truckerdad57

How often do you clean your cpap and how much upper airway infections you deal with might be an interesting outcomes research project.

I use cpap in a sleeper berth equipped semi truck about 300 nights a year. Due to dust and dirt I have to be pretty anal about cleaning or I get bronchitis. When first started cpap I didn't keep it as clean and had more issues.

I now even use a soclean mask hose sterilization unit. No bronchitis problems for a couple of years now.

Again. ..mask hose and humidifier cleaning regimes correlation to complications rates.....

Another factor would be exactly what type of home sleep study was done. There is a big difference between hst and full in lab attended studies. Psg

Only your own doctors who know your whole history and have seen you should make treatment suggestions.

Given witnessed apnea and the low overnight oximetry results I would be asking if a full in lab psg might be appropriate even with the marginal ahi 7 hst.

Then again I drive truck for a living. This advice might be worth exactly what you paid for it.

The new Asaa forums mentioned above are on Facebook.

If you are uncomfortable posting about your medical conditions with your real Facebook identity .. anyone who follows you on facebook would see your post.. apneaboard.com uses a screen name system like this site.

It has a good reputation for technical issues.

Please let us know here how things go. It would be interesting to hear what you think about help from online forums versus other sources.

I can see the value of these forums as a place to discuss the research issues around sleep apnea and the uses of MyApnea.org.

BUT... why reinvent the wheel regarding general questions and issues on sleep apnea treatment that were being effectively handled in a patient to patient forum in the old ASAA support forums.

In posting a response to questions about CPAP camping and battery use I am frustrated as the old ASAA forums had old threads and stickies covering normal questions like those posted. There was an active community of users who would have provided good information much quicker than it took here.

Personally I have gone into the details on batteries for CPAP use, inverters, trade offs of various battery types, where to find battery draw data for models based on pressure, dealing with lack of humidification with sinus irrigation, and other topics many times on the old ASAA forums.

Instead of having to retype answers being able to link to threads where the answers had already been discussed in detail by multiple forum participants makes much more sense than starting over here.

Also, from having been active for over a decade the old ASAA forums had a high ranking in search engine results for sleep apnea related search terms. Using the forums to generate interest in and traffic to myapnea.org would be possible if the server issues with ASAA were given a priority. I can understand the need to address myapnea.org start up issues. But....

Just my personal opinion.

I got this request from a GOOD occ med specialist dealing with sleep apnea in trucking.

"Do you know of source of even anecdotal data about the impact that a diagnosis of OSA has on the ability of a commercial driver to be employed, accomodated, and retained in commercial driving? I have a really unusual work-related OSA case in a driver (d/t trauma) and the only really systematic guide I have to impairment estimates in OSA is the rather odd DOD Blue Book."

In working with him there is NO good research or information on the topic for any profession. There is an active public policy debate about the amount of disability that is appropriate for veterans. The current 50% disability rating for sleep apnea is under fire, Example military pilots retiring with sleep apnea get a 50% disability rating. Yet, they can immediately get a FAA flight physical and rating as a commercial pilot.

Myapnea.org might be a source to collect data on this topic to provide hard data in a current public policy debate.

I have dealt with loss of performance bonuses for idling my truck to power my cpap. This also resulted in loss of pay raises, promotion issues, and new truck assignment issues. While anecdotal my personal experience is that there is a economic impact to a diagnosis of sleep apnea in trucking.

From experience as a moderator on the ASAA forums I had fielded questions about accommodations for OSA in other professions but due to the nature of the ASAA forums using them to accumulate data on a questions was not possible.

This might be another possible research topic.

This articles goes into more detail on the advisory and has a link to the actual FMCSA text.

Some in sleep medicine have commented the advisory raises more questions than it answers.

http://www.sleepscholar.com/fmcsa-issues-advisory-on-sleep-apnea/

But......

We lose Mark's voice on the NTSB. His leadership there has made fatigue and sleep apnea part of regular NTSB accident review processes.

Having presented at the Kentucky State Sleep Society where we both were able to tour sleep medicine professionals through a working CMV able to show them the practical issues of dealing with sleep apnea in a sleeper berth CMV he is a very valuable resource in improving patient outcomes in transportation.

I do wish him well in his new role.

On camping..... there are portable battery CPAP on the market that were designed for low power usage. Transcend by Somnetics and Z-1 by HDM are both available with lithium ion battery packs and solar chargers designed for them.

If you are going to use your home CPAP you need to convert 12-V battery power to what the CPAP needs. ResMed and Phillips both have 12-V power supplies for some models (ResMed S-9 yes... new S-10 not yet). Otherwise you need to involve an inverter. Inverter issues then get into how old your CPAP might be. Old models like the ResMed S-8 require special pure sine wave inverter to avoid burning out blower motors or scrambling compliance electronics. The new F/P Icon has issues when run on inverters.

Battery options depend on how you will be using it. Many folks use auto or RV deep cycle batteries. But you need to remember they give off hydrogen while charging and need good ventilation. Nicad batteries are cheap but develop a memory when used in a "float" charging application like a power failure set up. Lithium ion batteries are more expensive but work better.

There is not a specific brand of battery needed. Some manufacturers do offer battery packs specific for their machines but you don't need them.

Another thing to look at when camping is cpap induced hypothermia. There is another thread on the topic here.

Need2sleep

First I'm not a doc and we don't have your full medical history. There are a whole host of things that can affect how long it takes to feel better. It's going to take a few weeks at the minimum. You are getting over probably years of sleep disturbances. The sleep doctors call it sleep debt.

About your job... Sleep apnea is a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act as Amended. Talk to your human resources department. Temporary accommodations like a reduced schedule or times to nap until your treatment has things better are required if you request.

This is a news story about someone else in a similar situation. From working with truck drivers and ADAA issues the person in this story will win in court.

http://www.oregonlive.com/beaverton/index.ssf/2014/11/comcast_customer_rep_keeps_fal.html

Welcome to the wonderful world of being a hose head.

There is lots of new and exciting things to learn about. Take a look at the thread on tap versus distilled water for example.

Has your sleep specialist done a compliance data download yet? Making sure that the settings are good for you and solving the apneas will go a long way to getting to the teenager feeling.

Give it some time though. Remember you are getting over years of interrupted sleep. It's going to take a while.