Obesity linked to dangerous sleep apnea in truck drivers

well I am not going to take any sides on this issue.

I have sleep apnea and I found out quite by accident, I have driven many years without a problem or even the hint of a problem.

having said that I will tell you I would not be without my c-pap machine, since I have started using it i have felt much better feel 10 years younger and sleep much less than i used too i am just getting much higher quality sleep.

I used to hit a wall actually 2 of them when the sun was rising and when it was setting where I would pull over and take a half an hour nap, today there is no wall.

And mama is happy as my libido is what it was 10 or 15 yrs ago, if fact she was worried there might be a girlfriend on the side that was causing me to act so much younger. No more little blue pills lol

 

Why should they step up for it ? If it's required it has to be logged on duty , just like a DOT physical but I haven't heard any talk of drivers being paid for it .

 

I'm not so sure I'd be bragging about that. Are you sure you're sleeping well at night? What does your wife say when you're home? Do you snore? I've heard that can be indicator more so than being overweight. Are you ever tired during the day? That would indicate possible sleep apnea.

 

This is the whole reason I do not drive for Stevens Transport anymore. I signed a release of my medical records so the company Dr. would write a refill for my high BP meds while I was on the yard. When he got my records from my regular Dr. he saw that 2 years prior I had mentioned to my Dr. that i had moved from the country to the city and was having trouble sleeping. ( I assumed it was all the new noises and expected him to tell me to get some sleeping pills). Well the company Dr. pulled my Health card and left me stranded 800 miles from home on December 26th. Yes I missed Christmas, which I was promised to be home for. And th company sent a recovery guy for my truck. Well I got tested while there and was determined to have mild sleep apnea, the specialist wrote a letter to the company Dr. stating that there were no signs of daytime sleepiness or fatigue, and that my condition would in no way affect my driving. Well the company Dr. rejected this and mandated me to get and use a cpap for 30 days and have it downloaded to prove I was infact using it. Well not long after the Insurance company decided that this was a pre-existing condition and has not paid for anything to date, And never did allow me to get a cpap machine. leaving me in debt to the tune of over $6000 and jobless, with no resources to get a cpap.
The FMCSA stated that the medical examiner has the right to require anything they want to, and it is the med. examiners sole discression to do as he pleases.
So, I kinda lost where I was going with this but, if there is some sort of profiling to get tested for this, mandated in the future, there may be a shortage of machines or drivers.

 

No bragging whatsoever. I hate it. No I'm not tired during the day, unless you count physically tired, from carrying around the extra weight. My knees and ankles bother me. Trust me I'm not bragging.

 

Are you working somewhere else?

 

Well, at first I was unsure what I could do. Then I got a job driving a 3 car hauler. The guy told me no CDL, no log, no health card. And yup, he was wrong, I got pulled for running a scale, the DOT man was more interested in the truck being overweigth for the tags, and an outstanding unpaid overweight ticket from the previous driver, than he was with me not having a health card, and suggested I get one, so I went to a walk-in clinic and got one. I think the computerization of our healthcare system may prevent this in the future, but for now I do what I have to, to make money to live.
My main concern is this, How is the Dr. allowed to release such information about a patient to an employer. Although I have refered to him as a "company Dr." His office has a Cigna Healthcare sign on the door,( A satalite office within the Stevens office building ). to process all the guys they run through, more quickly.
Anyway to answer your question, No I am not working anywhere at the moment, when the economy took a dive late last year the car hauling business took a good hit and was not profitable for us anymore.

 

I used to think I slept good at night, knew I snored, 80 lbs. overweight, but the decision to do something came about after wife pleaded with me. Due to my pauses where I would actually stop breathing, she was losing sleep worrying if I would resume again. The trip to a sleep center sure opened my eyes! Although a visit to one of these places is pretty costly, I do not think it compares to the price of a good nights rest, not to mention the probability of longer life.

In addition to using the cpap, the sleep doctor gave me some samples of a fairly new drug, which I now take on a regular basis- Provigil; commonly known as an "alert pill". Not a speed, non-addicting, doesn't upset my stomach, it really seems to put you in a higher stage of alertness; great for those long boring times behind the wheel. Some of you may want to check with your family physician about it, I know that it has helped me.