Walmart Sleep apnea requirement?

Disclaimer: I am not a physician nor is this medical advice. Nothing I say on here is company approved or policy, simply my humble opinion.

I’ve been a Truck driver for around 3 years. Prior to that I was a registered and licensed Technologist in sleep disorders lab.

An apnea (obstructive or central) is a minimum of 10 seconds. I’ve frequently seen much longer, including 2+ minutes per apnea, with oxygen level desaturations so low that the pulse oximeter could even read it. I’ve seen how it directly and immediately affects the heart in very dangerous ways.

As far as the “meaning” of an apnea, the company does not set that. Generally speaking, Medicare uses a criteria of a minimum of 10 seconds of not breathing with an associated 4% drop in oxygen levels from baseline. In my experience, most private insurance companies use the 10 seconds with an associated 3% drop in oxygen level and/or a minimum 3 second “arousal” from sleep (based on EEG/ brain wave patterns).

There are also Hypopneas. Think of these as partial obstructions in you airway vs 90%+ obstructions.

 

Incorrect. Sleep tests can show many signs/symptoms of different sleep disorders.

Neck size is definitely an indicator. Fit or not. You’re talking weight on your tiny airway. You think an extremely fit power lifter or NFL player can’t have severe apnea?

 

“If your O2 levels stay above 88% all night, you do not have sleep apnea to the level that treatment with a CPAP machine is needed and/or should ever cause daytime sleepiness”

Not true at all. That criteria generally will not qualify you for supplemental oxygen though, depending on other factors such as commorbidities.

The every 2 hours thing is common. A lot of people have much worse apnea and oxygen levels during REM sleep, which generally is at the end of a sleep cycle ever 90-120 minutes. Generally we have shorter REM periods at the start of the night and longer at the end. And longer NREM (non-REM) at the start and shorter NREM at the end. This can be affected by many things though, such as medications, diseases, alcohol, etc.

I hope your PAP is working well for you!

In addition to CPAP, there are different types of BPAPs as well. That another story though.

 

If you drive for Walmart, they will not only pay for your CPAP, they will provide a medical inverter to power it!

 

I'd just like to comment that if you get a cpap through wally that they do monitor it every day including home time and vacations, or at least they used to. A driver I know was called at home the night before the start of his work week and told not to come in as he hadn't been using his cpap while off.

 

Sounds like a blessing in disguise. Never force anything. There's nothing in there about sleep apnea. Just go get a second opinion from a different DR that is on the registry while accepting a 3month-1 year card. Then you just go get a 2 year card from a different DR that's on their special registry. plenty of good jobs out there.