u/Frosty-Competition-8

I (22) was diagnosed with narcolepsy this January. During the sleep studies, they also found mild sleep apnea. I don’t really know the detailed numbers or severity scale because I’ve mostly focused on the narcolepsy (which has been the main issue for me my whole life).

I was prescribed a CPAP machine and used it for a few months, but I eventually stopped.
The main issues I ran into were practical:
During spring/allergy season, my nasal passages would get blocked and I couldn’t breathe properly with it

I’d end up mouth-breathing, but my setup was a nasal mask, so it became uncomfortable and stressful

I also tried a full face mask / BiPAP-type setup later, but that made the feeling of restriction even worse
During summer, the heat makes it even worse: the mask gets hot, sweaty, and sticky, which makes it extremely uncomfortable to sleep with

Even when I was using it consistently, I didn’t notice any real improvement in my sleep quality. With narcolepsy, I already feel like I sleep deeply, so the difference wasn’t obvious to me.

The bigger issue for me is psychological/comfort-related: I feel extremely restricted and “tied down” by the machine. It makes sleeping feel uncomfortable and honestly makes me feel worse mentally, like I’m too constrained in my own bed.
I’ve spoken with my doctors, and they

recommended focusing on lifestyle factors like exercise, diet, and weight management. They said there’s a chance it could improve or even resolve, but also a chance it may not fully go away.

At this point, I’d honestly prefer focusing on lifestyle changes rather than continuing CPAP, because I really struggle with how it makes me feel.

I’m curious if anyone here has dealt with something similar—especially people with mild sleep apnea or with narcolepsy on top of it. Did CPAP ever get easier? Did you find alternatives that worked better?

“I feel stuck in the upper-intermediate stage of Japanese (around N3 level) and don’t really know how to progress anymore.

Beginner/intermediate content feels too easy, but fully native content still overwhelms me sometimes, especially fast casual conversations with multiple ideas, topic switches, fillers, slang, and niche vocabulary.

I can understand a decent amount and hold conversations, but I struggle with:
- following long native conversations in real time
- expressing deeper opinions/thoughts naturally
- reacting beyond basic responses
- talking about niche topics I don’t have experience discussing in Japanese

It feels like I’m in this weird middle zone where I’m beyond textbooks, but native-level conversation still feels too advanced.

For people who got past this stage:
- what specifically helped you improve?
- how did you train listening/output at this level?
- how did you expand into more natural/native conversational ability?

I’m willing to put in the time, I just feel lost on how to train efficiently from this point onward.”

“I feel stuck in the upper-intermediate stage of Japanese (around N3 level) and don’t really know how to progress anymore.

Beginner/intermediate content feels too easy, but fully native content still overwhelms me sometimes, especially fast casual conversations with multiple ideas, topic switches, fillers, slang, and niche vocabulary.

I can understand a decent amount and hold conversations, but I struggle with:
- following long native conversations in real time
- expressing deeper opinions/thoughts naturally
- reacting beyond basic responses
- talking about niche topics I don’t have experience discussing in Japanese

It feels like I’m in this weird middle zone where I’m beyond textbooks, but native-level conversation still feels too advanced.

For people who got past this stage:
- what specifically helped you improve?
- how did you train listening/output at this level?
- how did you expand into more natural/native conversational ability?

I’m willing to put in the time, I just feel lost on how to train efficiently from this point onward.”