OT: calling light sleepers, how do you remedy?

[palerider]

At the level of magnesium you are taking I would have diarrhea! and some weird head pains.

Magnesium is a tricky thing. The body can't absorb it directly, so it has to be in a compound, and the type of compound makes a huge difference with magnesium.

The most common, and cheapest, type of magnesium is magnesium oxide, but it has a very low 'bioavailability', meaning the body can't absorb it, and something like 98% of it goes right out of you... as a laxative. Milk of Magnesia is made primarily of magnesium oxide and water.

Magnesium citrate, magnesium gluconate, and a few others are mostly absorbed, and don't have the laxative effect.

[zonker]

...good ol' costco, don't know what i'd do without it.

I buy so much there, my executive membership (just me) is paid for and then some; this year >$200 back I must admit everything goes on that card, but it's mostly what I buy there.

<sigh> two things. 1. costco was pretty much our place to go when we were raising the kids. they are my wife's kids, from a previous marriage. my wife decided to have kids quick and get it out of the way. thus, the daughter,son and daughter have barely a year between them. that's right, we had 3 teenagers under our roof at one time. those GIGANTIC bags of potato chips were essential!

2. that was when we still lived in the northwest where there was a costco at nearly every turn. now, as we are "olds", we live in flagstaff. the nearest costco is an hour and a half a way. we go once every two weeks and make a day out of it. there is a trader joe's not far from that costco.

road trip!!

[Muse-Inc]

...road trip!!

Mine is just 4.5 miles away.

3 teens at the same time

Love the prices on things I eat all the time: berries, celery, fresh grape tomatoes, Mandarins, Boston lettuce, half n'half, heavy cream, organic eggs, boneless pork chops, rotisserie chicken, Canadian bacon, English cukes, Bell peppers, gluten-free bread, great Kirkland bacon, Kerrygold butter, Macadamias, Omega-3 Nut Mix, Kirkland AA and AAA batteries, Bounty towels, Michelen tires & Interstate batteries, Healthy Living filters. Packages of single servings of guacamole, Wood's marinated Salmon filets, marinated Pacific Cod, Angus chuck burgers, Coleman boneless skinless chicken breasts, snacking nuts, Kirkland nut bars. So much better prices on these than our grocery stores. Plus, I am in their delivery area! Can ya guess I just made out my grocery list?

[palerider]

...road trip!!

Mine is just 4.5 miles away.

3 teens at the same time

Love the prices on things I eat all the time: berries, celery, ...Omega-3 Nut Mix, Kirkland AA and AAA batteries, Bounty towels, Michelen tires & Interstate batteries, Healthy Living filters. Packages of single servings of guacamole, Wood's marinated Salmon filets, marinated Pacific Cod, Angus chuck burgers, Coleman boneless skinless chicken breasts, snacking nuts, Kirkland nut bars. So much better prices on these than our grocery stores. Plus, I am in their delivery area! Can ya guess I just made out my grocery list?

Um... Maybe it's just my strange view, but it seems you've got some unusual dietary habits.

Don't the batteries give you indigestion, and towels? really, there are better ways to get your daily fiber intake...

[Jay Aitchsee]

what good measure would b12 provide?

Vitamin B12 is an essential vitamin that sometimes us older folks and vegans have difficulty getting enough of. One symptom of B12 deficiency might be fatigue. See: https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supple ... t-20363663

[chunkyfrog]

Costco is the bomb!
The only things I prefer to get from Sam's Club are toilet paper and CoQ10.

[RogerSC]

As a light sleeper, I've been using earplugs for a long time. They seem to be controversial around here, but they help me. Also take 300mcg of melatonin before bed. And am looking for the right furniture for a limited space to get my CPAP below my head height. The closer to the floor the better. Was thinking of a bookcase, or a in a low drawer open just enough for ventilation and for the hose to come out. I'm sure that there's some actual CPAP furniture out there, given the number of CPAP users...I've seen some, but just haven't seen the right thing yet, especially given the space limitations.

And my sympathy to all the light sleepers out there using CPAP...I understand the problem *smile*.

[Muse-Inc]

Costco is the bomb!
The only things I prefer to get from Sam's Club are toilet paper and CoQ10.

Costco has an online-only toilet paper that's great, not the in-store one. I used to use Quilted Northern either the Plush or the CleanStretch brand, I like the Costco online one better. And, delivered to the door! I buy Quenol ubiquenol, it's the active form of CoQ10, and price shop between Amazon and Costco when I need to re-order

[zonker]

hey zonker - what you are describing in your opening post sounds mildly frustrating!

yo, dog. i managed to blow past your post, sorry about that. i will read it next time and respond.

[zonker]

what good measure would b12 provide?

Vitamin B12 is an essential vitamin that sometimes us older folks and vegans have difficulty getting enough of. One symptom of B12 deficiency might be fatigue. See: https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supple ... t-20363663

thanks for the link!

[Muse-Inc]

...get my CPAP below my head height...

I used to put mine on a step stool like this one. Height is 7 1/4 ", top width is 10 3/4; depth 8 1/2. Bottom (legs) width 12 1/8/ depth 10" https://smile.amazon.com/Rubbermaid-Sto ... r=8-4&th=1

They make a larger one . Overall dimensions: 12.5L x 15.5W x 9.5H inches https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B005039PQW/ ... B0063KBQEA

[Muse-Inc]

Um... Maybe it's just my strange view, but it seems you've got some unusual dietary habits.

Don't the batteries give you indigestion, and towels? really, there are better ways to get your daily fiber intake...

Consume might have been a better word!

[zonker]

hey zonker - what you are describing in your opening post sounds mildly frustrating!

I don't know if any of what I'm writing applies to you or if it is things you have already considered but some food for thought -

1. Can I ask when was the last time you took a break from the supplements you are taking?

i don't feel comfortable with that. i don't think i listed all the supplements i'm taking, but among them is gluchosamin chondroitin combo, which helps relive my minor joint pain. i suppose i could do some research into all that i take. i take a number of supplements at breakfast.

At the level of magnesium you are taking I would have diarrhea! and some weird head pains. I learned that with supplements, sometimes less is more?

when i started out, i took some arbitrary amount of magnesium, got that diarrhea and then backed off to my current level.

"The problem with potassium and magnesium is that they can drop your blood pressure, and you want your blood pressure a little higher when you wake up in the morning. Otherwise, your body will raise cortisol and adrenaline to make it high enough."

So is it possible your supplements are somehow lowering your blood pressure a lot, and your body is raising stress hormones to compensate?

interesting. i don't see why i can't go ahead and take what i'm taking at dinner and take them at breakfast, instead. will just have to get into the habit of that, i suppose.

2. The book Chronotherapy by Dr. Michael Terman was an interesting one that my offer you some ideas on getting deeper sleep.

thanks! i just popped over to alibris.com and picked up a copy.

Do you live somewhere that gets ample sun in winter?

heh. i now reside in flagstaff az, where, as my daughter says, it's "relentlessly sunny"! so no problem getting plenty of sunshine.

thanks for the suggestions.

[zonker]

Costco is the bomb!
The only things I prefer to get from Sam's Club are toilet paper and CoQ10.

i'm a wee bit miffed at costco, however. i don't know if this nationwide or merely in arizona. but locally, they've stopped cooking the "polish" hotdog and offer only the plain one.

believe me, after that drive, i want to sit down and enjoy a polish!!

[dogsarelife]

Hey Zonker - I see about the supplements and that it's not an option to take a break. I thought that might be the case, that your supplements are taking care of some medical conditions.

I guess something less extreme to consider, is that maybe you have made more progress than you think with sleep such that you don't need the same dosages of your supplements anymore? For example my doctor didn't know about the connection between high blood pressure and OSA and was putting me on progressively stronger and stronger blood pressure medication, until xpap finally brought my blood pressure down to 120/80 and I'm off all medications for high blood pressure right now. Supplements can have quite strong effects, and I can only imagine if I had taken a supplement that promised to help circulation and blood pressure, that I might need to lower the dose now?

(Fun fact - I learned that one of the ways obstructive sleep apnea was discovered, was an Italian doctor who noticed his male patients with heart and blood pressure issues tended to snore. Wikipedia says the sleep doctor Dr. Guilleminault asked to observe some patients with snoring/high blood pressure while they were asleep and voila - correlated the pauses in breathing, with increases in blood pressure. that a small observation opened up an entire field of sleep medicine will never cease to amaze me.)

But again -changing supplements is always something to discuss with your nurse/PA/doctor.

This list might be helpful for you, because it says that glucosamine is listed as one of the top 10 supplements that can cause insomnia-

https://www.aarp.org/health/drugs-suppl ... omnia.html