Comment by Mithaldu | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Mithaldu | Hacker News Reader

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> wear a mask that would breathe for me while I slept

Dude, that's a really bad misrepresentation and very unhelpful to all the people who do need one. Many of them already struggle with self-worth issues, and seeing (whether intentional or not) lies like that spread, or worse, parroted back at them by others later does not help that.

It's made a lot worse by the alternative being to gamble on suffocating in your sleep, or doing brain damage to yourself with prolonged apnea periods that drop your blood oxygen, or at the very least, having a shit life due to low energy levels every day from having been 8 hours with the blood oxygen level of a 90 year old.

You're still breathing entirely under your own power with CPAP devices. All they do is basically balloon you up a little to keep your throat from closing up in your sleep, by providing a continuous flow of air pressure higher than the ambient air pressure. Yes they have an up/down rhythm that matches your breathing, but that's not because it breathes for you, but because it literally matches your breathing patterns so it won't obstruct your own breathing.

> put my bed at an angle so I could sleep through the heartburn/reflux

Also, to be honest, this is ridiculous. Medicines to help your body regulate gastric acid exist and aren't particularly expensive.

FWIW, he didn't specify the type of mask. Something like a non-invasive ventilator is far closer to "a mask that would breathe for me while I slept" than CPAP. I used one for a time due to central sleep apnea - I'd go for 10s of seconds at a time without even _attempting_ to breathe (as opposed to obstructive apnea, where you attempt to breath but struggle due to the airway collapsing).

Unfortunately it didn't help me that much (even with it, I would still not breathe properly which was reflected in my O2 sat. IIRC) and it aggravated other health issues, so I stopped using it after 4-6 months (which, when one of the first things I read after diagnosis was along the lines of "Rarely, CSA may result in sudden death", isn't a choice I made lightly!).

Link to the exact device you were using? All of the "non-invasive ventilators" i found look exactly like CPAP.

And a lot of CPAP devices have a "encourage the user to breathe by doing some flutter" mode.

Down-voted for stating reality. Never fucking change, HN. It's better for you to remain a wooden puppet than to try and imitate a human being.

I don't think anyone is disparaging you for needing a CPAP. The goal is to get people to a point where they don't need one.

There are many other health devices that are (likely) obviated by proper health status in life, and maybe more importantly, in utero. Two that come to mind that affect me are glasses and braces.

Any pointers on methods for reducing the need for glasses and braces?

Indigenous people eating their traditional diet don’t really have crooked teeth. Their jaws are big enough to fit all their teeth, including wisdom teeth. They also don’t really have cavities but that’s another point.

For myopia, there is weak evidence that it is caused by lack of sun exposure at an early age.

So, you can blame your parents for giving you a bad diet low in fat soluble vitamins in your childhood, and not making you go outside. Other than that, you can try to prevent it in your own children.

Beyond nutrient deficiency it seems there may also be effects on teeth straightness from bottle feeding (chronically sucking on many types of baby bottles changes infant mouth shape) and from not chewing enough hard foods as a child. The cavities thing is mostly about sugar and to a lesser extent other processed food.

As for myopia the effect is probably due to some combination of lack of very bright light exposure and a infrequent need to focus far away or too much time spent focusing close without breaks. As you say the solution is to spend more time outdoors as a child, and alternate relatively shorter sessions of desk/screen work with more active interludes, making sure to glance around the room with some frequency.

It's not about me, i don't even give a shit. I am however aware that people who aren't me actually have feelings about this.

Also note, as i stated: "intentionally or not" It doesn't matter what the intent was when lies are spread. The end result matters.

And walterbell is exactly right. Would love to see an answer to that.

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