Sleep study needed for Schneider will other companies need one too?

A bit of thread drift. I spoke to a guy today while at the VA Hospital. A bit overweight but not too bad. Has been told he does have sleep apnea. He took 2 studies. The first one he took showed a few too many wake episodes during the night. About 4 months later he took a new study while wearing a simple mouth guard and had ZERO wake episodes and all his sleep apnea symptoms are GONE! The sleep specialist certified him and his primary care physician agreed. He took the letter in with him a while back during his physical. The ME was at first not going to certify because of no CPAP. The guy said he left the exam room came back about 15 minutes later signed him fit with a 1-year card. And the VA paid for the whole sleep study. You drivers that are qualified to receive VA medical care really should look into this. VA physicians, PAs and nurse practitioners will soon be able to act as medical examiners!

 

September? You could jump on keto for a few months and lose that extra weight before then

 

I have chimed in on this topic before, but will do so again. Don't be afraid of a CPAP machine if prescribed. They don't hurt you, they help if you need it. It is kinda awkeward on first dates though...Uhhh!

 

I am anti sleep study and always make my first question to any company I speak to as follows.
“Is my current medical card acceptable”?
Any answer other than yes I move on.

 

I'm very close to holding the same position. The FMCSA took an issue and blew it totally out of proportion to the point that CONGRESS slapped their hand on it. I don't doubt there are people that truly get a great benefit from CPAP and I have spoken to them and read about them online. The thing is in the process of doing this an entire infrastructure was built around (the) guidelines. With the FMCSA withdrawing their rules on sleep apnea because of congressional mandates this left sleep labs and CPAP makers holding an expensive bag! A while back during an exam, I was interviewed by a sleep specialist as part of my epilepsy care. This is how prevalent this crap has got. This man told me he had no sleep apnea symptoms, NONE! Then went on to tell me he had a sleep study done and today sleeps with a CPAP. Then looked at me and said all the sudden he was sleeping better. It's not possible to have none of the sleep apnea symptoms then later find relief from a CPAP. Look I am not saying drivers are not getting better sleep. I'm just saying there is more to getting restful sleep than a dang CPAP. I am 61 now. I am in constant pain and because of this I can't really get into the deeper levels of sleep where REM sleep is, I just can't. I sometimes have to medicate. The thing is even with not getting a lot of REM sleep I am not waking up with headaches and falling asleep during the daytime. I'm sorry but I am not buying some of this sleep apnea crap!

 

People can have sleep apnea and never know it. That was me, I had crazy high sleep apnea and never knew anything different. So it was normal for me, we always here people say I'm not a morning person. They say don't talk to me till I had couple coffees

Their are different levels of CPAP machines. I have BiPAP machine it has two pressure setting. It's a $1200 machine and it a stepup from CPAP. I stopped breathing 96 times per hour and I never thought I had sleep apnea. I thought it was normal to have crazy dreams that wake you up. I did wake up from snoring sometime but people snore all the time. It was all normal to me. I put the numbers of AHI(sleep apnea) out before. Below 5 is normal and 30+ AHI is severe

 

We are already there, they have been rated for that for months.

As far as sleep study, the two I am familiar with only has a few beds. When a thousand people wait on that bed being used three days at a time it takes a while to get through all of them.

The one point of question I have is how tall are the OP? And how much weight is he? When he said he is 60 pounds over against the BMI... it does not help clarify the situation. My BMI is 24 or so at 194 or so. If I am 185 or less it will be 18.5 or so. If I was 260 pounds then it's over 30 on BMI and obese. I think anything over 28 is considered Obese and anything over 19 is overweight.

But a beanstalk could weigh normal BMI if he was tall enough. You follow me?

Another way to get BMI is to fill a tub with a known amount of water. Throw patient into it measure how much water sloshed over the rim. And there you have your information.

 

I appreciate you writing. However, I encourage you not to stress about the gap in your require time on employment or unemployed doing something else.

If I went to a company to hire on to drive for them they ask what did I do last 10 years? Two things, First part time caregiver to another person now and then, and medical patient going to surgeries and fixing what is necessary to fix. When finished surgery, it's physical therapy and medicines.

Why would i want to go back on the road with that history? Well, believe it or not, medicine has advanced to where I am fixed, just like a broken tractor trailer getting fixed. Eventually enough of me gets fixed by the doctors and healed to see about trucking again.

I consider myself fixed. But many companys will refuse my application because I have no employer since 2009. (When I was blind and had my first eye surgery that year) They will have to treat me just like a newbie fresh from school.

Once I get ahold of a tractor trailer, it will become obvious within the hour that I know how to drive the #### things, forward, backwards, stunting and so on. Now show me the paperwork, logs and such. I need to learn the fancy electronic doodads.

I rather not deal with the electronic BS, cell scanning papers etc. But it is what it is.

Sooner or later, you will find the right company for you. For me it's hauling medicines for McKesson in Memphis. High dollar narcotic loads and trauma kits, supplies medical tools and everything you can think of used to treat sick people or hurt bad in the hospital. I would do it for free. But it's fulfilling is the word I am trying to say.

Looking forward to hearing stories from you and your successes in later employment.

 

I will say this about sleep studies, CPAP and truck drivers. I think that the FMCSA should require ALL medical examiners to be free of any holdings that involve a sleep lab, or selling CPAP. can't be in a medical practice that employs sleep specialists. Can't be married to a person that does. If a ME is later determined to have violated this requirement they could be subject to a fine and losing their ME status.

I love how my last physical went with regard to OSA. Doc looked at my throat said looked good and gave me a 1-year card.

Just about every instance when I am told about a nightmare ME I later find out they own or are part of a sleep lab that sells CPAP.

Not every overweight trucker has sleep issues, and I find it (borderline) criminally offensive that some MEs imply this to be true.

I don't sleep well, this is on account of being in pain. I still wake up most mornings awake and ready to attack the upcoming day.

This sleep apnea thing is almost like the race card. Somebody will try to justify this boondoggle by saying it's all about safety (playing the safety card to silence) and telling of their own experience with sleep apnea and how they found God with their CPAP. If you like CPAP good for you. However like I said I have other issues with getting the quality sleep that has nothing to do with OSA. I get very little actual REM sleep because of my physical problems. I still don't have issues with alertness during the day AND I don't take a lot of naps.

One more thing about CPAP. I have run across another driver with OSA that is using the Mouth Guard to sleep. Getting better sleep using it. No CPAP needed.