Sleep Hell Part 3 (The Final Chapter. Maybe....)

Ok, so this is a long story but I need advice now more than ever. I was called in last night to do the final sleep test (the one with the mask) because someone cancelled. I went to the sleep lab and took the Xanax like the doctor prescribed me and it did nothing... I had been up since 3am that morning but it still did nothing. Anyways, I got the wires on and the CPAP Mask. I layed there from 10pm until 6am this morning with my eyes closed. The sleep tech said I managed to sleep for an hour. He said "you slept enough to get you a CPAP, but I cannot promise you it will be calibrated right because you didn't sleep enough." I explained to him on this my third time to the sleep lab, that I simply could not sleep with those wires piercing me. Anyways, I don't think I have to go back. I go to the doctor next Thursday to get my CPAP. My concern is, what if it is calibrated wrong? Will any trucking companies still hire me? And, what do I have to do to get it re calibrated? I'm really worried that I went through all of this for nothing now, and I want to drive a truck more than anything. If the calibration is off on my machine will the trucking compnaies care?

 

It is not problem to get recalibrated.

 

How do you? He said I would have to go back and "sleep" in that hell hole again. Is that true?

 

Yep it is done with another sleep test.

I suggested that you don't take anything and it seems others warned you too.

 

The doctor can just tell the place you get the CPAP. Also, I would ask for the lowest setting they will let your start with. This is how I did mine, However, I hate the thing with a passion!

 

Thanks smart guy, a doctor prescribed me something. I'm not going back again.

 

Man, there aren't many careers that are as intrusive as this one. Who the heck could relax when they're being watched by a total strange, after being poked and prodded with a bunch of nodes, wires and an uncomfortable mask?

Now all the companies are putting driver facing cameras in trucks so they can give you a call about you taking a hand off the wheel to pick your nose or piss in a gatorade bottle.

Hearing about all these invasive trends, really gives me pause about getting into the industry. It used to be that trucking was about the freedom, but it seems like they're pretty close to eliminating that sense of freedom.

 

My mother-in-law had to get one in order to stay on her late husbands insurance (and medicare). So, it's not just truck drivers who are being screwed by this issue. Several times a year she has to pull the memory card and go see the sleep doctor(it had a wireless connection, but it kept saying she never used the machine, so they disabled it and went the sdcard route). She has had it recalibrated twice, and the doctor says her readings are good...but it has made no improvent in her sleep or her health, if anything she gets less sleep now than before...she hates it, but is forced to use it by the powers that be...ahhhh it's great living in the land of the free.

 

They'll calibrate it with the info they have. The good news is, the new CPAPs will auto calibrate as you sleep and change the pressure depending on how you're sleeping.

 

Did she have to do another sleep study( sleep overnight in a lab) to get it recalibrated or just have her primary care physician do it?