[OT] Sleep Apnea, Limes, Folic Acid and Weight Loss

[Umbran]

While I've seen people get very good results on atkins, I would not recommend it at this time. Atkins works by making radical changes in your metabolism, including liver functions. (as I understood it when my bf was doing the diet and reading the book).

*nod*. Kahuna Burger is right on this one. The Atkins diet, in effect, switches your body into "starvation" mode every few weeks. This isn't exactly safe for a person who isn't in basically good health to begin with.

In fact, there are quite a few doctors out there who aren't of the opinon that Atkins is all that more effective than other diets, and it may not be healthy in the long term for most people. Atkins, for example, can be murder on your kidneys and on your body's calcium levels.

 

[orchid blossom]

The biggest hurdle I found to weight loss was my own ignorance of what good nutrition really was. We all learn the 4 food groups, but we don't really know what it means. I decided to educate myself, and picked up The Comple Idiot's Guide to Total Nutrition. The book is almost all good solid information about what each kind of food does for you, why it's important, and how to eat it right. It also gets into strategies for eating right at college, and for going through the grocery store. There is a kind of plan at the back, not really for dieting, but for making sure what you eat through the day is balanced.

After watching what I ate for a month using that basic plan, I felt so much better. My habit of wanting to fall asleep around 2 o'clock everyday disappeared, and I'd lost about 8 pounds. Plus, I actually found buying groceries cheaper, since I wasn't buying chips, soda, and preprepared foods.

Although I don't have sleep apnea, I do have post nasal drip, and whenever I lay down I get all clogged up as if I had a cold. For other people with this problem, I've found those Breathe Right strips work wonders. I refuse to sleep without them now.

In the end, you have to find what works for you to take weight off. Balanced eating and a good walk every day is the best I've found. Hope you find what works for you MaxKaladin. Good luck!

 

[Duncan Haldane]

My sleep apnea is cured!

I may have had it worse then you even. I don't recall exactly, but I had about 240 apnea events per hour. An apnea event being I went at least 20 seconds without taking a breath.

Hey Zub,

I'm afriad your maths doesn't quite work out for this - if you were having 240 Apneas an hour, you would have one every 15 seconds - therefore the next one would start 5+ seconds before the last one finished!

Anyway, I *had* sleep apnea, and I don't any more.
How do I know I don't? Because I don't have that zombie-can't wake up feeling. I used to fall asleep at 2:30-3pm every day, including at work. I couldn't watch an hour long show at home at night without nodding off during it.

Now, none of that happens.

The weird part of this is *how* I stopped the sleep apnea.

When I went for my first test they measured me at 120 Apnea's a hour - that's two every minute (an apnea, for those who don't know, is when one ceases to breath for a period, and the body is forced to send an adrenaline burst to the brain to wake up and restart the breathing - 2 adrenaline burst a minute is not healthy).

I went for the second test with the mask on, and when I could finally wear it, I slept for about 2 hours with it on - and felt like I'd had 2 days sleep. It was great.

But when I tried the mask at home, but I couldn't use it - it made me feel clostraphobic. It did have that effect in the test, but they kept making me put it back on, and finally I fell asleep with it on.
At home, I couldn't leave it on. I got panic attacks. I have always had problems with my ears being blocked, and easily get colds and flues, so I often have a blocked nose. With the mask on I felt like I was suffocating.

I decided I was going to see a hynotherapist. I figured that one might be able to teach me a way to relax with the mask on, to help me conquer the fear.

Before I did go and see one, I mentioned it to a friend. He did some hynotism, and he suggested something to me. When I explained what the problem was (the airways close due to the throat getting too narrow as it relaxed with sleep), he suggested that perhaps a hypnotherapist could get me to keep my throat muscles "awake", and to not close off.

I started seeing the hynotherapist. I told her about my problem, why I was seeing her about it, and what my friend had suggested. Then she started her program with me.

Now, during these sessions I was aware of what she was saying for more than 90% of it. I also have a tape she made for me to use at home. At no time did she mention about keeping my throat awake, or anything like that, just phrases like relaxing, sleeping better, etc.

And my sleep apnea went away. My snoring decreased significantly (my flatmate used to hear me snore from his room, and no longer can).

I haven't really changed much in weight - if anything, I've put more on in that time. But it's 2.5 years since I had the hypnotherapy, and there's been no signs I've noticed that the sleep apnea is back.

When I told my sleep specialist that I was seeing a hynotherapist about it, and that it had helped, he almost laughed at me. I haven't been back to him (haven't needed to, and with that attitude, I wouldn't), but I have considered going back to the hynotherapist for some other issues.

As for weight loss - it won't happen unless you are willing to try to make it work.

Good Luck,

Duncan

 

[Elf Witch]

Elf Witch, could you cite a reference on that? I'm pretty up to date on sleep deprivation, but I've never heard that before, and would absolutely like to learn more.

Thanks!

It was an article on health on AOL it might have been from webMD or the New York Times. It was a couple of months ago I can't remember I read so much online.

 

[HammerFist]

I don't know much about sleep apnea, besides the fact that you usually feel tired and run down, and are often irritable.

I do know a bit about weight loss, havine been a pretty fat dude in my time, and in much better shape right now.

Many times, an overweight person really fears that word "exercise" -- DON'T. You do not have to go crazy or anything. Go for a 30 minute (or more, if you feel up to it) walk every day.

Eat better, and eat a little less. You can turn down sweets and stuff, with a little willpower. If you slip, the key is to not kill yourself over it, just get back on that wagon. Also, if you're not hungry, than don't eat. Don't eat after 8pm, you can wait until the morning. Oh yeah, don't skip breakfast.

Want an easy, slightly extreme thing to do to help? I wouldn't try this before you go on that walk, but taking a spoonful of a fiber-supplement with a glass of water before you eat really help! Fiber slows the absorbtion of sugar into your system, and you'll lose weight. Of course, you'll need to poop a lot more, so don't make plans when you do this! Metamucil baby!

 

[Buttercup]

re: sleep deprivation & diabetes

Elf Witch, could you cite a reference on that? I'm pretty up to date on sleep deprivation, but I've never heard that before, and would absolutely like to learn more.

Well, I'm not Elf Witch, but I was able to find this article by doing a Medline search. There were more articles, not all of them in English, unfortunately. You can reproduce my results by going to PubMed and searching on 'Sleep Deprivation and Diabetes'.

HTH!

 

[LightPhoenix]

Looked up folic acid in my copy of the Merck Manual of Medical Information. Principal sources of folic acid are leafy green veggies, fruits, liver and other organ meats, and dried yeast. It's main function is the maturation of red blood cells, and deficiency decreases the number of all blood cells - RBCs and WBCs. Daily requirement is 200 ug.

So your doctor probably told you to intake more folic acid to boost RBC production, which in turn would increase the amount of oxygen you can take in.

Just thought I'd grab an official source.

 

[Zub]

Re: My sleep apnea is cured!

Hey Zub,

I'm afriad your maths doesn't quite work out for this - if you were having 240 Apneas an hour, you would have one every 15 seconds - therefore the next one would start 5+ seconds before the last one finished!

Yeah, I messed that one up. I used to keep copies of the 2 sleep studies I had done, but I've lost them over the years. I know it was severe though. I'm convinced I wouldn't be alive today, if it hadn't been for my Doctor.

 

[Zub]

Metamucil baby! [/B]

I second that!

 

[ThomasBJJ]

Atkins, for example, can be murder on your kidneys and on your body's calcium levels.

There is no proof of this. It is explained in the Adkins book that this is not true.


On exercise... if you go at it too hard when you are first starting out, you will learn to associate negative experiance to exercise. This will make you not exercise eventually. Ease into it, enjoy it. Slowly get used to it. Your brain is a powerful tool, and it WILL find a way to avoid something you hate to do. I got to the point that I felt bad if I didnt or couldnt go to the gym. I learned to look foreward to it.