Sleep Apnea...Proceeding after diagnosis

I left out the word trucking when I said companies.

 

You are making the assumption that I have no idea what I felt before and how I feel now. Sorry it's not working out for you and I do know there are cases out there where the CPAP actually doesn't help, but excuse me if I don't wear the same tin foil hat

 

Perhaps you havent paid attention to the cost of health care lately....i got food poisoning in denver and the ambulance cost me $2000.00 and the er cost $9000.00

 

You make it sound like my case is rare...

Seriously though, if these machines are so helpful, why do they have to go so far to check compliance? How often do people with real, actual life threatening disease get checked to see if they're taking their medication or treatments? If CPAP was helpful for so many drivers that it was forced on, wouldn't one month of treatment have them singing and dancing and keeping it on every night? It works like that for some, but driver's hate them so much that they have to threaten our jobs to wear it. That doesn't seem odd to you..?

 

They also have to force drivers to wear seatbelts...force them not to take drugs...force them not to speed...force them to take proper rest breaks.

Many drivers are like children and cannot be trusted to do the right thing...

I for one do like my cpap and wear it every time i sleep.

 

A new $200 CPAP would not have the required monitoring capability. $900 is about right for the list price of a basic recording CPAP machine. The machine I have lists for $1300; it's available new online for $511, which tells me that the wholesale price is about $500.

These are medical devices which require FDA approval. Getting this approval is very expensive.

Sleep apnea develops over a long period of time. People who have it will swear on a stack of bibles while standing on their grandmother's grave that they are just fine. Maybe you are fine... until you aren't.

My apnea manifested itself by my being tired at the end of the workday. I was fine in the morning; full of energy and dove into what needed to be done. By the time I got home, it was all I could do to take my shoes off and fall into the recliner. There was no problem; I was working hard at a high stress job. I was certain of it. I was fine... until I fell asleep behind the wheel of my car at 3 AM, and awoke to see the Jersey barrier in the center of the Interstate heading for my car. Somehow, by the grace of God, I didn't hit anything, and ended up, stopped, facing south in the northbound lane, looking at a huge cloud of tire smoke.

Nah, I didn't have a sleep disorder.

 

For the love of god, I know sleep apnea is real!!! CHRIST!!! There are most definitely bogus diagnoses tho, which drivers have little to no protection from.

 

Of course there is going to be resistance. We live in a "if it's not broken don't fix it" society. It's perfectly understandable to be for somebody who does not thing he/she has apnea would want to fight the notion of having a mask on their face that blows air up your nose and may be totally uncomfortable until you finally get used to it

As I stated, my AHI was 107. I was desperate for a good nights sleep and have embraced it. I get it if somebody with an AHI of 20 who clinically has sleep apnea but "feels" ok thinks it's a charade.

 

Let me say that at my company, there are some who have been helped by the CPAP....but, there are about 7 out of 10 if no 15 out of 20 who say they are not getting any better sleep out of these things even after extensive adjustments. When asked to be retested, the company refuses point blank. These people are not crying the blues over some regulation....they are seriously worried about driving in a sleepy condition brought on by wrestling with an ineffective CPAP which is keeping them awake for half the night. After weeks of trying to get them adjusted right...they look like west coast chicken haulers from the 60's. Thisproblem is real!!!

oNE THING TO ADD...DON'T GO TO A CLINIC THAT SENDS YOU HOME WITH ONE OF THOSE OXYGEN SENSORS!!!! Go to a sleep in clinic where you are hooked up to several sensors that monitor breathing, O2 levels, muscle activity, sinus noise, brain waves and heart rhythm etc. You cannot determine sleep disorders with just a finger monitor. Beside airwave constriction, you can have sinusitis and allergy problems that interrupt air flow.... muscle flexions (restless leg syndrome can be a condition not a symptom) ...heart irregularities...brain wave irregularities caused by physical or psychological problems that keep you from going into deep or rem sleep. None of these will be cured by a CPAP. Might take two or three nights of tests to figure out the problem. ....also try to find a clinic with good looking nurses...you know why

 

...and don't forget proctologists!