This video is neuroanatomist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor‘s talk at the TED conference on Feb. 27, 2008, on her experience of a hemorrhagic stroke in 1996. You may relate better to some posts I’m planning if you have listened to this speech first. I plan to refer to it when I write about my own experience of working since April 2003 to recover from hypoxic brain injury and regain executive function, my weight loss program and the process of gaining higher states of consciousness (which really and truly exist).

I’ve struggled with whether to tell my story because it is so very painful for me to write about. I would prefer to be telling it after having reached the goals I’ve set for myself. But some of my dear gentle regular commenters are asking me about it now, one or two because they have similar challenges. I am concerned about what could happen to them if I delay. Nearly all the family members, friends and acquaintances I’ve spoken to after I recognized their symptoms of sleep apnea got tested and treated and were joyful about how much better they felt. One, however, a fit ex-Marine, did not and died in his sleep at the age of 49. So, since lives are at stake, it seems better to trust that if some people are asking for my story now, then now is the time to tell it. Let it begin as a journey story.

P.S.

The experience Dr. Taylor refers to in her talk as “La-la Land” is pure bliss consciousness. I will be explaining in future posts how to have it without the risk and inconvenience of a brain injury. In fact, the technology for culturing the brain’s ability to maintain the experience of pure bliss consciousness at all times, waking and sleeping, is what I’ve been using to heal. As I’ll explain, Dr. Taylor’s story has given me a better intuitive model for how it works.

Note: Another version of this piece is posted at RightNetwork. My agreement with them is that I can cross-post the pieces I write for them here after four or five days. However, it was so significantly re-written that I am posting my original piece tonight. It is NOT about de-cluttering — it is about exactly what it says: if you find that you clutter and can’t keep your environment orderly and clean, it could be a symptom of a health problem and your life may be at risk.

Here is what I originally wrote:

If your environment is cluttered, whether at home or work or both, the worse your problem is, the more you need to look at your health as its cause. The good news is that when you feel better, you will have the energy and organizing power you need to clear your clutter and make your environment glow with orderliness and well-being.

The first things to look at are your exercise and sleep habits. Aerobic exercise – even brisk walking – for at least 20 minutes helps your body clean house at the cellular level because it increases your circulation. It’s like the cells are better able to throw out their garbage when the blood is circulating more rapidly, probably for the same reason that a quick-moving stream of water washes things away, while water that is slow-moving, or stagnant, does not. Somehow that seems to translate from the micro level to the macro level. My own experience is that 20 minutes of aerobic exercise gives me two or three days of being able to tackle clutter more effectively. However, it took three or four months of exercising regularly for me to notice this benefit because I was so out of shape when I started. So don’t be discouraged if it takes awhile before you really experience the de-cluttering benefits of exercising.

Another part of your daily routine to look at if you are a clutterer is how much sleep you are getting. If you aren’t sleeping as much as you need to in order to wake up feeling refreshed, you won’t have the clarity to make all the decisions necessary for keeping your environment in order. You won’t have all the energy you need, either. Plus, you might see pounds pile on as you eat more calories than you need to get the energy you should have gotten from a good night’s sleep. To learn how to pay off your sleep debt and establish good sleep habits – called “sleep hygiene” – try the “Three-Week Sleep Camp” program, which you can do in your own home, in The Promise of Sleep, by Dr. William Dement, one of the pioneers of sleep medicine.

In addition to improving your exercise and sleep habits – or if you find you can’t because you just don’t feel well enough – three signs that you may have health problems you need to address to stop cluttering are as follows: waking up still feeling tired, daytime sleepiness and feeling sluggish mentally and physically. While sleep deprivation alone can make you feel sluggish, it doesn’t hurt to see your doctor to rule out a thyroid disorder. The blood test to check whether your thyroid is not producing enough thyroid hormones is called the “TSH” test. It actually measures the hormone from the pituitary gland that regulates the thyroid gland. If you need to start taking thyroid medication, it may take a few months to find the right dose, but you’ll be amazed at how much better you feel. You’ll regain the energy and mental clarity you need to clear your clutter.

However, if you still feel lethargic and sleepy even if your thyroid is fine or your thyroid medication is at the correct dose, you may have a sleep disorder. Don’t expect your primary care physician to understand sleep disorders – sleep medicine is so new that you really need to see a sleep specialist to determine if your symptoms are due to a sleep disorder, and if so, ensure it is correctly diagnosed and treated.

One of the common sleep disorders that can be associated with cluttering is obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). In OSA, the airway collapses when you are sleeping so little or no air gets to your lungs. However, your brain still tells your body to breathe – breathing against a sealed airway puts enormous strain on your heart and lungs, which is exhausting. Then, when your blood oxygen falls to a certain point, your brain sends a signal to wake up – at least enough to open your airway. What OSA sounds like is at least 10 seconds to a couple of minutes of silence, followed by an explosive snore as the airway opens. OSA is a potentially deadly condition because severe exhaustion, a normal dose of a painkiller or normal consumption of an alcoholic beverage can dull the brain so much it can’t send the signal to wake up.

While the daytime sleepiness associated with untreated obstructive sleep apnea will rob you of the energy and clarity you need to enjoy life and keep your home clutter-free, sleep deprivation isn’t the only problem caused by OSA that can lead to cluttering. OSA also causes oxygen deprivation during the periods that the airway is collapsed. A person with OSA may not be getting air for up to 40 percent of the time he or she is asleep. This can cause damage to the part of your brain responsible for executive function – see here and here – which you need to have in good shape to be able to keep everything in your life in order. Since current research suggests executive function damage due to sleep apnea is resistant to treatment, it seems better to be safe than sorry and consult a sleep doctor if you really just can’t seem to keep your environment in order.

The walker is a nice one — it folds so I can easily put it in the car, and it has wheels on the front. Dad’s physical therapist said that the walkers with wheels help people with mobility impairments both with their walking and their breathing because it keeps the chest muscles in a better position. Dad hurt his back at the beginning of the month — he doesn’t remember how — and has been walking hunched over and leaning on his quad cane with both hands ever since.

By the way, I was wrong in my recent post that I should have fought the prednisone taper program — and I have apologized to the nurse practitioner, although I was just firm and not rude with her not just because it is wrong to be rude but because it is especially wrong and counter-productive to be rude to anyone who is trying to help you. The problem has nothing to do with arthritis and prednisone — it is lower back pain. I suspect he hurt his back doing something simple that he used to do with ease, like getting out of a chair, or bed, or that he thought it was simpler to get into his stair lift chair by climbing up a couple of steps and twisting onto the seat, instead of running it down to the first floor all the way.

Problems with walking can be deadly because they increase the likelihood of falling and breaking a bone. My mother died in April 2006 a few months after falling and breaking her left arm near the shoulder. After the shoulder replacement surgery, she stopped eating and drinking almost completely — her body was shutting down and she fought being given food and fluids, and vomited them up when she was pressed to take more than she wanted.

The treatment for Dad’s back pain is pain medication, which also has a couple of side effects that could lead to his death — I know he’s 93, so you are probably thinking that he has “93″ and that would do the job: shut up! Pain medication can depress your breathing, which is an issue with people with obstructive sleep apnea. It also makes you constipated, which is an issue with someone with congestive heart failure, since straining to go increases your heart rate.

If you are wondering why I’m bringing this up, it’s after 4 pm and Dad isn’t up yet. OK, wait, thank God, he’s up — I hear him coming out of his bedroom. I’ve got to go make him … well, breakfast, since it’s his first meal today.

Dear Attila,

I am delighted to learn that you have discussed a sleep study with a doctor — I hope, one who is a sleep specialist, since the study of sleep medicine is brand-new and even young general practitioners mostly only know enough about sleep medicine to be dangerous, that is, dismissive of real problems, especially for women. FYI, about your belief that you wake up enough to become conscious when you’re really in trouble: during a sleep study they take an EEG to monitor the stages of sleep — the EEG shows spikes when the brain sends a signal to wake up enough to open the airway, if you have obstructive sleep apnea. You almost never wake up enough to become conscious after an apnea, and there can be hundreds of these episodes a night, so don’t be lulled into a sense of false security if you do wake up gasping from time-to-time.

If you have obstructive sleep apnea, recent research shows that the episodes of hypoxia do cause brain damage, especially to the center for organizational abilities. Also, as a writer, you might find the dysphasia particularly annoying. I don’t think insurance covers any therapy for it, the way they do for people who have had strokes. I assure you that recovery is very challenging.

If you are sleeping through loud alarm clocks, you are sleep-deprived. Something is wrong.

Regarding bread machines, I use the Breadman TR-875 and like it very much. I ordered it from NewEgg.com. It comes with recipes.

About your heirloom tomato question: you can grow any heirloom tomato in a container as long as it is big enough — at least 15 gallons. Do be sure it has good drainage and use potting soil — Miracle-Gro’s is good and affordable. Commercial self-watering containers are pricey, but excellent. Also, at least six hours of direct sun most days is a must. Cage or stake the vines. My favorite heirloom cherry tomatoes are Wild Cherry, aka Matt’s Wild Cherry, and Galina’s Yellow Cherry, although you certainly will want to consider Camp Joy, too. My absolute favorite tomato is Brandywine, Sudduth’s strain. I also like Berkeley Tie Dye and Orange Russian 117 — if you are going to go to the trouble, grow something that is delicious AND will WOW people visually. If you want lots of fried green tomatoes, get an indeterminate hybrid for their prolific production since their tomatoes will be delicious cooked and it won’t matter that if you let them ripen they would taste like baseballs. Among hybrids, Jet Star and Lemon Boy are considered respectable by heirloom tomato growers.

Love,

Cynthia