Now with a reduced Flex setting

tetragon wrote:And on the off-chance that they (or similar) are listening: don't holler a conversation with your friends with a few storeys separating you; no clanging the banister; and don't let your tipsy friends fall down the stairs. After all, some of us are trying to remain asleep.

Night 5:

Flex off, wider window:

Another morning, another headache. This is annoying. That my machine hasn't logged any clear airway events since I turned off Flex makes me wonder about the why of it. Yet another night where I woke up, took everything off, realized that it wasn't morning, put it back on, and went back to sleep. Another thing for the whys.

It would be nice if at some point I could actually go a night without waking up (or remembering waking up) in the middle.

deltadave wrote:

tetragon wrote:And on the off-chance that they (or similar) are listening: don't holler a conversation with your friends with a few storeys separating you; no clanging the banister; and don't let your tipsy friends fall down the stairs. After all, some of us are trying to remain asleep.

Well, excuse me for not wanting to be woken up by a didgeridoo. That was yet another of the things that woke me up that night.

tetragon wrote:Well, excuse me for not wanting to be woken up by a didgeridoo. That was yet another of the things that woke me up that night.

What a coincidence!

Gabby was playing the didge at my party!



Now that I think about it, I guess I didn't get much sleep either...

Night 6:

Flex off, wider window:

The most interesting thing about this morning was that I didn't have a headache. Perhaps I just got headached out yesterday. Yesterday morning, I inadvertently got a little too comfortable on my sofa and slept for a bit without my machine. That was a mistake. I woke up feeling like someone had tried to sear my throat, with the added fun of a nasty headache like those I used to get on Saturdays. Why only Saturday? I don't know. Back then I thought it was just stress from a frustrating job. Perhaps I was simply sleeping too long, instead.

Flex off, window closed:

There was an unplanned change. I wasn't able to open the window due to it freezing shut. So instead of the effects of the window being tested by forgetting it, I merely gave up after a few minutes and dried my hands, which were wet with melting frost. The results of my failure to open the window last night? I woke up many times to fidget with my blanket, pushing it off, pulling it on, arranging it to only cover part of me, and I feel like I was run over by a freight train.

If the night was an accurate representation, it was turning off Flex that resulted in there being no more logged clear airway events, but the window needs to be open for me to have a chance at staying asleep.

Flex off, window wider:

The ice holding my window shut melted. Yay. Even with that window open, I still woke up more times and for longer than I'd like (although not as often as I did with the closed window). Maybe at some point I'll figure out how not to wake up so often, but it could be worse. Worse would be if it took as long as it used to to get back to sleep.

At least I now know when my next appointment with my sleep doctor is.

Flex off, window wider:

I think I may finally be past the headaches I started getting when I first did this change of settings. I still haven't figured out how to stay asleep, just that opening my windows wide and letting the blankets sort out the freezing breeze helps some. It's taken some time to get used to goosebumps and slight shivering for the last couple minutes before bed, while I'm opening the window, preparing the futon, filling the humidifier, returning my mask to its hose (the pillows and headgear live on my dishrack, where they can drain and evaporate all my night's condensation).

I might try this thing with the older C-Flex to see how it feels, but I want to see if I can finally stop taking the iron first, or even if I can reduce it to once a day or use a lower-dose form. That stuff causes the most corrosive-tasting burps (in the air-only category) I have ever tasted.

Well, I was told that I can go from taking the iron twice a day to five times a week. I don't have to take that stuff again until Monday, and I've decided that I'll take iron in the morning. I also got yet another comment from my doctor on how tired I apparently look. According to her, I looked like I was about to fall asleep in the chair I was sitting in. She told me that I should go home for a nap. Instead, I went looking for cake. Hopefully at my next follow up with her, she won't make yet another comment about how tired she thinks I look. It's not like I want to look tired every time I see her.

In the end, there was no cake eaten, just lamb stew, as my meat tooth beat out my sweet tooth.

Night 1:

Flex off, no iron:

I have decided that opening the windows wide is now part of the base state.

What is most memorable about last night is what I don't remember. I don't remember waking up a dozen times to change position or for no reason, instead I remember waking up once to shove the blankets into a cooler arrangement. A difference in this morning is that I'm not dealing with a gassiness that had me wondering how I could contain so much air and not pop.

I'm still tired at this point, but I hope that this lack of waking up continues.

And now for a post-lunch annoyance. As I was walking home after eating lunch, on a sunny day with one kilometre down and one to go, I suddenly felt that I needed to sleep right then and there. I didn't. I managed to finish walking home and get everything set up before sleeping. After I found a comfortable position, I didn't wake up for repositioning, but I do remember bits of the dream I was having. In it, I remember trying to help my brother with his S9 Discover. In real life, I don't think my brother has ever had a sleep study, and I don't think the "S9 Discover" actually exists. Still, that nap was one hour of my afternoon gone, plus the time it took to shake off the grogginess after waking up.

Night 2:

Flex off, no iron:

What a horrid night. My apartment was too hot, even with the windows wide open. It was a great lot of waking up to adjust the lighter blanket I was using throughout the night. I'll need to dig out an even lighter blanket if this continues.

If I were to add any new form of automated logging to my night, the soonest would be a digital thermometer/hygrometer for my apartment.

Night 3:

Flex off, no iron:

I spent more time than I'd like not sleeping, first in short bits of adjusting blankets due to temperature, then in time periods just long enough for me to consider getting out of bed, but short enough that I would return to sleep first. It was actually around 7pm that I was really feeling sleepy, which is annoying. Tonight at 7pm, I'll be in class, in a class with no text, so the lecture is everything. Over the past couple years, I've had a hard time staying awake at that time, which has led to some… interesting lectures in the past, hearing what the prof was saying, but what I saw wasn't a chalky lecture hall. The joys of studenthood when it's funded by working full-time at normal office hours.

Night 4:

Flex off, no iron:

Like the first night that I didn't take any iron in the evening, once I got the temperature right, I stayed asleep and didn't phage quite as much aero. Is this coincidence, or was the evening dose of iron causing some of the problems? Still, I don't plan on switching it from the morning to the evening in a week or two to confirm. Even with this "staying asleep" thing going on, I ended up waking up tired. It's not as bad now as it was when I woke up, but if this continues, I'll see if it remains continuing when I try for slightly more sleep.

Class last night was a great blur of trying to stay awake and keeping the gas in (an issue I have encountered before when adjusting to a lower iron dose). The moment the second break started, I ran to the washroom where all the built-up pressure rocketed me into the ceiling. Good thing this was only the first day: the syllabus and easy, introductory material.

Night 5:

Flex off, no iron:

Over the past handful of no-iron-nights that I got the temperature to a comfortable right, I have been waking up in the morning with a strange feeling I couldn't quite place. It isn't a headache. I think it's feeling like I got sleep, as opposed to just being paused for the night punctuated by needing to change position or blanket coverage. I'm still tired, though, but I did wake up a few minutes earlier than expected, so maybe I can stick the blame on that (even though it's not the fault of those few minutes).