Sleep studies/cpap machine

You got that right.

IF I ate that stuff in the amounts I ate for OTR in winter now at home I would be obese. My doc has eyed my BMI a notch or two around 20 to 22 he wants me to watch it and get it down where possible. It's hard to do.

I generally eat one meal a day in the early afternoon. Breakfast only when it's a workday. Otherwise stuff like strawberries and so on. It's a strange diet compared to back then growing up with dumplings, roast beef, ham all over the table and all sorts of german fare. Big beefs in our family line. Probably around 350 average weights at 6 2 and taller. We have had some drop by 40 from obesity. One in particular had to be cut out of his apartment. They sawed out the entire wall containing his front door. He died later quietly because there was not enough pump to feed O2 all over that big body. I understand the crematorium misjudged his kerosene equivalent and burned a extra hour.

IF that does not scare you nothing will.

 

Once you get your CPAP they take time to adjust to waering and sleeping. It kinda like learning how to breath again. I was amazed how much air I breath in with a CPAP. The CPAP is basically like a little air compressor. So the air might seem cold and dry. They have humidifiers and you can get heated air hose. A heated air hose is nice to have. I have RedMed CPAP with the heated hose you get automatic temperature sensor and humidity. Their is a thing called Rain Out. That is if you run humidifier and the room your sleeping in is cooo. When it hit that cooler plastic air hose the water drops out of the air and collect in you are hose. It's rains in the hose. So you solve that with a heated air hose.

I would describe wearing the CPAP as learning how to breath normal again. It takes a little time for you brain to relax vs trying to save you from not breathing correctly at night. You AHI numbers will start to drop the more you adjust to the CPAP. I had very high numbers without CPAP first week I was at like 15 Events Per hour/AHI, that how many time you stop breathing per hour. I would say after 30 days I was down to 5 or 8 or 3.

Today I'm down to 0.3 or 0.8. That's less then 1. So you learn to breath again and I noticed a big difference once I was getting my numbers down to 2 or 1 AHI. I would say at first you feel like your body has extra energy but you brain still feel tired

 

I got a question about the dot medical side of it. I have a CPAP machine. Not required by DOT. I went on my own to get it. I have a resmed. If I go get my dot exam and the dr says I need it. how does he see that I've been using it? Or do I have to go get a special type of machine that they can see?

 

Why did he sent you for sleep test. Did you answer yes to those questions like do you snore or do you fall sleep when watching tv. Those are a no , no questions. Or are you overweight.

 

No I went on my ow . I dont HAVE to a have a cpap per do . But the days gonna come where they require it. I've been able to avoid it cause I have low body fa . Around 8% but I'm 6' 265lb . So my BMI says I'm obese

 

The easy way is the ResMed app you can download it and register you CPAP. That app has a HISTORY section click on that. Then top right corner it has REPORT. Then it will show your 30,90 and 365 day usage. The RedMed Air 10 has built in cell phone data reporting


The hard way is pull the SD card out and find someone to read that data. It not easy because the D.O.T doctor don't have that software. The place you got the CPAP from will do it for free because the have the software.

 

Found it! Thank you

 

Are these local companies less likely to require drivers to use a CPAP?

 

It has nothing to do with the company. It's your dot physical

 

I would say local drivers still need a DOT physical every 1-2 years. I know I had to go get a physical, but I was only local about 85%. About once a week I had to drive to the company’s warehouse in CA to bring some produce back to our warehouse in Las Vegas.

I will guess local drivers who use a hand dolly daily or break down pallets won’t worry much about passing a physical. They are in much better physical shape than your average OTR truck driver. I personally was in a very good physical shape. My weight was in the low 140s. Now it’s more like 160.