Heading to Prime 9/11/12

Thanks for reply to this. Thinking i'm going to get one done now as long as my insurance will cover it which i'm sure they will..What type of profile does one have to fit to be diagnosed with having sleep apnea? I've looked on-line and other then snoring which i do from time to time the rest of the symptoms I don't match. Does prime look for certain things that you might know of?

 

Just a note on sleep apnea.

With layoffs at my job, thankfully they have slowed, I went and had a sleep study done on my own with the plan that if I got laid off and had to go to trucking then I would already have that taken care of. I have been reading these posts on Prime and would go there if I had to change jobs and still follow the posts as I feel I have gotten to know a few on here and enjoy reading the new recruits and of their experiences.

Now a little about me. I am a big guy way over the BMI that would suggest a sleep study. The other thing is I have no other "sleep apnea" related symptoms. I do not snore, at least according to my wife and she is a light sleeper. I am not tired during the day and drive an hour to and from work each day and drive 10 hours or more every couple of months with no tiredness issues. I also dream a lot which as I under stand it most with this problem do not. I do not have insomnia, the Army cured me of that long ago. I do know what to look for as my older brother and mother both have sleep apnea and my brother has been on a cpap for at least 20 years or more.

I went for a sleep study and imagine my surprise when the doc called me and said I have a severe case of sleep apnea and my oxygen level was dropping into the mid 60's. I even went back for a second sleep study just to confirm and test and what kind pressure the machine that I would get would need to be set to and was put on a cpap at the end of July. I have been using it since then and actually feel no better or worse but according to the doc I really needed it.

I was lucky and have good insurance at my current job but I would say to those who are large and can get it done to do it even if you think you don't need it. And if you are not large and have any of the symptoms including snoring, you may benefit from having a sleep study done. According to my sleep doc, snoring is a sign of a possible issue. I plan on sending my wife in for one cause man, she snores . If you don't think you have sleep apnea and Prime says to get the sleep study, don't think of it as a punishment but as a chance to correct a possible medical issue.

Barry

 

Ok... first, WE have been answering the same questions about sleep apnea every other month, sometimes every week for the last couple of years. A little work with the forum search function with the key "sleep apnea" will educate all with the following information. So, yet once again...

During your DOT medical at orientation, our doctor (not yours, because your doctor isn't certifying you fit to drive a CMV) will make a MEDICAL diagnosis of whether you are a candidate for a sleep apnea test. Some of the conditions they look at is a BMI over 39, a history of snoring, obstructions of the airway/small airway. Since I'm not a trainer/instructor, nor do I snore - I haven't taken the test - so there may be other conditions that point toward a visit to the sleep lab that I don't recall. Just because you carry a few pounds doesn't mean you have it, but over 80% of folks with a high BMI number do. That's why its there, not because Prime/the FMCSA/the entire medical profession have it out for you. Skinny as a rail guys can have it too.

If you have any or enough of these conditions and are undiagnosed, you will be tested on the way in. Bank on it. Why? Because folks with sleep apnea generally do not get the restorative rest necessary for you to operate a CMV safely. Many (not all) folks will be tired all day, and have the tendency to take little micro-sleeps on and off while driving down the road. So why is this a safety issue? When the micro-sleeps become a head-nodding out and out comotose condition, you are a hazard to everyone on the road, and your personal record of tickets and accidents affect every driver at Prime. A Prime driver, a very experienced guy with nearly 20 years on the road blew through a stoplight and slaughtered a family of 5 a few years back. This guy had massive untreated sleep apnea. Another fella with diagnosed but untreated sleep apnea, driving near the end of his 11 and 14, came around a bend and crested a hill at 70 mph on the Oklahoma turnpike a couple of years ago. He blew by lots of slowing traffic, and DEMOLISHED 5 cars that were at a dead stop because of an accident up the road killing 11 people outright. It's a safety issue. If you don't like it, tough. Go drive for some outfit that only requires a body temperature above what the room is at.

It's also a serious medical issue. The serious nature of the condition has only really been recognized in the last couple of years. Your breathing stops sometimes for long periods, sometimes 100's of times a night. This is serious because it affects the oxygen saturation level of your blood, starving your major organs for oxygen. Your body is slowly killing itself. That's why there is such an emphasis on it.

If you don't have sleep apnea, the test will cost you $150 at Prime only. At any other sleep lab it will cost anywhere from $4,000 to $6,000 just for the test. And there's a massive wait list at most sleep labs. So yeah, go get it done ouside of Prime. Great Plan. If you do have sleep apnea, it will cost about $2000 (I'm probably off here) and will be taken out of your settlement in small payments - $50 comes to mind, but I could be wrong. You will get the test, a machine that meets the requirements of the FMCSA and the medical community to PROVE compliance, follow-up care for a year, adjustments to your machine and appliances, and necessary replacement appliances. And BTW, if the machine you get at home cannot be used with the Sleep Pointe system to download your usage while on the road, you will be purchasing a new machine. You will have to prove compliance both on and off the road.

Why does this beat the holy crap out of what your personal doctor/sleep apnea clinc provide? Well, how about a savings of well over $2000? How about you don't have to front the cash for what is left after you buy the test and the machine. How about you're not shelling out for more care and parts? You need those replacement parts so you're not breathing bacteria in while using the machine after awhile. How about you get it done in a few days right at the Campus Inn while you're at the terminal - while your room and meals are being provided for free?

The third party sleep lab that Prime uses has no business affiliation with Prime Inc. Rob Low went out and negotiated a business agreement with the third-party outfit to get this care for us. That's why the test with a negative result costs $150. That's why there is a major price break on the test and the machine.

 

Hey ironpony I appreciate your response and didn't mean to pile with questions about the subject when there are countless other threads you say that are on here about the subject. I honestly didn't know about them being on here. So I apologize and will do better at searching before i ask something that may have already been discussed..

 

Don't apologize, It would take years to read through all these posts to find answers that may not even be there.

 

Don't worry about it... this one just get's beat to death on a regular basis.

 

What about the cute trucks?