Mar 01, 2023 06:00:00

Experience story until a man who has suffered from deterioration of mental condition and deterioration of cognitive ability finds the cause of ``sleep apnea syndrome'' and recovers

Sleep apnea syndrome is a disease in which the amount of breathing decreases and stops repeatedly during sleep, and the quality of sleep deteriorates, resulting in daytime sleepiness and fatigue. In addition, there is a risk of causing serious complications by increasing the burden on the internal organs. Samson Fu , who works for Pinterest, a photo sharing service, has found that many years of mental and physical disorders are due to sleep apnea syndrome, and wrote about the long road to recovery.

How Poor Sleep Drove Me Insane, and My Long Path to Recovery
https://writing.samsonhu.com/how-poor-sleep-drove-me-insane-and-my-long-path-to-recovery/

Sleep apnea is a common disorder that is said to affect up to 20% of adults living in the United States, but about 90% of patients are untreated or undiagnosed and have sleep apnea. Many patients are unaware that they have the syndrome. In fact, Mr. Hu did not know that he had sleep apnea syndrome for many years.

After graduating from college, Mr. Hu, who had been living a smooth life, changed when he moved from Toronto, Canada to San Francisco, USA at the age of 25 and started working at a startup. . At the startup, less than 30 engineers continued to work hard on a daily basis, and Mr. Fu also refused to go out, drink, SNS, etc. and became absorbed in work.

Mr. Fu, who acquired the startup culture, eventually became emotionally paralyzed and became an aggressive character. At the time, he thought that this change in personality was due to stress, but looking back now, these may have been early signs of sleep apnea, Fu says.

Mr. Fu, who worked for about two and a half years and became burnt out, lived a calm life for several months in the suburbs of Victoria, Canada. With his anxiety gone and the energy to work again, Mr. Hu started out with short-term jobs online, but by that time he was more distracted than before and found it difficult to get the job done. I began to feel that the time required for After that, he joined Peterest, but he was unable to demonstrate a performance that could meet the expectations of himself and those around him, and he seemed to have a hard time thinking about the future during meetings.

Of the situation at the time, Hu said, ``My head was clouded by a persistent ' brain fog .' 'At home I was crunchy and screaming in rage at the slightest provocation,' he said. 'This was the darkest period of my life.'

Mr. Fu managed to do his job while suffering from brain fog, but he decided to see a doctor because he was worried about how long this situation would last. However, the results of the blood test I received at the hospital were fine, and even if I talked to the therapist about my mental problems, they only taught me how to alleviate my anger, and I could only deal with first aid.

Meanwhile, when I bought an air purifier at home in preparation for the wildfire season, it seems that the tension was loosened and I was able to relax deeply. became. Mr. Hu was diagnosed with a mite allergy in a test a few years ago, so within a few months, he changed the carpet to a wooden floor, fitted the bedding with an allergy cover, and took an antihistamine. and strive to improve the environment. Then, symptoms such as anxiety and lack of concentration improved further, and brain fog became tolerable. However, over time, my brain fog got worse, causing me to lose more things and lose focus.

Eventually, Mr. Hu came to think, 'Is it ADHD?' However, when the doctor who talked about the treatment plan said, 'Lack of sleep can also cause ADHD-like symptoms,' he said that he began to pay attention to his sleep.

In researching sleep, Mr. Hu learned that sleep apnea can have an impact on the brain that can be observed on an MRI and can reduce cognitive ability. In addition, we learned that sleep apnea syndrome does not necessarily affect only obese people, and that some patients do not have the characteristic symptom of snoring. It seems that I tried it.

As a result of the examination, Mr. Hu recorded ``19'' for

the apnea hypopnea index (AHA) , which indicates the total number of apnea and hypopnea per hour, and the blood oxygen concentration during sleep was below the threshold. It turns out that there is. Among the obstructive sleep apnea syndromes (OSA) in which the upper airway is physically narrowed and apnea occurs, it is known to be postural obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (POSA) in which apnea occurs depending on the body position. I was pinned down.

Mr. Fu, who understood that he had sleep apnea syndrome, first tried

continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), which sends mechanically pressurized air into the airway, for several weeks, but was it uncomfortable? It seems that it was removed after 1 to 2 hours. Further investigation revealed that Mr. Hu likely had upper airway resistance syndrome (UARS) , which is more likely to occur in young patients with stuffy nose among sleep apnea syndromes, and that this patient was suffering from CPAP due to overactivity of the nervous system. I also found it easy to refuse.

Therefore, in order to improve nasal congestion, Mr. Hu took antihistamines to improve allergic symptoms, performed surgery to repair the curvature of the nasal septum that separates the left and right sides of the nose, and used a nasal cavity expansion device. I put it on. Also, since it is easy to get apnea when sleeping on your back, it seems that you took measures such as wearing a belt-like device that prevents you from sleeping on your back when you go to bed.

As a result of these measures, which were reached after several months of trial and error, Mr. Fu's sleep improved dramatically, brain fog disappeared like a miracle, and the brain began to function normally. ``One of the big changes was memory. During my sleep apnea, I had very little long-term memory. But after the treatment, the memories come back, and the memories come back to me as if I was reliving every moment of my life.”

In addition, Mr. Hu has had nasal congestion and anatomical risk factors since childhood, and as a result of talking with a sleep expert who made a physiological diagnosis of his symptoms, he found that he had sleep apnea from before his 20s. I came to the conclusion that I had the syndrome. Therefore, it seems that sleep apnea syndrome has influenced Mr. Fu's past life experiences and character formation to some extent. However, he does not necessarily think that all sleep apnea syndrome has adversely affected himself, as latent anxiety has become the driving force to expand his academic and work careers.

As a lesson learned from this episode, Mr. Hu said, ``Chronic diseases progress over a long period of time, so it is inefficient to see a different doctor each time.'' 'It often takes a long time and perseverance to find a cure for a chronic disease, but trial and error is better than giving up.'