Could that be part of the problem?