Stuff I Like - product reviews

Men's Bean Boots by L.L.Bean®, 8"

 

Follow the sizing guide. I normally wear a size 9 in regular shoes and a 9.5 in running shoes.
I got the size 8 boots, and they are a perfect fit with regular cotton socks.

 

I tried the Breathe Right nasal strips and they can certainly help. I would still get the sleep test. Sleep apnea is nothing to mess around with, especially if you have high blood pressure, because it puts a strain on your heart.

 

If anyone is thinking about ordering anything from LL Bean, I just noticed that 25% off sale ends tonight.
I bet the'll have another sale before Christmas, though.

 

Buckle Bopper Seat Belt Release Aid

Trying to be helpful and think of some things that are really helpful to me. i needed this for a while and it was great! If you or someone you know has some hand issues and have little ones in their life and they need to deal with car seats, this is very helpful.

Buckle Bopper Seat Belt Release Aid : easy to use for arthritic hands

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Volvik 2018 Vivid Golf Balls | TGW.com

Seriously, these balls are so much easier to see in flight and on the course. Feel great and fly just as well as Pro V1.

 

Yeah, most likely you do have sleep apnea. Get a sleep study, and if you need it, wear the CPAP. Your rest and your cardiac health will both thank you.

 

Big Agnes tents

Sea to Summit sleeping bags

Jetboil stoves

Danner Mountain Light II boots

 

Sorry if I'm taking the tangent even further, this is really good advice. Sleep studies are annoying, but it is two nights and it can help address a serious issue. The dumbest thing is the people who get the CPAP and then don't wear it. They need to remember what apnea is. It means you stop breathing. Your body realizes it is not getting oxygen and wakes you up. You wake up so briefly that you usually don't remember it, but if that is happening 30 or 60 times in an hour, you are not getting much actual rest. As I mentioned earlier, it is also a strain on your heart.

 

Is a CPAP covered by most insurances? I have an appointment with a sleep specialist and they said they have take-home sleep study kits.

 

That's a crapshoot anymore. Probably - but every time that open enrollment rolls around, the company you work for and their insurance agent try to find ways to keep the annual price increase down. They do this by raising copays, narrowing the list of approved physicians, using tiered copays to try to channel patients to cheaper, often less effective and modern prescriptions, etc. One of the other ways to do it is to either eliminate less common options or to limit the patient to two or three visits a year. This means that the person covered finds out the hard way after their kid is in a car wreck and lands in the hospital that they are no longer covered for speech or occupational therapy, or that they are covered for three visits annually while the hospital is sending someone around to do this every afternoon... or they don't find that out until the bill lands on them.

Most likely the sleep study and CPAP is covered, and the various replacement parts like filters and tubes are as well. The size of the copay and the percentage of coverage, well, that's negotiable. You'll need to call the customer service number on the back of your insurance card to know for certain. *Most* insurance companies are good about paying for preventive care that cuts down on the number of expensive procedures later, but this is not always true. I've seen insurance policies that don't cover children's routine immunizations, for instance.

For what it's worth, my wife has been on one for several years. She gets far better sleep. She's on her second machine (the second one added a water tank to humidify the air so her sinuses didn't dry out due to the air flow), and has gone through several masks before finding one that she finds most comfortable and effective, the size that fits best, does not leak and make whistling noises, etc. If you are diagnosed, suck it up and wear it. You'll get used to it quickly, and if you find the mask is uncomfortable, say so and request a re-fit for a different mask. That's pretty routine and not unexpected.