Sleep Apnea

Whoohoooo an oxy mask, make one up with a jet fighters helm and mask, then fly down the highways and byways of the country. LOL

 

A candid conversation with my doctor(Mayo Clinic) he said pretty much the same thing. He did point out there are sleep disorders but they are rare. Interestingly, he also referred to it as an "industry" or medical fad.... He also brought up ADD, and ADHD in the same conversation... Even more interesting because many just drug the children. Sad, and likely criminal.

 

Interesting, they estimate 6.7% of the population has sleep apnea. Even more interesting, is about 7% of school age children are said to have AD/HD. I'm in the wrong business, is should go into drug development for our kids... They need it, don't they? I could develop (#### ittol Hcl) give doctors kickbacks, and make billions off our school aged children's parents insurance carriers.

Darn it, it's too bad I have this terrible ailment called "integrity".

 

I have posted so much on here about sleep apnea and the fact that the treatment helped me. Its almost as if some of you are afraid to learn that you may have a problem that will force you to use an admittedly unattractive machine. But it does help. 6% of the population is 18 million people, mostly adults. Yes, most of those cases are weight related, but some are not. My CPAP doc has apnea and is rail thin.
How many more asinine comments do I have to read through, or how many accidents have to be fatigued caused (from lack of sleep) before people believe. I had no idea I had a disorder, I thought I was sleeping fine. 20 years of two wives and roommates telling me I tore down walls snoring certainly didnt convince me to get the study done. My second wife finally gave me the ultimatum before I drove truck.
No, Sleep Apnea does not cause accidents, the associated fatigue does because you are not getting beyond level 2 sleep with multiple interruptions per hour. (mine was 73). Its the same as saying cigarettes dont kill you..because they dont, the associated diseases do.
Test 4 wheelers you say...well sure, why not. Some driving professions dont require the medical exam yet they are on the road just as much as we are. But all 4 wheelers? Well, thats just asinine too.
Sleep apnea does exist, there is no conspiracy, and FMCSA doesnt want higher risk of fatigued accidents. If they determine a criteria for testing it will certainly miss those that dont fit the parameters, but maybe it will net more and save lives. Is one accident or life worth your ########? Suck it up, do the test and move on. If you cant, change careers and move on.

 

Again, I have stated that there are sleep disorders. Do 18 million Americans suffer from them? I doubt it greatly, as does my doctor. Do medical companies make a lot of coin from selling machines/renting machines and servicing them with filters and equipment? Most certainly. Is it in their best business interest to sell/rent/service and many CPAP machines as possible? Again, most certainly.

With this said, having a known ailment that has the possibility of fatigued driving dangers, considering the machine may malfunction. Thus, creating a known danger to other motorists... THESE individuals are the ones that should "Suck it up, and change careers and move on".

 

So let me get this straight.....you are saying that the odds of having the cpap machine malfunction and having the driver not get a good nights sleep are higher than the odds of letting people go undiagnosed and then drive fatigued because you and your doctor think there is a conspiracy involved?
Obviously I wont change your mind and you will not change mine. In 6 years on cpap I have had one machine fail and I had a loaner the next day. And that was after 5 years of use. If my machine were to fail and I was not properly rested, then I could not drive and would take appropriate measures to remedy the situation through my company, as any fatigued driver should no matter what the cause.
Changing my career because of a possible machine fault that may not even occur, how ludicrous of an idea is that? its like saying you shouldnt drive because you may have a flat tire, in fact I think you have much better odds of a blowout than the cpap machine failing.

 

What I'm saying is the odds are not relevant. This issue is the known danger. Think of it this way, what are the odds that one would loss a wheel after noticing there was a lug broke off, and decided to run the load before being fixed(a known out of service violation). The point is that there is now a known issue, with a known potential danger... that allows one the take measures to remedy this situation, period.

With this said, I'm not really pointing out a conspiracy, but simple business economics... If selling 100 of whatever is good, selling 1000 certainly MUST be better, thus selling 100,000 would be stupendous.

 

If ya look at the BMI chart hanging in the Doctors office both of us are considered overweight..What a friggin joke. If I sensed there was something wrong I wouldn't say a word. Like tjcase85. I sleep like a baby and according to my wife I rarely snore..

 

I've heard that as many as 70% of truck drivers have this problem, yet only 6.7% of the population has it?

What? Are all the apnea people truck drivers?


We can't sleep too well, so we decide that trucking is the best job?


I haven't heard of any other profession being singled out for these tests. Why is that?

 

I have sleep apnea and it is not a pretty sight!! I am 54 years old and have the neck size that is the smallest for being tested for sleep apnea. I was officially diagnosed February, 2014 but I know I have had issues for many years, at least 10 years. The only way I survived was by taking a daily dose of Tylenol PM or Advil PM. In the last year or so, the Advil PM (which is the better drug than Tylenol PM because of the possible liver damage caused by the Tylenol) was not helping anymore. I am now on the CPAP machine and it is helping a little bit. Some of the numbers are not very good such as the 55 total AHI where the normal is anything less than 5!! I really have no problems staying awake during the day if I am actively doing something to keep me going but if I am sitting watching TV, I fall asleep and I don't even notice that i did!! I have missed many fourth quarters of Denver Broncos football!!!!! MY sleep doctor is ok with my driving truck if I have the CPAP machine every night. I may need supplemental oxygen to get my oxygen levels up at night.
I have my CDL-A license which I got on May 5, 2014. I barely passed the road test and the tester recommended that I find a company that uses all automatics. I was hired by Swift but failed their road test (could not shift and hit too many curbs) on May 12, 2014. I contacted TransAm and they would not hire me because I had an accident with my motorcycle that was my fault in September, 2012 and I had a speeding ticket in January, 2014. Several other companies also have the same issue with my accident and/or the speeding ticket. it is very discouraging!!

So, I have two questions: What do you think about my sleep apnea? Do you think anyone will hire me with my shifting issues? The trucking school should have trained me better or gave me more training. But, I don't want to go back there because they don't want to deal with me anymore.