Healthy Obsessions The Adventures of a Mild Obsessive Compulsive

Category Archives: Medical

Acupuncture for Sleep Apnea?

Edward Burnes-Jones' Sleeping Beauty

Wouldn’t that be nice?

In my obsessive googling of those terms, I came across an interesting article abstract.

It’s not conclusive, not by a long shot. And I wish I had access to the full article, but since I’m no longer university faculty, I no longer have access to those databases. I hear that I could just go to the Stanford Medical Library and plop myself down there to do research. Can’t take any materials, but could at least read them on site.

Wait a minute. Scratch that. Sono.org, you have come to my rescue! Voila.

It’s a small study. Only 26 completed it, and that’s hardly a sufficient sample size. Then again, with this sort of thing you’re already limited by access to patients with sleep apnea who are willing to try acupuncture and (likely) don’t have other medical issues going on to cloud results. Not a huge group. Of course, we also need studies like this to prove that it’s worth the investment to do larger studies.

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Acupuncture = Awesome

It actually helped. A lot.

I don’t understand the mechanism of action. But after my appointment on Friday, I had about 30 degrees more rotation in my neck and the pain was significantly decreased. I went again today, and I now have full rotation (no, not Exorcist level rotation, I mean standard side to side human rotation).

I’ve been told that the acupuncturist can treat my sleeping difficulties, and my menstrual problems, and my allergies, and my pain. I’d really like to believe this, because dear lord do I want those problems fixed. But I truly don’t understand the *how* of it. Unless…

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Called the Acupuncturist

Just made my first ever acupuncture appointment. For tomorrow. It’s ridiculous how freaked out I was about just calling. *sigh* Social anxiety, I haz it.

The needles, I should note, do not freak me out. The talking to someone I don’t know over the phone, that terrifies me. Sometimes. Apparently today.

Snake Oil vs Supplements

This is awesome. It’s a visual representation of which supplements have been proven to work, and which have no substantiation whatsoever.

 

There’s an interactive version you can mouse over and click on to see specific conditions and links to the research. If I weren’t already in love with my bf, I’d say I was in love with this guy. In a purely intellectual way, of course. (What? Aren’t you in love with your SO’s intellect?)

I am totally increasing my cinnamon intake. And buying some creatine…

Seeing a Nutritionist

Stubborness pays off. As does patience, although I have a much shorter supply of that.

After all the run around and nonsense I went through with Blue Shield (BS) over the last several months, I finally have my authorization to see a nutritionist. Mind you, this would have been more useful when I was re-embarking on the gluten free lifestyle back in July. Better late than never.

Long story short-ish: BS only covers nutrition services for diabetics. Anyone else is SOL.

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Celiac Panel Results Three Months On

Three months after my biopsy, my celiac blood test results are almost normal; which means I’ve been successful at avoiding gluten.

 

Three months after going gluten free (again).

Only that first result is problematic, and even then, it’s in the equivocal range. Not outright bad.

I did, however, have a magnesium deficiency. And a chloride deficiency (I didn’t even know that was possible). I’m also skirting the edge of having a sodium deficiency, which seems utterly insane considering how much salt I pour onto my food.

The magnesium deficiency may explain the frequent muscle spasms and cramps I’ve been getting in my legs lately, the massive increase in migraines, and my recent chocolate cravings. The low sodium, no doubt, explains the light headedness when I stand.

I’m definitely not fully recovered. That could take up to a year. But I am making progress.

Comparison: Fitbit vs. Sleep Cycle

This comparison isn’t going to be precisely fair, since I’ve been using my fitbit for about 10 months, and I only used Sleep Cycle (an iPhone app) for one night. But I can definitely give some initial impressions.

I’ve already talked about how useful I find the information from my fitbit. Here’s the data from last night, and no, I’m not sure what I was doing up at 2:41; I was on Ambien and it seemed like a good idea at the time:

Here is that same night, from Sleep Cycle:

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Last Day of Chemo

Today is my Mom’s last day of chemo. She should be getting her infusion right now, as I’m typing this.

She ended up in the hospital again over the weekend. And Dad sat with her there for the three days. And he’s taken off work the last several days, to stay with her at home and monitor her IV. To make sure she could make it to this chemo session today.

After this, radiation. And regular testing. But – hopefully – no more chemo.

Slightly Better Sleep

Tried a different CPAP mask last night and, according to my fitbit, slept slightly better.

Slight improvement with different mask.

Still not great. I should be around 95% sleep efficiency, ideally. And I ought to have more full sleep cycles in there; most people need a full 90 minutes to have a complete sleep cycle. It looks like I had two blocks that were long enough. I really would like to have three full cycles a night.

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Fitbit: Tracking My Sleep, and My Sleep Does Not Look Good

I am tired.

Very, very tired.

Not sound sleep.

This was last night. 18 times awakened. Bah. And this isn’t even bad in comparison to the last few weeks. For this same night, my CPAP tells me I was averaging 12 hypopneas an hour. This is not good. But it’s better than the 25 I got a few days ago, which, according to the fitbit, translated into 38 times awakened during that night:

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