I promised I was going to write more, and I haven't. That's the story of this year, really. There are numerous things more important than writing that I haven't been doing, either.
The sleep clinic seemed pretty confident they can fix me, mostly using cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), which is fancy-speak for "tweaking your sleep schedule with science." Their first tip, to go to bed when I'm drowsy and fix my waking time, may or may not be helping: this past week I was approaching "rested," until yesterday. I've been through this before, so it's just as well I'm taking a week off from work.
The clinic has a 6-8 week lead time on appointments, so the followup won't be for a while. I liked the feeling of going there, though. Most doctors I've met, they don't seem particularly smart. Obviously they have the mental abilities to get through medical school, but those are not overwhelmingly abilities of curiosity, intellectual engagement, learning, and problem-solving. The internist I talked to has already trained as a neurologist, then went to Stanford to learn more about treating sleep. And I met the insomnia group's director. They are smart, not just doctor-smart.
Here's hoping.
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2 years ago
Wow, that's awesome. I went to the Stanford sleep clinic a couple of years ago, was shuffled around between students/residents, and finally was told I "might" have mild sleep apnea and I should buy a $500+ CPAP just in case. I would much rather have chatted with them about CBT (which helped me immensely with my anxiety issues).
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've been warned by several people that "their job is to diagnose you with sleep apnea, so that's what they'll do." It sounds like they've cleaned things up considerably, starting with a separate insomnia group, and trying to not ram everybody through a sleep study.
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