Driving with sleep apnea

Yes there is 12 volt cpap machines.

 

Yes there are 12 VDC CPAPs...Mine has a battery in it and I let it charge while driving all day...runs almost 2 nights on 1 charge...I bought it on line for about 400 bucks and another 80 for the mask....It was a life saver....Best thing I ever did....Just put cpap followed by a dot and a com and you will see all kinds of them...I am not affiliated with them in any way but have had great service from them and great prices....

 

There are actually 2 CPAP's on the market that will run off 12 - VDC. Respironics Pro-System and ResMed S-9. Both were redesigned with several features specifically for use in a semi-truck like moisture resistant flow sensors for teams.

The sleep medicine industry is gearing up for more and more truck drivers on CPAP

 

I'm going to buy my own. I already had the sleep study and follow up next Monday when I get home. Dam crooks they refer me to want me to rent a $7000 machine for 13 months. I'm not giving them a dime. I'll spend $1000 online first.

Anyone got any good models, shoot me a message. Thanks.

 

I've had sleep apnea for years, and have been treated with a CPAP for long enough that non of my machines use a card. Hopefully no-one will require me to jump through a bunch of expensive hoops...

Also, my medical is good for 2 years. I listed sleep apnea and that I ALWAYS use my CPAP. Maybe the examiner made a mistake?

 

52degrees... yep medical examiner made a mistake....

With sleep apnea you are supposed to only get a one year card.

The other issue you may run into is that the new guidelines for sleep apnea say the medical examiner is supposed to have "objective data" confirming you are "under current and effective treatment".

That means either you need to be using a CPAP with compliance data capability - AKA a card reader - that shows at least 4 hours on pressure at least 70% of the nights. Otherwise you may be required to take a Maintanence of Wakefullness Test (MWT) AKA a daytime sleep study.

MWT's cost upwards of $ 1,000. A new data capable CPAP can be had for $ 876.....

To me its simple economics.. spend the $ 876 once and avoid the MWT hassles

 

I went to a different examiner Friday (different town as well, totally unrelated to each other) for a medical for a new job (YAY!).

I was VERY clear about my sleep apnea. She asked about it and saw that I noted that I use a CPAP every night.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but it's interesting that that's my second 2-year cert within 3 months without having to empirically demonstrate use of my CPAP. Are the clinics just slow to catch on?

 

What is worst is if the other person in the cab has it

My wife got bad after her breast cancer, I sleep in bed with headsets like the guys at the airport wear

 

I recently went through a company required sleep study. When I informed them that I was already looking into another company for other reasons. I was told that as long as I worked there I would have to do the test. After some thinking on the matter, I agreed with the positive outcome being that I would get a free sleep study preformed. They put me through a 1 night 6hr sleep study with the end result being that I had "Moderate Obstructive Sleep Apnea/Hypopnea. I was then issued and required to pay $900 for a APAP machine.

Since being on this machine I have not had 1 good nights sleep. Before this I use to sleep like a log at night. The test results from the sleep study even show I had a better sleep efficiency without the machine then I did with it (81.5% vs 57.7%).

Everything I can find on the internet talks about all the benefits and how much safer we're all going to be with these sleep apnea being diagnosed and treated. But as anyone considered the possibility of people being misdiagnosed and the possible dangers they create. The only solution I can see is to see a doctor and possibly go through another sleep study, that I'll have to pay for, not that I can afford that right now.

The problem with requiring all these drivers to go through sleep studies is the fact that most of this Sleep Apnea stuff is new. It's not well understood by the doctors let alone the drivers. No one person sleeps the same everynight and no two people sleep the same. There are also 2 causes of apnea events (obstructive and central). Central is untreatable and has to do with the central nervous system.

There is no way you can get a good idea of what is going on with someone in a one night study.

Another issue is the CPAP machines themselves. Our company is issueing all drivers diagnosed the same auto titrating machine with all the settings the same. After doing a lot of research on the internet, I found out that the auto titrating versions are relatively new and there is no real data that shows they work properly or are effective.

I would like to hear from other drivers that having problems after being put on these APAP machines.

By the way, "Moderate Obstructive Sleep Apnea/Hypopnea" for me is 0 obstructive apnea events, 0 central apnea events, and 28 hypopnea events per hour. For those who don't know what a hypopnea event is that is just a drop in blood oxygen concentration from your breathing becoming shallow.

I seriously regret not quitting when I had the chance.

Sleepy and Tired

 

I have severe OSA. It took me a good 30 to 45 days to fully get used to the machine. Even now there is the occasional night when the mask and I don't get along well at the outset. But I'll tell ya...I've never felt better after nearly three years on CPAP.

Out of curiosity, how many nights have you used it? Either way, good luck to you!