Cpap test concerns

Find a new company.

 

Probably went with some outfit like Crete. Should have gone with a company that doesn't require another physical such as Magnum Ltd. or Freymiller.

Freymiller :
At Freymiller, we’ve got a special program for recent student graduates and for experienced drivers who’ve been off the road for a little while.
Our Restore finishing program will pair you with a certified trainer to give you the recent on-the-road driving experience you need to step into a job as a Freymiller company driver.

 

If you're wise you wil tell them that you appreciate their job offer but you have a position more favorable to you offered at another company. They are just setting you up.

 

Good plan. Tell them you received a more favorable job offer. You'd rather not say the new company name.

 

Yes, it's odd that the doctor gives him a new DOT card, then some clown in the trucking company office pushes CPAP.

 

If you take the sleep apnea test a sleep lab is better then a simple machine you wear because the sleep lab can see when your in REM sleep. Their should be sleep doctors to read the sleep report. But a technician can hook you up to the machine and watch you sleep.

They count sleep apnea as AHI(Apnea Hypopnea Index) or Events per hour. You need 10 seconds of no breathing to count as 1 AHI event. 1-4 events per hour is normal for everyone and not sleep apnea. 5-15 is mild sleep apnea. 15-30 is moderate and 30+ AHI events is severe sleep apnea because it 30 events at 10 seconds each is 300 seconds per hour of not breathing.

It will go on you medical record if you have sleep apnea. I believe the only way to get it off would be another sleep test that shows you don't have sleep apnea or 1-4 AHI events per hour. Their is a grey area because D.O.T never picked a number that says a drive has sleep apnea. So if you had 5 or 6 AHI would it really help having a CPAP machine, probably not. If someone has 15+ AHI then CPAP will make a difference I think.

You could get sleep test on your own and as long as you had copy of the sleep test. It would prove you don't have if AHI is 1-4. Not sure how if a medical doctor or company would take that as proof.

Yes you would be required to use it every night at home also.

You are basically required to use CPAP 4 hours per night to be considered compliance. They will want to see a sleep report from your CPAP machine that show you are using it. No sleep report no medical card. The CPAP machine has SD card that record useage and the new ones have a built in modem that also sends the sleep data to the people that give you the machine. If they want they can see if your using the machine. It upload the data every morning using cell phone tower data.

Every year you can get sleep report and take that to the D.O.T doctor and then he can see if your using it, then they will sign your medical card. Your medical cards will only be good for 1 year on CPAP. So no 2 year cards anymore.

 

Not sure why there is a assumption that if someone is bigger that they might have sleep apnea. I have severe 80 times a hour. That is how many times you stop breathing they say. Even when I was in the Army everyone told me I sound like I quit breathing at night. Wife forced me to go about 6 year ago and got the sleep study. I wear mine every night. I can't even fall asleep for a nap without it only because I am so use to it. I was never tired or fell asleep or whatever. It sucks to wear but I feel lost without it and cannot fall asleep without it. At least I won't stop breathing for good because of it. If they are willing to pay for it and your time go for it.

 

If you get sleep test and CPAP machine basically from the trucking company. They or their sleep doctors people. Check every day to make sure your using it. I read that's how Prime Inc does it. Because if a driver does not use it they are not compliance and can't drive.

If you go to sleep lab on your own and have sleep apnea they will want to see 30 days of usage. Then a Wakefulness Means test to verify the CPAP it working before the sleep doctors will sign off on a driver. Because a new with sleep apnea would not have 90 day sleep report to show. So if some get a test on their own they are looking at 30 days minimum more like 45 days before they can drive again usually.

 

This is a literal statement.

I would rather die than being made to go through a sleep study and having to wear a mask every night for the rest of my life just to 'work somewhere'.