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Why I Screw Up Now And Then, I Recall
Sep 11th, 2009 | 22 responses
I want to take a breather for a couple of minutes from bashing Joe Wilson and other stupid Republican claims about our health care legislation and discuss a condition that has bothered me the past several months.
For no apparent reason my brain insists I sleep 10 to 12 hours a day. Anything short of that, I feel like I’m hungover but I don’t drink booze. Furthermore, less than that amount of sleep tends to contribute to stupid mistakes in my blog writings which I greet with self-deprecating humor as a “senior moment.”
Well, it ain’t funny. I’m a creature of habit. My morning ritual has been well established over the past 60-plus years. Violate that custom and I’m thrown off schedule for the entire day.
I used to get by on five to seven hours sleep and perhaps log in an extra hour or two on Sundays.
I was diagnosed with sleep apnea five years go. The condition was corrected simply by breathing oxygen through the night with what is called a CPAP machine. It broke down 10 days ago and I’m waiting for the insurance company to replace it. But the need for sleep began many weeks before. Now, it is worse, for obvious reasons.
A hypochondriac I am not. I plan to discuss this newly found disorder with my primary physician scheduled the end of this month. All she’ll do is kiss it off to a specialist.
Nor am I one to read medical studies and diagnose my imagined condition. Well, I read a study today written by Reuters that indicates I could be in the early stages of dementia. I fit all the criteria.
Spanish researchers found that among nearly 3,300 older adults they followed for three years, those who slept nine or more hours per day, daytime naps included, were about twice as likely to develop dementia as those who typically slept for seven hours.
The study of 3,286 adults age 65 and older found 140 with dementia and of those 28 slept nine or more hours a night.
“It remains to be established how the relation between longer sleep duration and dementia is mediated,” said Dr. Julian Benito-Leon, of University Hospital ’12 de Octubre’ in Madrid. That means there is no known cure.
I’ve defied the laws of medical probabilities all my life and see no reason to quit now.This time the odds are in my favor.
So if you read something of mine you don’t like, great. If I make an obvious error of omission or fact, my apologies. But do it fast or I’ll forget.
Where were we? Oh, Joe Wilson. What is it in the water those South Carolinians are drinking? I think … zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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22 Responses to “Why I Screw Up Now And Then, I Recall”
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So sorry to hear about your difficulties, Jerry. I hope that you're able to get some answers to resolve your concerns. Keep in mind that even if the correlation between sleeping longer hours and Alzheimers is true, correlation doesn't mean causality and a lot of people who do sleep longer hours don't necessarily have or develop Alzheimers.
Jerry just this week was talking to my brother that uses a CPAP and he was having similar concerns, but when he checked with the Dr. he was told it was likely due to him not having his CPAP calibrated each year. . The Dr. stated how important to keep calibrated, my brother had let his re-calibrations go for several years. . .My good thoughts and prayers are with you. . .
Spanish researchers found that among nearly 3,300 older adults they followed for three years, those who slept nine or more hours per day, daytime naps included, were about twice as likely to develop dementia as those who typically slept for seven hours.
If that's true, my risk for getting dementia (which is actually a fear of mine) just dropped, because I never sleep. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but not much of one. Here it is 2:40 am, and I am still typing merrily away. And when I do finally get to bed, I will not sleep. Around 6, 6:30, 7 am, I usually drift off, and then I sleep fitfully until late morning or early afternoon.
I am told this is a typical pattern with depression. People go to bed later and later until they're staying up all night and sleeping most of the day. But the thing is with me, even when I do sleep, I don't sleep soundly or uninterruptedly.
Somehow, I seem to get by, though.
Hi you Jer, you. First of all, as sparrow says: get the dang CPAP calibrated. Secondly, ask your doc if you need oxygen along with the CPAP at night. Do you wake with headaches sometimes?
You will sleep like a baby if you get cpap callibrated and IF you need oxygen, get it. I know it's all star trek looking and all, kinda weird and kinda sexy at the same time. But, most of all, apnea is nothing to mess with. It's here, and alzheimers is unlikely. Listen to CStanley, she has a science background, and I'd add, possibility is no sure correlation to outcome in most health issues. But it IS, psychologically.
Taking oppty to think positively about your health future is one useful form of psychological armor, and given that it is said/ shown in quite a few evidence based studies that high cortisol can adversely affect health and it goes high in the body when people are under stress or thinking fearfully or negatively unecessarily…. then, you know, not giving ourselves, 'the med student's disease' thinking we have everything under the sun… it's good to avoid that pit and backfill it in with your version of sunlight and determination for best health possible, which means aiming toward best outcomes possible.
You and I know we have 'delicate' health, but strong spirits. That's a good thing… even though last time I had medical student's disease I thought for sure I had leprosy (Loss tiny area (size of pencil pont) of pigment on arm)… and before that, I thought I probably had bartlett's or barrette's (one of those) syndrome when I read that a sore throat isnt always a sore throat, it could be dum dum dum , some horrible precurser to death and worse.
I hope that made you laugh. I seem not to have leprosy or barrette, bartlette's syndrome. And I think you need more oxygen/ breath without interruption in your sleep cycles so you STAY asleep in the deeper brain wave cycles where cells are repaired and renewed, and true deep rest takes place, instead of coming to theshhold of waking completely in beta cycle brain waves hundreds of times a night, not to mention that one second struggle for breath that goes on many times an hour with apnea.
Let us know. Dont make us come up there.
with kindest regards,
dr.e
Jerry – For accurate information on Alzheimers and related forms of dementia, I recommend you check out http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_causes_risk_fact... . The Alzheimers Association is the largest private funder of dementia research in the wolrd and maintains an extensive data bank and library on worldwide research, some of which is valid and some not.
If you don't find what you're looking for from the web, please call Dr. Bill Thies. He is the VP for medical and scientific research, has been with the Association for about 12 years and is up on most valid research. He is also very kind and doesn't mind taking a phone call. The internal number at the Association is 312-335-8700. Don't call the 800 number as that is a “helpline” & fundraising number. Tell Bill you were referred by (former board chair) g. c. healy. He'll know who that is.
Chances are very good you are worrying for nothing, but look beyond one study, to ease your mind. For what it's worth, I sleep maybe five hours a night and have brains farts galore. Take care of the apnea…that sounds like the real issue.
God bless.
Tidbits, you're a gem.
Carthage forever.
dr.e
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