Tag Archives: Health

App Review: Loóna

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Loóna in Google Play

Almost two years ago, before the pandemic, I started this blog and the accompanying Twitter account. One of my projects I said I was going to do was to review apps that I found to be helpful as far as Autism goes. I have finally found one worthy enough to write about! It was a long, arduous journey but I think this is worth it. 

Now, I don’t know about you, but I have the hardest time falling asleep. I go over every interaction that I had during the day and then my mind goes 200 mph as soon as I lay down. But of course it does! I have no stimulation to hinder my thoughts as they come cascading out of every wrinkle in my brain. I have tried many sleep apps to help calm the storm so to speak. I’ve tried white noise, ambient noise, binaural beats, ASMR… All of it, I have done. None of it really worked. 

However, earlier this year I stumbled across an app called Loóna that you use before you fall asleep. It has what they call Sleepscapes and they can be very relaxing. How does this work? Loóna is an interactive app designed with the intent of helping you disengage from the day and relax and the Sleepscapes it takes you through are wonderful bedtime stories. The tales they weave are calming, they bring you back to those childhood days when someone read to you and you felt content. For me those days were the days I was with my grandparents or during quiet time in elementary school. 

Loóna For You menu that features the new Sleepscape of the night

The best way I have found to use Loóna is about 45 minutes before bedtime to get ready for bed. Make sure to brush your teeth and use the bathroom so you don’t have to get back up. Turn off all distractions and mute notifications on your phone. Get everything together you need to be comfy. Pillows, blanket, teddy bear and whatever else you sleep with. Perhaps make a cup of warm milk (there is a “how to” at the end of this article) or tea to sip while you’re doing your Sleepscape. (I love Sleepytime tea with Valerian Root in it. It’s a great choice as well as affordable.) Get your headphones and then get in bed and get settled in.

Sleepscape Menu and Sleepscape

Loóna has a new Sleepscape every night. Calming music plays as you listen to the calm voice tell the story as it gives you items to tap on. As you tap on the beautifully done pictures they come to life with colors you choose at the beginning of the app. I chose pinks, purples, and blues. The interaction with the picture is just as important as listening to the story. It helps immerse you by combining physical repetitive actions, occupying your mind, and lulls you into relaxation with the rotation of the floating landscape. 

Floating Interactive Landscape and Sleepscape with color

When you’ve completed the Sleepscape you can do another Sleepscape (up to three, the new one and two from the menu, before it warns you of screentime) or you can listen to one of Loóna’s Immersive Stories that accompany the Sleepscape. Immersive Stories are unlocked at the end of some Sleepscapes. An Immersive Story is a story without the Sleepscape’s visual and physical activity. You just turn out the lights and listen as you drift off. 

Playlist Menu and Morning Inspiration

If you prefer music to drift off to, Loóna also has playlists of calming music to doze to. Loóna also has the option to turn off the audio bedtime story for those who need quiet to relax or just prefer to read. You can easily keep up with the story being told by reading it’s subtitles. For those that have trouble remembering (ex. ADHD) that they have the app on their phone, Loóna has a reminder option that notifies you when the new Sleepscape for the day is available. Last but not least Loóna had inspirational morning messages that include a playlist to listen to in the morning to help you ease into your day in a calmer state of mind. Bonus! Loóna is also a great way to calm down throughout the day as well.

Loóna does have a hefty for an app subscription price at 12.99 a month (cancel anytime). It’s more economical to pay for the year at 39.99 which, in my opinion, would be worth it. It does have a trial, as most apps do, in case you want to try it free for a week. I used the trial and purchased one month to try it out for an extended period of time before I reviewed this app. I suggest, if you have a spare $13, that you try it out for the 30 day trial. Everyone is different and it may not be for you but you may be pleasantly surprised!

Here is the link.

Warm Milk: 

Vanilla
Milk
Sugar or other sweetener
Microwave or saucepan
Coffee cup

Heat the desired amount of milk (or if you’re a Vegetarian or Vegan your favorite unsweetened plant based milk would work too) in the microwave for a minute and check the temperature. If it’s not warm enough then microwave it in 30 second intervals until the desired temperature. You can also heat it up over low heat on the stove. Make sure you don’t scald it (burn the milk that is). 

When the milk is heated, take it out of the microwave carefully or if you heated it on the stove gently pour it into a cup so it doesn’t splash. Add one cap full of vanilla. If you don’t want the alcohol content then use imitation vanilla. (It’s also cheaper for those who have limited funds.) 

Then add one teaspoon of sweetener. I like good old fashioned white sugar but Stevia or another sweetener would do well too. 

Stir until the sweetener dissolves (mostly dissolved is good, it doesn’t have to be perfect). 

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Hints Autism Gives Us

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We have all heard of the dreaded meltdown. I’ve written about my own meltdowns and how I view them. Those moments of terror in which we become a force of nature while our nervous system purges all of it’s stored anxiety. For some of us, we have triggers where the anxiety is instantaneous. For others, we have a tipping point in which the anxiety has reached its threshold and the sensory overload meltdown runs its course. However, what if you diverge from your normal pattern of meltdowns?


Usually, my meltdowns are completely sensory-related and I will reach a tipping point, as mentioned above, and out it, all comes out. I have no control over it. (Meltdowns are involuntary for those of you who don’t know.) On a normal meltdown day, I may throw things, say things I don’t mean, punch a wall, hit my head, stomp my feet, and then it’s over. I recover, usually in the shower, and then sleep for hours as my body adjusts to the neurological reset it just experienced. I get up later and get on with my life. However, what do you do when your meltdowns for no apparent reason takes a turn for the worse? A potentially fatal turn?

In the late spring/summer of 2019, my meltdowns did just that. They became a threat to my life. I had hit my head and had so many concussions that landed me in the ER that my insurance company called to make sure I wasn’t being abused. No, I told them, I‘m just Autistic. My meltdowns increased in frequency and intensity. I went from having an inconvenient meltdown once every 6 months or so to having them once a month or shorter intervals. I have a scar on my left wrist where they had to go in and reattach ligaments that were injured during a meltdown. I won’t go into details of the rest because they may be triggering for some. Needless to say, I was actively fearful for my life. I reclused and avoided all stress. Friends that didn’t understand the symptoms of Autism were dismissed because I was too high strung to properly educate them. What was going on with me?

At first, we thought it was my recent weight loss that was throwing off my balance but when it calm down as expected; I recalled that I had read in several blogs, articles, scholarly papers, and more, that an autistic person may have an increase in meltdowns if there is an internal illness that went untreated. Cysts, impacted teeth, IBS, pituitary tumors are just a few to mention. This isn’t only in non-verbal Autistics either! This can happen in Autistics that are considered low support needs as well. When I read this I realized that my nervous system may not actually be trying to kill me but instead, it’s alerting me to something serious, I became an Autie with a mission.

I made appointments with my Neurologist, Primary Care Physician, Psychiatrist, Gynecologist, Audiologist, and all the other specialists I could think of! I have had more MRI’s, CT scans, and X-rays this year than I have had in my life! Not to mention the EEG and the plethora of blood work. I didn’t have any latent STD’s, my pituitary tumor was well under control. I saw something in an old overlooked test result from years back that implied I may have low immunoglobulin’s so I insisted my doctor look into that as well. My routine yearly checkups came around and I put off my mammogram because I had been so overwhelmed with the number of medical demands I had put myself through trying to find answers. I just couldn’t do it because I might risk a meltdown. I rescheduled it for December. A couple of months out.

The prior year, 2019, I felt a lump, thickening, something was wrong in my right breast. After some testing, I was told it was just dense breast tissue so putting off my mammogram seemed a pretty low-risk decision. I went to my mammogram in December and 4 days before Christmas I was told I had two irregular masses in my right breast. The timeline fits perfectly. By the time you feel breast cancer, it’s been in your body for 2-5 years. I can do the math and if my body detected it in 2018 before I did it would have begun to cause major meltdowns in order to warn me. However, I didn’t know how to interpret my meltdowns as a warning of impending medical trouble.

Last week I went in for a biopsy and it was confirmed that I have invasive breast cancer. Even since my mammogram in December of 2020, it has grown. Soon I will be meeting with an Oncologist to discuss surgical options. While I’m terrified I’m also thankful. Hopefully, with treatment and healing, my meltdowns will subside and I can live peacefully again!

Meltdowns aren’t always sensory-based, for me, they are rarely emotional so when I was confronted with meltdowns that seemingly had no explanation it was terrifying. I’m glad I have found the answer within as to why my meltdowns were so out of control and I hope beyond hope that this may be an insight for someone like me going through the same thing.