Sleep apnea, GERD, and obesity: efforts to fix this.

[oak]

Friends, I am pleased to report progress.

1. I am trying my first appliance for sleep apnea. I estimate that there are five kinds of appliance, and I have a new sleep doctor who is confident about my chances.

2. Meanwhile, I continue to strive to lose weight; exercise and fitness continues to go very well (I have a 5K in three weeks), while the nutrition aspect is at best two steps forward, and 1.999999 steps back.

I'll keep you posted. Thanks for listening!

[oak]

Hi friends!

I’m in a study for a sleep apnea appliance.

There’s lots I could say, but it is stunning what American health care can be when everyone is motivated (read: paid) for the patient to succeed.

I’m six weeks in, and this is the make or break time: either my sleep test showed it was effective, and effective long enough, or I’ll be (kindly) terminated from the study.

I’d be okay with being terminated: I haven’t adjusted to sleeping with the appliance.

Happily, there are many other sleep apnea appliance studies; I have a lot of them, ready if this first one doesn’t work out.

It is great to have options.

[manuel_moe_g]

Good luck, Oak!

[oak]

Friends, in the last 24 hours I got out of my head, had three appointments, and got advised about my three main 2022 goals: sleep apnea, feminine energy, and career.

I met with my dental specialist (apnea), dance instructor (feminine energy), and career counselor from undergraduate institution (career).

I am humbled to say all three stated I have come a long way in the past six months to two years.

I have a long way to go, especially with the apnea, but for now I had the courage to face all three difficulties on an otherwise ordinary Tuesday*.

I got into these messes by myself. We are getting out together.



* Per our dear MentalFairy, I did not wish away Tuesday, scary and exhausting as it was.

[Mental Fairy]

Dying to know how the dental appointment went Oak. If you not comfortable sharing I’m happy to wait till you are!

[oak]

Dying to know how the dental appointment went Oak.

MentalFairy, it went great. Thanks for asking!

I'm taking out a small loan to try a dental appliance this summer.

I'll keep you all posted.

[Mental Fairy]

Oak was just on a jog this morning and your profound acknowledgment of yourself and what you wish to achieve is taping away in my brain.

Some of the things you have outlined have made me think. I think your extremely brave. Any form of dance you are trying is brave. I don’t think I could do that. I would love to try but don’t have that courage. Your acknowledgment of financial situations, many don’t even know their financial situations as they are so blind to it. People take for granted their income status as they are way to wrapped up in living beyond their means. Your sleep apnea, shit I wish there was a quick fix to that. Weight issues, yes healthy eating and exercise is massive.
Past eating disorder I battled with and still from time to time makes me feel crap about myself yet really makes me think about the unhealthy society we live amongst.
Healthy food is set at high price and unhealthy food is cheap. It’s a mind f!%k!
Sugar taxes, fizzy drink price increase, daily product inflation. In our country there was a proposal to tax farmers for fart tax. Cows fart and cause pollution issues so tax the farmer. Next minute milk price go up, cheese is like gold and farmers hang themselves in the shed because they being taxed for waterway pollution, fart tax and property cost inflation. Mental.

Anywho that’s my rant, as you can tell I think a lot on my runs. Today I just wanted to say your a lot braver than I am!
Keep dancing, balance your calories and maintain as much movement as possible. Good things take time, just like cheese!

[manuel_moe_g]

take care Oak, i admire that you are a self-actualized man, that you have always stood up after getting knocked down by your challenges

A Person Who
Falls And
Gets Back Up Is
Much Stronger
Than A Person Who
Never Fell

[oak]

take care Oak, i admire that you are a self-actualized man, that you have always stood up after getting knocked down by your challenges

A Person Who
Falls And
Gets Back Up Is
Much Stronger
Than A Person Who
Never Fell

Thank you, Manuel Moe!

[oak]

MentalFairy, I am glad my posts have given you encouragement, and I hope to live up to your kind words!

The mechanics of dance
Courage I observed last week
Connecting this with therapy

The mechanics of dance and some thoughts on courage

I think your extremely brave. Any form of dance you are trying is brave.

Yes, my friend, it does take courage indeed:

Dance involves almost all of our senses, laying bare our inadequacies, and trying complex new things under enormous stimulation… often with a very attractive person three inches from you.

For salsa, for example, one is four to six inches from one's partner. So that is sight, smell, and touch, along with the expected bigness of stimulation by the music.

We dare to get close to a stranger, perhaps stepping on a toe here, awkwarding turning our partner there. We can't hide our flaws (see below).

Such transparency requires lots of courage!

Courage I observed last week

At my first-ever salsa lesson last week, I observed a young lady who was there for her first-ever dance lesson. She was a bit jerky, which is wholly understandable, and about twenty minutes in, she burst into tears and rushed from the studio. No one was mean to her; she was just overwhelmed.

I was astonished at her courage. The mental strength it took for her to walk through the door. Then, with all the music, to try these surprising complex motions with our feet, hips, and arms.

You never know what someone is going through, and I immediately recognized how much it took for her to go as far as she did.

I hope she returns to try dance again, and even more I hope she takes the lesson from the experience of the importance of courage. I was astonished by her courage. Humans are so powerful sometimes.

Connecting this with therapy

Dance is an excellent metaphor for many interactions we have with our fellow humans:

We can't hide, anyone can tell if we're doing it wrong (how we are wrong) at a glance, and we often expose what we usually most want to hide.

For example, therapy and counseling: what is that but exposing our most tender aspects to another?

Happily that is why dance lessons and therapy exist. We made a mess, have only broken pieces, and others can help us put it all back together, even if it looks different now.