u/toastylocke

Was stuck at AHI 4-5 with CA's never going below 2 in 7 years of CPAP therapy. Never felt rested or restored, but my doctor was basically leaving me to fend for myself on that front since the AHI numbers were to her satisfaction.

Just wanted to shout out u/midmod4 for suggesting tweaking EPR as something to try, I changed mine from 3 to 2 and was shocked how immediate the impact was. Both AHI and CA's basically halved overnight, from ~4 AHI to ~1.8 and ~2.00 CA to 1.15. It's only been a handful of days so I'm hoping the trend continues, but already I'm recalling dreams and waking up not feeling that heavy-eyed fatigue, both of which are huge for me.

It's crazy that such a simple change can have such huge implications. I'll be testing EPR 2 for another week to see how things go, and then testing EPR 1 to see if things improve further.

Really grateful for this community, this is the most optimistic I've felt about CPAP in my 7 years of usage. I'm glad to have a doctor to check in with but the degree to which I was kind of left on my own to figure things out has been really discouraging.

Wondering what people would advise? I read about BHAs being helpful for sebaceous filaments but potentially ill-advised for rosacea prone skin due to irritation. Wondering how best to go about it?

I don't have an official diagnosis yet for rosacea but wanting to play it safe in the meantime since it'll be a bit of a wait to see a dermatologist (referrals usually take a couple months where I live). Any tips appreciated.

Got Burger Drops for the first time in a month and their curly fries don't have that seasoning mix anymore, just salt. According to recent comments on their Instagram this has been the case for others too. Investigation ongoing.

RIP if true

EDIT: emailed the burger;

Thanks for the email! We’re grateful for hear from you. 

We made the change to a more traditional tasting fry to accommodate a wider demographic of guests with dietary restrictions and/or allergies. 

Most importantly we’ve pivoted to this style to allow ourselves to release a more diverse array of seasonings for specials in the future.

So please stay tuned for some exciting offerings and thank you for your continued support! 

Have a great evening,
Greg

Damn...

Been on leave since summer 2022 for major treatment resistant depression. Tried a bunch of interventions, treatments, therapies, medications, none of which has worked. I'm currently in a clinical trial for psilocybin and was hoping that would help enough to facilitate a part-time return to work, but have been notified by employer that my role has been eliminated and they don't foresee another opening.

I really don't know where to go from here, I feel like my life and career is effectively over. Part of the reason I was hoping to do a gradual return is that I'm floundering without any kind of structure. I'm not well enough to be back to job hunting from scratch, let alone with a 3.5 year gap in my experience, but at the same time the purposelessness and emptiness of my day to day has been doing more harm than good.

I really regret going on disability. I needed the time, it wasn't sustainable to continue, but knowing what I know now it's going to take so much more time effort and energy to rebuild what I lost and I don't feel well enough to do any of it.

If anyone has positive experiences returning to the workforce after an extended break I would be glad to hear them.

Been on leave since summer 2022 for major treatment resistant depression. Tried a bunch of interventions, treatments, therapies, medications, none of which has worked. I'm currently in a clinical trial for psilocybin and was hoping that would help enough to facilitate a part-time return to work, but have been notified by employer that my role has been eliminated and they don't foresee another opening.

I really don't know where to go from here, I feel like my life and career is effectively over. Part of the reason I was hoping to do a gradual return is that I'm floundering without any kind of structure. I'm not well enough to be back to job hunting from scratch, let alone with a 3.5 year gap in my experience, but at the same time the purposelessness and emptiness of my day to day has been doing more harm than good.

I really regret going on disability. I needed the time, it wasn't sustainable to continue, but knowing what I know now it's going to take so much more time effort and energy to rebuild what I lost and I don't feel well enough to do any of it.

I'm just tired. I've had a couple of episodes over the last few months where palpitations were uncomfortable enough that I wanted to get checked, both times discharged from ER with no red flags. BP remains elevated but trying to address through lifestyle changes, but today been getting a bunch of irregular heartbeat notifications again.

Kind of at a loss of what to do, the boilerplate google answer is to go back to ER, but I'm tired of the going, the waiting, the testing, and just being sent back on my way. The doctor last time did mention detecting PVCs so I know that I deal with that, but otherwise I don't have any direction as to what to do next or how seriously to take the OMRON notifications.

I'm just tired. I've had a couple of episodes over the last few months where palpitations were uncomfortable enough that I wanted to get checked, both times discharged from ER with no red flags. BP remains elevated but trying to address through lifestyle changes, but today been getting a bunch of irregular heartbeat notifications again.

Kind of at a loss of what to do, the boilerplate google answer is to go back to ER, but I'm tired of the going, the waiting, the testing, and just being sent back on my way. The doctor last time did mention detecting PVCs so I know that I deal with that, but otherwise I don't have any direction as to what to do next or how seriously to take the OMRON notifications.

I've been off work for 3ish years due to long term disability, and in the time I've been away my full-time in house motion design job got restructured/eliminated. Trying to take a sober look at what my prospects might be as I try to return to my career but feeling irrevocably left behind.

I never felt incredibly confident in my skill, and having atrophied and not really touched anything in the last few years due to focusing on getting better I can't help but fear that my time is just over. There seem to be fewer jobs than ever to go around, the AI blow-up throwing a wrench in everything, and just a general weakness in both design sense and motion skill on my part just have me feeling hopeless as to where to start. I thought about brushing up with some Ben Marriott or School of Motion fundamentals but I can't help but think me playing catch up can't compete with the sheer volume of talent out there, the crowded applicant pool, people able to regularly produce fresh work etc.

I don't know what I'm looking for really, just needed to vent. I don't have any peers or colleagues in my situation so it's just felt incredibly lonely to navigate this feeling of being locked out of my own career without a backup. It feels like it's over before it began.

Dealing with treatment resistant depression and on disability leave from work going on 3 years, so the opportunity to try psychedelics in a clinical setting was appealing to me after so many failed attempts at medication and other forms of treatment (EMDR, rTMS, ketamine, etc).

However, now that I'm a couple weeks out from my treatment session I'm worried at the degree to which I feel genuinely scared and anxious. The trial is structured in two groups, Group A receiving a dose of 25mg psilocybin at both treatment sessions and Group B receiving a placebo at the first session and the real psilocybin at the second. I have already done my first treatment session, and due to having no discernible reaction I strongly suspect it was the placebo.

However, due to the structure of the trial you are required to be in the treatment room for hours afterward for observation. This part was really hard for me, even though I had therapists sitting alongside I didn't feel we had enough of a rapport for me to really say anything and I ended up just impatiently waiting out the time. It was pretty claustrophobic and frustrating, and along with getting my vitals checked every 30 mins I just felt exhausted by the whole thing.

I'm scared of carrying these feelings into the session with the real dose. I know there are limitations to how much they can accommodate me within the bounds of trial protocol, but I'm scared at feeling trapped and alone with strangers or my previous frustration with the placebo session informing my experience in a way that turns bad and inescapably scary.

On top of that I've also gotten some life news that have been major stressors (job loss) and my blood pressure is higher than I'd like it to be (although they insist that I am still well enough to participate).

I don't know what to do. I feel like I'm basically at the doorstep of something that could really turn the tide for the first time in my life, but I can't deny that I'm not coming to this with a neutral/open mindset. Genuinely scared, both for the outcome of being trapped in an experience or lasting trauma and alternatively at the possibility of walking away from something that could actually help.

This last week especially has been brutal with the exhaustion, my body feels heavy/sluggish no matter how much I sleep or nap. How long does this go on?

I’m on day 63 and have been bothered by palpitations/heart fluttering/skipped beats sensation without much relief. I went to the ER for a particularly bad episode and was cleared and discharged. The doc said I did have some PVCs but nothing overtly dangerous. She recommended magnesium but I’m not sure if it’s helping quite yet.

curious how long this might have stuck around for other people? I was a heavy smoker multiple joints a day over 4 years so I figure it might take a while for my nervous system to reset. frustratingly slow though!

for me it's an obnoxious vestige of obama-era coded optimism and millennial twee that makes me feel old as dust and I'm only 33. The slow drag of time and inertia and inability to change resonates with how I live my life so I lash out at Jesse and new and upgrading members.

and yes something about the sandwich board stretch goal broke my brain.

I’m on day 63 and have been bothered by palpitations/heart fluttering/skipped beats sensation without much relief. I went to the ER for a particularly bad episode and was cleared and discharged. The doc said I did have some PVCs but nothing overtly dangerous. She recommended a supplement but I’m not sure if it’s helping quite yet.

curious how long this might have stuck around for other people? I was a heavy smoker multiple joints a day over 4 years so I figure it might take a while for my nervous system to reset. frustratingly slow though!

Hey all. I've been off work for several years on disability due to treatment resistant depression and had the opportunity to participate in a clinical trial receiving a dose of psilocybin. It's run by a hospital so it's as safe a place to be as any, there will be multiple therapists sitting in and doctors checking vitals every now and again as per trial protocol, but nonetheless I'm still kind of scared of what I might experience.

I'm going through a particularly rough patch in life right now generally, and despite telling myself that I'm open and willing to go with the flow and whatever happens is a matter of riding it out etc, I'm still scared of where the session might take me and ending up worse off than when I started, or feeling trapped in an experience that could worsen my condition.

Is there anything people would recommend ahead of time to make going into the treatment more grounded vs my actively being kind of anxious and scared?

Pretty frustrated with my CPAP journey. Despite compliance and low mask leaks my AHI appears to stay hovering around 4.0-4.5 and CA index never below 2.0 (2.46 over the last 30 days according to OSCAR). I still struggle not feeling rested when I wake up, daytime tiredness and needing to nap, etc.

I've asked my sleep doctor if there's anything to suggest that I might need another approach (additional testing? ASV machine?) but she is satisfied with my numbers being <5.0 and said that I am receiving proper therapeutic treatment, suggesting my tiredness stems from other comorbidities. I do deal with pre-diabetes, high cholesterol, and major depression, but this issue of tiredness has been present the entire 7 years I've been using CPAP through multiple mask and pressure changes. I've also done a bunch of blood work which has been normal.

CA has not responded to:

• Mask changes
• Leak elimination
• Pressure adjustments

OA dropped dramatically when leaks were fixed but CA didn't move. I'm wondering if anyone has experienced this OA/CA disconnect where obstructive events resolved but CA persisted, and what they might have done about it?

More generally I'm wondering whether my CA pattern might indicate Complex Sleep Apnea that warrants further investigation, or whether my sleep doctor is correct that ~2.46 is within acceptable range and fatigue is attributable to other conditions. Do I need to seek out a second opinion if the doctor isn't taking low quality of life seriously? Really burnt out on dealing with this and feeling like I'm going in circles after 7 years and looking for others who've navigated similar situations.

So I'm struggling a lot lately. My industry is imploding, I was just laid off while on medical leave, the state of the world gets worse, etc. On one level I understand the sentiment of people trying to comfort one another with "we've been here before, darkest before the dawn, history repeats" etc, but those sentiments kind of leave out the fact that you or I personally might not make it. And that part kind of freaks me out.

I get that nobody is entitled to a happy ending, and I struggle to think of how widespread the brewing crisis is going to be. I'm sure 'the people' will make it, but I guess the literal human toll is what freaks me out because of how close it might hit home.

Anyone deal with this or have any idea how to curb those anxieties?

Returning to work after 3 years on disability leave and kind of freaked out about re-integrating successfully. The time I've been away basically lines up with the post-COVID contraction, AI explosion, dwindling roles/opportunities for full time work, increasingly crowded landscape etc. Not having touched Adobe anything in years also stresses me. I have some plans for shaking off the rust - retraining with courses and small projects, but I'm scared that I just won't be able to compete with the sheer volume of work and talent out there.

I guess I'm wondering what the state of things feels like in 2026. I'm grateful to be returning to a full time role but there are times where I fear my role/career is on shaky ground due to the proliferation of cuts and reductions and my having to make up for lost time.