Still Adjusting in 2020s

Yesterday I was exhausted, and today I’m not much better—but I am better. The two times there was really loud thunder happened when I was awake, luckily. I tried to start off without the mouth tape, but I just can’t stop getting air in my mouth that either hisses or pops through my lips, even if my mouth is closed—and I know it is. I actually made myself fall asleep on my back now that I can do that. So now I’ve got four positions I can lie in, counting that—both sides and my stomach—though I’m limited on how much tummy time I can do with this contraption.

Still wondering if I should switch to a full-face mask. I want to try it at least once. From what I’ve learned, it should still deliver enough air through my nose and stop leaks coming out of my mouth, although it’s harder to seal in general, and whenever you change positions, you may break the seal. Could be pricey, but I’m willing to shop around and experiment with what works best for me.

Even if the chin strap was comfortable, it won’t do me any good because air still bubbles through my lips. They may be together, but they’re relaxed in my sleep. The only way to cut down on mouth leaks is to use the medical tape. I kind of have to press my lips together a bit tightly before I apply it. So in time, I’ll know if I should switch to a full-face mask or just tape my mouth, but I shouldn’t have to tape my nose anymore.

After being up for about 18 hours, I got up after being hissed awake right away to take melatonin and tape my mouth. I slept surprisingly steadily from 8:30 to 3:00. At that time, I removed the tape to see how it went, and it didn’t go well. Three times, air bubbling or hissing woke me up, and once 4:30 came around, I removed the mask and napped on my stomach with nothing for another half hour.

Some definite positives I’ve noticed right away: no longer needing to get up and pee during my sleep, and it definitely seems to help my nose and possibly my TMJ.

I dropped the humidity setting from the default of 4 to 3 because I felt some condensation in my nose. Hey, this is Florida. I don’t need to add much humidity here. AI also said that too much condensation can contribute to leaks.

What Tom doesn’t seem to realize is that I can’t just “get used to” the loud sound of air hissing through my mouth. I’m not as adaptable as he thinks otherwise, I would have adapted to sleeping through the loud traffic at the last place. Besides, it wouldn’t be good for me to do that if I could because you shouldn’t have air escaping if you want to get the full benefits of therapy.

The only thing I didn’t like was the dream I had. It was both unusual and disturbing. It actually took place in this house, too. We had a video appointment with a male doctor on his computer regarding some kind of brain scan they did on me.

“You didn’t find anything wrong, did you?” I asked the doctor.

“It’s what I didn’t find,” he said, suggesting that could be a problem, although I wasn’t worried.

When the video appointment ended, Tom was writing something in the kitchen and said something about the appointment costing $60, and then asked if a follow-up was scheduled. I said, “No, so I guess there can’t be anything too worrisome.”

Then I asked if he would help me die if it turned out I had a tumor, and instead of being supportive, he kind of glared at me without answering.

These are normally the types of dreams that put me on full alert, but I’m not worried. You never get anything serious when a part of you wishes you would so you didn’t have to struggle with health and sleep issues anymore.

In real life, the poor guy was really exhausted after donating today. He’s going to test his ketones later. His hematocrit was kind of low, and his blood pressure was a little low as well, but his blood sugar was fine at 95.

My nausea and acid reflux finally let up, and hopefully, it will stay that way. I think I was just eating the wrong stuff without a gallbladder.