DBCoast’s Recovery Log

[DBCoast]

I’ve been back from vacation for almost a week now, and my sleep has deteriorated again. I went from feeling amazing and like I could do anything, back to crushing fatigue and headaches upon waking. Same exact symptoms are back.

So, either I’m 100% nuts, or there’s something like mold in this house (doubt it), or it’s stress.

Maybe stress? Maybe it affects me so much because I’ve burned out my body’s ability to deal with stress the last 5 years.

So basically the only solution is $10 million and nothing to do, or I’m doomed to suffer extreme sickness and insomnia. Sounds good.

 

[DBCoast]

100% back to the same exact illness. 6 hours max sleep, severe illness upon waking. Same exact. Amazing torture.

I’ve done everything possible and nothing has helped. I’m destined to live a tortured life.

 

[LadyRae]

100% back to the same exact illness. 6 hours max sleep, severe illness upon waking. Same exact. Amazing torture.

I’ve done everything possible and nothing has helped. I’m destined to live a tortured life.

Oh nooooo.... That sucks. Sleep deprivation is truly torturous.

Did your lab work reveal anything suspicious?

I haven't been sleeping through the night lately either. Usually I'm awake for a couple hours in the very early morning. I can get back to sleep if I take some activated charcoal and have a cup of coffee, bizarrely, but then I am definitely needing a nap by 11:00 a.m. Not everyone can manage this into their schedule I realize, but I am trying to just accept my situation and go with it.

Getting to bed really early, like at 7:30, ensures that I at least get five or six hours of deep sleep before the early morning wake up

 

[Jonk]

100% back to the same exact illness. 6 hours max sleep, severe illness upon waking. Same exact. Amazing torture.

I’ve done everything possible and nothing has helped. I’m destined to live a tortured life.

That sucks man. Have you tried replicating some aspects of your vacation into your everyday life? Easier said than done for sure, but just curious if you've tried anything. Like more seafood/selenium?, more sunlight, etc. Any toxic components in your work environment, or at home for that matter. Mold, toxic people, etc etc

 

[aniciete]

Have you ever considered getting a mold test done? I mean it couldn’t hurt

 

[DBCoast]

That sucks man. Have you tried replicating some aspects of your vacation into your everyday life? Easier said than done for sure, but just curious if you've tried anything. Like more seafood/selenium?, more sunlight, etc. Any toxic components in your work environment, or at home for that matter. Mold, toxic people, etc etc

Yeah, it’s rough. Coming up on 5 years of this.

Living on the coast, I eat seafood constantly and I get full-body sun daily.

I started my own business in August, so there is some financial stress.

My home environment is great with my wife and daughter. No issue there.

Maybe mold in the house? I could always get the air tested. It’s an older house that’s been re-done.

My theory is that it’s an inability to handle even small amounts of stress due to destroying my system with intense exercise. So being back from vacation and getting back to work is stressful? I don’t feel stressed out when working is the thing. I enjoy working for myself.

I don’t love the are we live in. It’s on a cut-through street and there are randoms that drive through here and occasionally walk by. My wife thinks I feel unsafe and like I have to be vigilant in this house.

I just don’t know anymore. It’s crushing me. It’s more than just a little insomnia. It’s constant, daily, and brutal. It affects every aspect of my life.

My next idea is to move houses and see if that helps. I don’t know what else to do. I’m certain this chronic lack of sleep will cause disease and will kill me.

 

[DBCoast]

Have you ever considered getting a mold test done? I mean it couldn’t hurt

Yes, this is something I’m going to do.

 

[Jonk]

Yeah, it’s rough. Coming up on 5 years of this.

Living on the coast, I eat seafood constantly and I get full-body sun daily.

I started my own business in August, so there is some financial stress.

My home environment is great with my wife and daughter. No issue there.

Maybe mold in the house? I could always get the air tested. It’s an older house that’s been re-done.

My theory is that it’s an inability to handle even small amounts of stress due to destroying my system with intense exercise. So being back from vacation and getting back to work is stressful? I don’t feel stressed out when working is the thing. I enjoy working for myself.

I don’t love the are we live in. It’s on a cut-through street and there are randoms that drive through here and occasionally walk by. My wife thinks I feel unsafe and like I have to be vigilant in this house.

I just don’t know anymore. It’s crushing me. It’s more than just a little insomnia. It’s constant, daily, and brutal. It affects every aspect of my life.

My next idea is to move houses and see if that helps. I don’t know what else to do. I’m certain this chronic lack of sleep will cause disease and will kill me.

This is just me brainstorming, but maybe it's the business/financial aspect that's keeping you in a low level of stress? I think that you and me and many others prime ourselves to be in this stressed state for so long, that even if we temporarily get out of it, if something triggers it we easily adopt it as default very easily. It's not that we are beyond repair, it just that it's how we instinctually know how to operate. An analogy might be the "putting your phone in another room" theory. It's that it's not enough to just shut our phone off but that we need to physically put it out of reach for it to stop having an, often stressful, effect on us. Maybe the same thing happened with your vacation - you subconsciously allowed yourself to completely relax? The business and financial stress might not in itself be dangerously stressful, but along with your taxed system (whether it's thyroid, digestion, adrenals etc etc) you very easily go into this stressed state. Also to be aware of, if you've had a history of over exercising, you might have a tendency to deal with other things in life similar - just go, go, go. Do first, feel after. I don't have a business myself but from what I've heard - you never have a day off basically. But maybe incorporate some kind of stress mitigating work strategy or something like that?
Again, I'm just brainstorming, not trying to psychoanalyze you haha.
All the best

 

[DBCoast]

This is just me brainstorming, but maybe it's the business/financial aspect that's keeping you in a low level of stress? I think that you and me and many others prime ourselves to be in this stressed state for so long, that even if we temporarily get out of it, if something triggers it we easily adopt it as default very easily. It's not that we are beyond repair, it just that it's how we instinctually know how to operate. An analogy might be the "putting your phone in another room" theory. It's that it's not enough to just shut our phone off but that we need to physically put it out of reach for it to stop having an, often stressful, effect on us. Maybe the same thing happened with your vacation - you subconsciously allowed yourself to completely relax? The business and financial stress might not in itself be dangerously stressful, but along with your taxed system (whether it's thyroid, digestion, adrenals etc etc) you very easily go into this stressed state. Also to be aware of, if you've had a history of over exercising, you might have a tendency to deal with other things in life similar - just go, go, go. Do first, feel after. I don't have a business myself but from what I've heard - you never have a day off basically. But maybe incorporate some kind of stress mitigating work strategy or something like that?
Again, I'm just brainstorming, not trying to psychoanalyze you haha.
All the best

Appreciate that, Jonk. It could definitely be a factor. Maybe years of burnout have severely impaired my ability to deal with even low level stress. Certainly could be the case.

I’m in 100% the same pattern now. As I write this, I feel the crushing fatigue. I slept 6 hours, woke up with a dead looking face, a feeling of not sleeping, and crushing fatigue. Like clockwork, exact same thing every day. Amazing torture and pain.

 

[DBCoast]

I’m dying from this. I’m crippled. The feeling inside my body from not sleeping is so horrible that I can’t explain it. It affects everything. I feel strung out, weak, and ill. Why is this happening to me? What’s causing it!?!?

End of my rope with this. How old are you? Say 35. What if I told you that someone would wake you up after 4-6 hours every night until you were 40. What would you do?

Is it stress? I don’t feel stressed! Must be subconscious. That’s nice. Thanks. So it’s stress that I’m unaware of and can’t do anything about. Isn’t that wonderful. Oh, and it affects me when I can’t do anything about it - during sleep. Oh, and lack of sleep destroys every aspect of your life. Ok, got it. So tortured by something I can’t see, feel, control, or do anything about? Appreciate it.

 

[Jonk]

I’m dying from this. I’m crippled. The feeling inside my body from not sleeping is so horrible that I can’t explain it. It affects everything. I feel strung out, weak, and ill. Why is this happening to me? What’s causing it!?!?

End of my rope with this. How old are you? Say 35. What if I told you that someone would wake you up after 4-6 hours every night until you were 40. What would you do?

Is it stress? I don’t feel stressed! Must be subconscious. That’s nice. Thanks. So it’s stress that I’m unaware of and can’t do anything about. Isn’t that wonderful. Oh, and it affects me when I can’t do anything about it - during sleep. Oh, and lack of sleep destroys every aspect of your life. Ok, got it. So tortured by something I can’t see, feel, control, or do anything about? Appreciate it.

Interesting podcast from Danny and the fellas. It's a Q&A show and the link below is from a caller who has insomnia. Lots of interesting viewpoints and I highly recommend listening to it. Don't give up my friend, you can and will get through this.


View: https://youtu.be/l6PL91WUbqs?t=821



One thing they mention about the call in-case, is that because he doesn't have a hard time falling asleep, it might not be cortisol related, e.g. may not be related to glycogen/eating enough calories. Not saying it can't be that, but if it's not stress/cortisol that's the main problem it might be some sort of irritant, either exogenous or endotoxin.

 

[DBCoast]

Got some routine blood work done this week. Visit was initially for sleep study referral, but I’m seeing a pulmonologist for that, so this GP said he would run some general blood and see if anything stands out. I told him the symptoms of extreme fatigue and horrible sleep. Results below:

Testosterone - 402
TSH - 1.010

They did a metabolic panel, but I don’t know what I’m looking for. Everything was in range except for A/G Ratio (whatever that is) at 2.6 with a range of 1.2-2.2.

Any input on these results is appreciated.

Hope everyone is doing well.