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Sleep apnea and attention deficit
Jamie Phelps | Feb 18 2006
I have been having trouble with attention deficit symptoms that have progressively worsened over the past 2-3 years. I was talking with a friend who said that he used to have similar problems and that he was finally diagnosed with sleep apnea. Once he started using a CPAP machine, his apnea was much better, his wife would not have to sleep on the couch, and his cognitive functioning was markedly improved. The research on sleep apnea that I have been reading indicates that sleep apnea can cause attention deficit troubles. I am pretty sure I'm a good candidate for sleep apnea, as I reflect two of the three common risk factors: overweight, middle-aged, male. I'm 25, so I'll let you guess which two I fit. I'm 5'10 1/2" and weigh in at around 230. The most basic treatment for sleep apnea is to lose weight. After that, tests and such have to be run that would be a strain on my student budget. I have health insurance, but $300 for a test that I wasn't planning for is a little steep. So, all that being said, anyone here have experience with sleep apnea? Did you experience attention deficit troubles as a result? How much did correcting your sleep apnea help your attention deficit symptoms? What treatments helped you? Did simply losing weight help or do you use a CPAP? I don't think I am a candidate for SA surgery, but if anyone has any experience with that, I would like to hear about that as well. I have contemplated taking medication for the attention deficit symptoms, but I would much rather fix the problem than treat the symptoms. Thanks in advance. 32 Comments
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 Lachia, I haven't had much luck...Submitted by Ecgtheow on February 22, 2006 - 2:49pm.
Lachia, I haven't had much luck yet keeping track. I am wildly inconsistent as far as what I get done/don't get done. I have been using David Allen's system for years now, and it's great, when I use it. Use Voicemails to yourself, send e-mails or text messages to your phone. These are great reminders that I sometimes use for critical tasks, it's those not quite critical ones that slip for me. Anyhow, I think it's a journey, and the key to a lot of it is practice, because the meds don't fix everything, they just make it possible to fix yourself. To take this back to a more purely GTD level, I have trouble trusting the system. I write a bunch of NAs down, then don't look at the list for days. I have taken to trying to set a time and place (say, at my desk 30 minutes before my scheduled time at work) to review this stuff, and that works for a few days or weeks. When I get off track I just need to remember to "put the puppy back on the paper" and try again. I'm afraid my last post sounded a bit, umm, stuffy. That's almost exactly the opposite of how I am. ADD is a subject I am a little passionate about. Sorry if I sounded preachy. --Ecg » POSTED IN:
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