Interview · moment 7 of 26
The Illness: Sleep Apnea, Benzodiazepine Dependency, and the Moscow Coma
from #249 - Jordan Peterson | The Tim Dillon Show · #249
5 min
Guest
Peterson details his mysterious illness, diagnosis of severe central sleep apnea, his dependency on benzodiazepines starting in 2017, the extreme insomnia and other symptoms, and the medically induced coma in Moscow used to detox him.
- Physician diagnosed severe central sleep apnea—waking up 25 times per hour—after investigating sleep structure.
- Breathing machine improved function from five percent to fifty or sixty percent over one month.
- Sleep monitoring ring showed zero to two minutes of deep sleep nightly; now reaching thirty to fifty minutes with the machine.
- Started taking benzodiazepines in 2017 after a three-week episode of severe insomnia.
- Clarifies the difference between staying awake for a record and being unable to sleep—subjectively experienced three weeks without sleep.
- During insomnia period, would faint when standing and felt ice cold no matter how many blankets he used.
- Had stopped taking antidepressants in early 2016 prior to the 2017 medication changes.
- Lists autoimmune symptoms: psoriasis, chronic mouth ulcers, peripheral uveitis in right eye, and alopecia.
- Daughter's severe arthritis was significantly improved by a meat-only diet maintained for five years.