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Uncle Ralphie

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Is it time to break out the Christmas ( or whatever you celebrate) decorations yet ??

Christmas Kitty.jpg
 
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Seanchai

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the 2 are separate issues, aren't they?

i got turned down by a doctor for my DOT card, so i can't drive commercially anymore. she said that i needed to be cleared by a cardiologist, which made sense, but that i'd also have to get a c-pap mask. that made no sense to me whatsoever.

i'm still confused about it. they only way i know to get a long night sleep is weed. and i don't smoke (won't smoke...i hope, i hope) anymore. the Dr also said that the apnea was dangerous because of my heart condition.

do those masks really work?

Lots of questions here, lemme see if I can answer them... usual disclaimer applies, not a doctor just a medgeek etc.

Definition first: Sleep apnea is essentially when you stop breathing in your sleep.

First item: driving. When you have sleep apnea, because you stop breathing in your sleep and have to keep waking yourself up (incompletely or completely) to start breathing again, you don't get much rem sleep (the most restorative stage), but you also don't get any of the deeper levels, either. That combination causes drowsiness behind the wheel. It sounds like a roundabout connection, but it's not... and that's why if you have sleep apnea, you have to be using a CPAP or have a release from the doctor treating the sleep apnea before you can drive; it's all to prevent falling asleep behind the wheel. Granted, it's not a very fair metric, since it's not like insomniacs or long haul drivers have to prove they hit REM before they can drive, but that's the rationale, anyway. (Yeah, that whole paragraph is rife with R.E.M. jokes.)

Second question, apnea vs. heart condition. Yes, two separate issues, but both very much entwined; stop breathing in your sleep, stresses your heart, you can fill in the rest. But that's not why the DOT's worried. Their concern is to do their best to cover their :censored: should you have a heart attack or fall asleep behind the wheel.

Do the masks work - yes, they do, and they work quite well. They are *not* comfortable at first, though, and take some getting used to. A nasal C-PAP is more comfortable for most than the full face mask. It does require quite a lot of stubbornness to get your body used to wearing it, but once you get past that hurdle, you'll sleep better and probably feel better, too.

I don't have sleep apnea, so how the :censored: do I know, right? Because whenever my lungs pack it in, I end up on a BI-PAP, which is pretty much a souped up C-PAP. (C-PAPs provide one level of air pressure, BI-PAPs provide two different levels - that's the only major difference.) First few nights are always rough. After a week or two, I love the thing and get the best sleep of my life... PITA though it is. My lungs are, thank god, not quite crappy enough to warrant a BI-PAP full time, so the insomnia comes back with a vengeance as soon as my lung function comes up enough to disqualify me again.

Taking the dogs for a hike.

I'll leave a link to a great actor (Last Of The Mohicans and My Left Foot) at the best site on the Internet

The Daniel Day-Lewis acting method isn’t for the faint at heart : theCHIVE

He did brilliantly in In The Name of the Father, too.

Vaping Cafe Coffee and... something else I can't remember.
 

Uncle Ralphie

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So tired of living in a world where almost everyone wants to be protected from everything.

Newsflash - we're all going to die eventually.

We are raising a nation of sissys. Schools closed .....we had 2" of snow what the &**^censored.gif

Back in my day, we walked to school ( no bus unless you lived more then 1 mile away), in 2 feet of snow, uphill bothways, and barefoot
 

Sambuca

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You have to be freaking kidding me, no butane came with this torch.

And to give you an idea how bad my sleep apnea is: during the test I was waking up 62 times every 60 minutes.


how much did you pay for the torch?

i was considering this one:

Rebuildable Drippable Atomizers

now you have me thinking about the butane, as well...
 

opal

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I have developed a theory/rule of thumb. If there are no native palm species it is not habitable by humans. Silly humans living in snow, you have no fur.

I agree.. and as for that pic a few pages back.. Robin Williams could compete for who needs waxing most.

Festus, heck I ain't seen Gunsmoke in years.


now ever'body knows how old I am

are you saying you played checkers with Moses?

I say we take Dr. Oz and stuff him in a room with Ozzy Osborn and see which Oz makes it out alive. My bet is on Ozzy. lol

film at 11? yep.. I'd tune in

So tired of living in a world where almost everyone wants to be protected from everything.

Newsflash - we're all going to die eventually.

true unless they can freeze me until they find out what killed me and fix it..instructions on the vacuum seal bag.. thaw gently in a tub of warm water, have chocolate ready for feeding, cafe coffee ready for vaping, fuzzy slippers and a robe - and by all means do not open if a socialist is in office.

time to fill clearos for the evening.. vaped em almost dry today
 

Sambuca

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Lots of questions here, lemme see if I can answer them... usual disclaimer applies, not a doctor just a medgeek etc.

Definition first: Sleep apnea is essentially when you stop breathing in your sleep.

First item: driving. When you have sleep apnea, because you stop breathing in your sleep and have to keep waking yourself up (incompletely or completely) to start breathing again, you don't get much REM sleep (the most restorative stage), but you also don't get any of the deeper levels, either. That combination causes drowsiness behind the wheel. It sounds like a roundabout connection, but it's not... and that's why if you have sleep apnea, you have to be using a CPAP or have a release from the doctor treating the sleep apnea before you can drive; it's all to prevent falling asleep behind the wheel. Granted, it's not a very fair metric, since it's not like insomniacs or long haul drivers have to prove they hit REM before they can drive, but that's the rationale, anyway. (Yeah, that whole paragraph is rife with R.E.M. jokes.)

Second question, apnea vs. heart condition. Yes, two separate issues, but both very much entwined; stop breathing in your sleep, stresses your heart, you can fill in the rest. But that's not why the DOT's worried. Their concern is to do their best to cover their :censored: should you have a heart attack or fall asleep behind the wheel.

Do the masks work - yes, they do, and they work quite well. They are *not* comfortable at first, though, and take some getting used to. A nasal C-PAP is more comfortable for most than the full face mask. It does require quite a lot of stubbornness to get your body used to wearing it, but once you get past that hurdle, you'll sleep better and probably feel better, too.

I don't have sleep apnea, so how the :censored: do I know, right? Because whenever my lungs pack it in, I end up on a BI-PAP, which is pretty much a souped up C-PAP. (C-PAPs provide one level of air pressure, BI-PAPs provide two different levels - that's the only major difference.) First few nights are always rough. After a week or two, I love the thing and get the best sleep of my life... PITA though it is. My lungs are, thank god, not quite crappy enough to warrant a BI-PAP full time, so the insomnia comes back with a vengeance as soon as my lung function comes up enough to disqualify me again.

hey Seanchai!

the whole apnea thing just makes me realize that they shoulda took me off the road years ago.:facepalm:

sucks to realize you're just a mere mortal at times. i always worked no matter what. not so happy with those decisions now. :oops:

thanks for the info, big guy! i'm sure i'll look into it in the near future.
 

Uncle Ralphie

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Ok I splain. Kitty not be Festus. Got it?

Still ..... I may be senile but,....how did it go from Festivus ( an episode from Jerry Seinfeld) to Festus from Gunsmoke.????

NO SOUP FOR YOU !!!!

and I know, Festus was the one in the skirt :)

Don't mind me.........vaped a whole tank of high octane 555,......gotta switch to my Sherbert or I will go another sleepless night.....Nicotine.jpg
I feel like "Peanut" from Jeff Dunham :)
 
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Seanchai

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hey Seanchai!

the whole apnea thing just makes me realize that they shoulda took me off the road years ago.:facepalm:

sucks to realize you're just a mere mortal at times. i always worked no matter what. not so happy with those decisions now. :oops:

thanks for the info, big guy! i'm sure i'll look into it in the near future.

It definitely sucks. Drives me nuts to just be sitting here all day too (for relative levels of "sitting here" - I've always got plenty to do, but it's nothing like what my life used to be like), but one of the things I remind myself and that I know is true is that I've always done the best I could with the information I had at the time. Not much point in regretting the past beyond that. There's a dozen things I could've done differently if I'd been preternaturally prescient, but at the end of the day, I'd still have the health problems I do now... so sure, I wish I'd made different choices, and my life would be different and better if I had... but then I'd just have different stressors and different regrets. :) And you're welcome, happy to help.

Still waiting on Sticky Bun... I need to just stop checking it at this stage, it's making me nuts. Or more nuts, as the case may be. :D
 
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