Health and Body Issues

While I was in Vancouver I wasn't able to workout as much as I'd like. But on one day I managed to sneak into the nearby community center and do a chest workout. My shoulders felt odd, tight, and slightly pained but I just attributed it to taking it easy for too long.

And then when I got back to do chest day with one of my trainers I couldn't even push the bar off myself. Well, not without increased amounts of pain in both my shoulders. Something was very wrong here.

This is not how things are supposed to work.

I booked an appointment with my doctor and somehow I managed to pull some tendons in my shoulders. Maybe it was just a strenuous And I'm going to guess my workout in Vancouver just made it worse, a lot worse.

As in, I carry anything with my shoulders and I can feel the tendon flare up.

But it should be ok. I got some anti-inflammatories, I'm trying to reduce stress on my shoulders but it's been hard to not lift or use my arms. I mean, sometimes even shouldering the strap on my bag is too much.

This means nothing but core and leg day. And even then, no deadlifts, squats, planks, etc. etc. because shoulders are involved and we don't want to extend the recovery time any longer now do we?

Though I think this is kind of a rite of passage for gym goers. All of my trainers have injured themselves in some form or another. Mostly tendon related now that I think about it. At least I'm not out of commission for 3 months or a year like some of them.

Oh, and finally I got an appointment to check up with my sleep problems.

So then I can stop being like this.

It wasn't all that much. I managed to talk to another specialist and they did some breathing tests on me. All in all, I'm supposedly fairly healthy and normal looking, I just have sleep apnea for some reason.

Which means that I'm put at the end of a year long waiting list to get additional testing done. Barring that I can fork over a few thousand dollars to get the sleep study done. Which I'd rather not do, I'm in debt enough as it is.

There is an alternative though. A conversation with an old professor informed me of another sleep clinic. One that worked for her husband. And you know what, I've been through so many machines and sleep devices that I'm willing to try anything at this point.

I'll keep you guys updated.

Return of the CPAP Machine

I am not a healthy individual. For anyone who isn't aware, since the inception of my blog I have discussed my numerous health problems like my lung cysts and sleep apnea, and those posts are from 2011. And while my lungs haven't really bothered me (much) since my fatigue has always been an issue.

I've just kind of powered through it. I had a mouth guard for a while because we thought my sleep apnea was caused by my jaw crushing my throat. But eventually I stopped using it because it was causing jaw soreness and alignment issues as well as hearing problems.

And then I started gasping awake at night.

Well this is unsettling.

It was odd. Waking up up to 3 times a night. It was then I realized that my sleep apnea was getting worse. Much worse. We had suspicions that I was unconsciously waking up at night (which explains why I was always so tired) but now I was aware of it.

Powering through wasn't working. I booked an appointment with a sleep specialist and took another kit home to see how badly I was sleeping at night.

And it was pretty bad.

In 5 hours of sleep I had apparently woke up a total of 44 times.

Now this is horrifying.

Alright, time to get back onto the CPAP machine. For those unaware, it's a little device that hooks into a tube, and the tube is connected to a mask, and the mask connects to your face. The machine pumps moist air into your face and that helps you sleep better.

If your jaw is crushing your throat, the increased air pressure will force things open. If your brain is stupid and forgets to breath, then hopefully this will stimulate breathing.

But that's assuming you can breathe to begin with. Immediately with the CPAP, I was having trouble adjusting to the mask. I was only able to wear it for an hour at a time before tearing it off my face because I was suffocating.

It took 3 weeks before we finally found a mask that worked for me. Up until now, the data collected was kind of skewed, what with 1 hour of sleep recorded. NOW we had 3 to 5 hours of sleep recorded at a time.

Yay?

And guess what we found?

My brain is stupid.

They think that in addition to the possibility that my jaw is crushing my throat, my brain ALSO forgets to breathe. For up to half a minute at a time I stop breathing at night. This would explain why I would start gasping awake in the middle of the night. Lack of oxygen will do that to you.

Scumbag brain.

LET'S ALSO HAVE WEIRD DREAMS ABOUT YOUR EX.

But we're slowing fixing things I think. The rate of my "not-breathing" has dropped to an average of only 5 times an hour.

For now.

Projects Update

Current debt: $9000

Phew! It's about time I've made a significant dent in my debt, I'm now under 10k. Slowly but surely we'll destroy this thing, though because I'm no longer a student I've had to get a new bank account which requires that I have $2500 sitting in it at all times so I don't get charged a fee. A minor setback.

I'm still really pushing to find time to work on my projects. It's hard to find it in you to continue being productive after a long day of work. I just want to let me brain go to waste in front of my computer as I watch videos of cats doing stupid things.

But I've managed to do some work, and so, update time.

I could watch this all day.

Project Derp:

Goal: $$$$

I experienced a massive traffic drop last month for some reason. Are things running slower? Is it due to summer ending? I can't say for certain but I'm certain it affected my already minimal profits. It also doesn't help that for all of September I maybe put in 2 hours of work, at best.

That being said, I may have found a way to get Phase 2 to work. Fingers crossed. It be nice to finally have this project be self-sustaining. I'll make a post about it when it happens, and then finally get working on Phase 3.


Project Vegas:

Goal: Travel 

I finally got the required items in the mail to get this project running. I'm still reading through a few things to make sure I do this right. Even though I have the most disposable income I've had in a long time, I still want to make spend my money efficiently.

I have a time limit of 3 months. I hope this works.

THEN I CAN FLY LIKE THIS CAT.

Project Pandering:

Goal: Learn and re-learn skills.

This one has been iffy to gauge because it's an amalgamation of smaller little skills that I don't think qualify for individual projects. So on a whole, this project has had quite a bit of time dedicated to it, but the individual components are a bit lackluster.


I recently got more hardware and I'm tinkering with things as we go along. There are just so many tutorials and guides online. No way I'd would have been able to learn how to do this (or even consider doing this) half a decade ago.


Project Jason:

Goal: Exercise

This is still the only project that I'm consistently dedicating time to. Though I'm "averaging" 3 times a week. Sometimes I go twice, and then I make up for it the next week by going 4 times. It's a bit of a balance really, the only time I can meet up with people is for dinner after work so it's either meet with friends or go lift weights.

Unfortunately my feet are still cramping up. I think it might be because I've been so tired lately. The lack of sleep might be the cause because I've changed shoes, reduced reps and weight, etc. etc.. I think the fatigue might be affecting my appetite as well, I'm eating less and that's not good. I can't gain weight if I'm not eating.

Nom.

And that's this month's update. Debts are being paid, I'm trying to be productive outside of work. And I'm slowly losing my mind because my sleep is deteriorating. I'm actually gasping awake now in the middle of the night, which I think is a pretty clear sign my sleep apnea is worsening.

Fear not though, the appointment I booked weeks ago is finally coming up. I'll make a post about that when it happens.

More Medical Tests

Well, it's about time I started getting the medical tests done. I've been putting them off for way too long. It's been over two months since I've gone and seen the specialist so maybe it's about time I do something.

I would have done it sooner, but I've been busy and lazy.

My computer has a vice-like grip on me.

First on the list was the blood tests. I don't mind needles too much, except when the people sticking them in me are terrible at their jobs. I have massive veins, they have been described as "you could drive a truck through them". So if you can't get the needle in on the first try, you probably should get a new job.

This applies to the terrible nurses I had when I had surgery in the hospital, and some technician at some other clinic drawing blood for some tests.

Luckily I got someone good and after drawing 7 tubes worth of blood from me I was allowed to waddle off to the bathroom to urinate in a cup. Yep, turns out I needed a urine test too.

Yay.

An x-ray clinic was above the clinic where I got a blood test and I have some time left over so I took the elevator up to get my x-rays too. I laid down on a hard, cold metal bed which was exceptionally uncomfortable because I'm way too thin. My hip bones kept me balanced at the price of bruises.

I understood why they needed to take different photos of my lungs, but I'm not sure why they needed spinal x-rays too. Luckily it didn't take too long and I was off on my way.

But that leaves one last thing, the genetic test questionnaire. Started off good, just personal information, nothing I can't answer.

And then the questionnaire needed me to start gathering information about my family members and extended family members.

I barely know anything about my Dad's side of the family.

Some of you will wonder why this is an issue for me. How hard is it to ask your parents for some information? Any of my regular readers will recall that my parents have no idea that I've been visiting the doctors and getting these tests for over a year now.

To approach them with this genetic test questions would finally reveal all of this. And again, some of you will wonder why this is a problem. Simply put, my parents would start worrying nonstop. There's no proof that I have any of these medical issues but there's no point in having them worry unnecessarily while I wait for the results.

Also, as I've gotten older, I've begun to hate the "interrogations" that I get from my parents. They might mean well, but I they're not helpful to me or them. When I got the call from Recruiter B the other week my Mother began questioning me nonstop, asking why I would be even interested in a "marketing" job, would be as "lowly" as my other marketing job, how much did it pay, didn't I want to be a psychiatrist at one point, why didn't they contact you sooner, etc. etc..

This is exactly why I don't share details of my life with my parents anymore. If something bad happens, they won't know about it. If something good happens, they can't really bombard me or question my decisions.

You might care a lot, but the way you're showing it isn't the greatest.

So I need to find a clever way of either getting information or completely forgoing the genetic test. The chances of me having Marfan's is pretty slim already so maybe I can just ignore this.

I've also booked another appointment with a sleep clinic. I'm going to get another sleep study done sometime in July after my little trip to Vancouver. I want something more conclusive as to how bad my sleep apnea is.

Me not Healthy: Always Tired (Part 6)

I think enough has happened that would allow me to give an update to this particular arc. Last time I left the specialist needing to get the specialized mouth guard called a Thornton Adjustable Positioner (TAP) 3.

For those of you who forgot or didn't read the last post, here's how it works. Basically my problem is that my jaw falls onto my throat when I sleep, causing me to choke, wake up and ruin my sleep. The mouth guard prevents this by having a hook on the top piece that locks into a slot in the bottom piece. This prevents my jaw from really moving and crushing things. Also to kill two birds with one stone, it also prevents me from grinding my teeth at night because my teeth can't even touch each other now.

It comes with a key so you can adjust the position, hence the name.

But as anyone who has gotten any form of oral appliance should know, first, they need to take a mold of your teeth.

It's not bad, it's um, unpleasant? I'm really not sure how else to describe it. Basically, the technician takes a tray of goo and crams as much of her hands into your mouth as possible so she can fit said tray into your mouth. Then the two of you sort of sit there in awkward silence as the goo begins to set. You're probably going to breath through your nose so you don't swallow excess junk by accident. Repeat twice and you're good to go.

Unless you move. If you move even the slightest bit during the procedure the mold is no good and they have to repeat it. You're also probably going to have goo all over your face making it look like you vomited goo.

All that work to get this ugly thing.

After the two weeks it takes them to make the mouth guard from the molds I finally get to try them.

And I barely use them.

Seriously, if I'm not going to get at least 5 hours of sleep that night I don't even bother wearing it. It's such a pain to place and remove from my mouth.

It's like I'm purposely not sleeping. I have things that are keeping me up at night.

So yeah, hard to say if this thing is really helping at the moment.

I'll sleep when I'm dead.

But I can share some details based on the nights I have used the appliance. Firstly, it's not a good idea to cough when the mouth guard is locked in place. Believe it or not, your jaw actually moves significantly when you cough and now that it's locked in place you just end up performing a half-hearted cough that doesn't clear your throat and hurts your mouth.

Second, I'm not sure if anyone else reads through my comments but what Nurse Myra said is true (also I can't link to your blog or view your profile as of this post, Blogger error?). The mouth guard does trap a significant amount of saliva during your sleep. I mean, I guess you'll never wake up with a dry mouth again, but it's also REALLY gross taking it out in the morning when you drool all over your chin and there's a puddle in the sink.

So attractive.

Hopefully this is the cure to my sleep apnea. But unless I start using it more consistently I highly doubt that. I'm seriously running out of options, if this isn't a solution, what else could be? I am not going for corrective jaw surgery. Recovery takes way too long.

I really hope this works out.

Me Not Healthy: Always Tired (Part 5)

Does anyone still remember this ongoing arc of mine? I've lost and gained a lot of followers since the last post so for those of you who are just joining here's a link to Part 1 for my story on dealing with sleep apnea.

And for those who just need a refresher, I've finally been able to see that doctor, months after the appointment was booked.

Damn those long wait times.

The guy was apparently really high in demand. I'm not sure if there was a scheduling issue or if the last patient was taking too long but I sat there for about an hour until he finally showed up.

But no matter, I still got to see the guy and he takes a look around. He suggests that maybe I get the special mouth guard that the other specialist mentioned. A lot of people do not have the correct jaw structure for it but I was one of the few lucky candidate so yay for me?

Awesome.

And then I see what the mouth guard will look like. And, it's kind of bizarre. I can't remember the exact name so use your imagination here. Basically, it's two mouthpieces (one for the top and bottom) and on the top there's like a hook that fits into a slot in the bottom mouthpiece.

The purpose of this is to keep my jaw from falling onto my windpipe (and thus causing me to choke, gasp for air, briefly wake-up, ruin my sleep, etc. etc.) and also prevents me from grinding my teeth together because well, now they can't even touch.

And if your imagination (or my description) sucks, here's a picture.

So we'll see how this goes. I'm going for the fitting in a few weeks so expect hopefully a conclusion to my sleeping problems.

Link to Part 6 here.

Me Not Healthy: Always Tired (Part 4)

This is a continuation of my quest to figure out why I've been constantly tired for the last few years. If you're new and not sure what's going on, here's part 1, part 2 and part 3.

This must be a pain to read from the beginning.

So I finally get to see this specialist. I fill out a few forms and as the guy is looking through the papers he stops and goes, "That's interesting, you grind your teeth at night? That might explain a few things".

Remember how I mentioned how one of the potential causes for my sleep apnea could be my jaw causing my throat to close up? Turns out, grinding your teeth at night is sometimes your body's way of forcing your jaw off so you can breathe again.

I get to chose between breathing or maintaining my awesome smile.

I've had the teeth grinding problem for (surprise surprise) years as well. I got a mouth guard to wear at night so I don't destroy my teeth in my sleep. So the next step is to go get a specially made mouth guard that not only prevents the teeth grinding BUT also stops my jaw from crushing things.

Oh! And you know what else the specialist told me? "You might have a special case for sleep apnea. We only see this kind of thing in tall and thin Asian males".

TALL, THIN, ASIAN MALES.

I WONDER WHAT OTHER HEALTH PROBLEMS THESE GUYS GET.

I also wonder what other surprises my genes have in store for me.

Unfortunately, I guess the earliest I can see the orthodontics guy is in February. Which means there won't be an update to this until then.

In the meantime, I'll be using my Abnormal Psychology's professor's audio lectures to help me fall asleep.

If his voice can make me sleep in class, it can make me fall asleep anywhere.

Link here to Part 5.

Me Not Healthy: Always Tired (Part 3)

It's been a while but I've finally been able to go see my doctor and discuss a few things with him. Anyone who isn't sure what I'm talking about can catch up by reading Part 2 and/or Part 1.

First things first, we go over the data that was given with the new CPAP mask. The good news was that I had a significant reduction in apneas. I was waking up maybe like, 3 times a night or something at the very best which is a huge improvement over 15 times at worst.

The bad news was that even with the apnea reductions I was still waking up tired.

Sometimes even too tired to finish a blog post.

So my doctor recommends that I stop using it. I'm not seeing any visible improvements, I haven't got used to the thing even after a month of trying it, it's just not working out. I mean, the most sleep I ever get with the thing is maybe 5 hours? And it's usually because I wake up and tear it off my face so I can sleep more comfortably.

The CPAP was helping to reduce apneas but wasn't addressing the actual cause of them. The next logical thing was to check the most likely offenders; my thyroid, my tonsils, or my jaw. If my thyroid was enlarged it could be pressing down on my windpipe, causing me to choke and wake up in my sleep. Same thing applies to my tonsils except if they could be closing off my throat. Lastly, my jaw could be falling back and crushing something.

It's like my own body wants to kill me.

So, Doctor touches the side of my neck. Nope. No enlarged thyroids.

Doctor looks down my throat with a light. Nope. No enlarged tonsils.

And then he tells me that I'd need to see my dentist to verify if there are any jaw problems.

So, we still don't know what's wrong with me.

Back where we started...

It's not all bad though. He booked an appointment for me to go see a sleep specialist in a few weeks and we got more x-rays because I think there might be something wrong with my lungs again. But we'll see, I don't think I'll be falling over dead any time soon.

Unless it turns out I have gastrointestinal problems too...

Link to Part 4.

Me Not Healthy: Always Tired (Part 2)

My apologies for the rather abrupt, sudden and uh, "enthusiastic" previous post. It's just that a story that I'm rather engaged has been on hiatus for several months now and the end of a chapter was posted like night. However, due to the "enthusiasm" of several hundred thousand people eager to see the end (and crashing many things on the way rendering it unviewable) there was a lot of tension, anxiety and we fed off each other.

It was still awesome though. Fang and Sophia don't think I'm crazy.

And now for a legitimate post.

The unique thing about this particular arc that I'm sharing with you unlike the lung cysts or my previous relationships is that I'm currently experiencing this one. The prior events are drawn from memory but this story I'm telling you as it unfold. So yeah, let's see where this takes us?

So, as I recall from part 1, I had been given a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) to try and use. Basically this thing is constantly pumping air via a mask into either my nose, mouth or both to reduce the incidents of waking up in the middle of the night. During the sleep I would wake 10-15 times for less than a second (meaning I'm not consciously aware of it) in 5 hours of sleeping. 6 hours of sleep was equivalent to maybe 3 hours because of how little REM sleep I got.

And then I look like this for the rest of the day.

The good news is, the based on the data gathered from the CPAP, the number of apneas (waking ups) went down significantly. The bad news? I didn't feel a difference. At All.

The first mask I used was a nasal only. Breathing through my mouth would result in a sensation not unlike choking due to the pressure caused by the CPAP. Not a problem, I'm not a mouth breather unless my sinuses are clogged.

Which is exactly what the stupid nasal mask did to me. It first took an hour to fall asleep because it's weird sleeping with something strapped to your face. And then when I finally fell asleep, 1 hour later I'd wake up choking, nose all clogged and I'd rip the mask from my face, turn over and fall asleep.

So then we did the next logical step:

Next I went with the full face one, mouth and nose were covered and I could breathe through either one. It was a lot better but I was still unable to sleep for more than 5 hours at a time with the machine. The neat thing about the CPAP was it recorded data so after a month I sent some things to my doctor. He wants to discuss a few things with me now.

And I'll let you know what those things are when I find out.

Link to Part 3.

Me Not Healthy: Always Tired (Part 1)

What you thought the allergies and the lung cysts were the only health issues I had? No, unfortunately not. At this rate I'm going to die pretty soon so enjoy me while you still can.

I wish.

For the last few years, I have always been tired. I fall asleep on car rides, in class, while eating... Actually now that I think about it place me in a sitting position and you risk having me passed out and drooling all over myself. Part of it is my fault. I mean, I probably should go sleep earlier but classes and exams sometimes don't allow for that. And when I don't have work, well, the internet is there to keep me company.

Who needs rest? I have my computer!

But this problem continued even when I get more than 8 hours of sleep. On the few days that I do end up sleeping earlier I still wake up tired. My favorite thing to see in the morning is that it's still dark outside so I can go back to sleep. I began to suspect it could be a medical problem. No amount of sleep was enough for me, I often woke up with headaches, and I snored really loudly. My siblings complain about it on vacation whenever we share a room. These symptoms fit that of someone with sleep apnea.

Basically, sleep apnea is when you wake up numerous times while sleeping, disrupting your sleep cycle. A lot of it has to do with your windpipe being closed due to being too fat or odd sleeping positions. You may not even be aware of it happening because it can last for seconds before you fall back asleep. If it happens enough it can cause 6 hours of sleep to feel more like 3.

Unfortunately I don't share the other symptoms which include smoking, being overweight, and being middle-aged. Regardless, I decided to get a level 3 sleep study done which means I'd bring a device home, it would record things and then I'd bring it back for analysis.

You get the idea.

The results... were inconclusive. Yes they confirmed that I was waking up several times a night and I snored really loudly for large portions of time but I didn't use the device long enough for any conclusive results.

The only thing left for me to do would be to either take a level 1 sleep study (go to a hospital and get even more things stuck to my face) or I could try using a CPAP, a device meant to aid in breathing to help me get a better night's sleep.

I opted for the CPAP and I'll share my experiences and results in a future blog post.

Link to Part 2.