truckerdad57

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.

Lou

I'm active with the American Sleep Apnea Association message board forums.

I see posts like yours all the time.

Imho part of long term success in dealing with sleep apnea is becoming an educated medical consumer. Knowing more about the problems symptoms and issues with your condition so you can advocate and ask questions of your treating sleep specialist.

Sometimes it knowing that it's ok to fire your sleep specialist and get a second opinion.

Oma.. Welcome to the Forums.

Your post opens a whole can of worms. First.... I'm not a doc. . I'm just a truck driver with sleep apnea who is involved with international abuse testing of cpap machines in semi trucks. So I've got experience in what you are asking about.

I will run a test cpap machine on bottled water and distilled water. I see how long it takes me to break it and why.

At home I test machines on tap water.

But to keep the legal and Irb gremlins from coming out I need to remind you that any information I give might be worth exactly what you pay for it. Nothing....

Next.... to keep the cpap machine manufacturers from getting mad I need to say you should always read and follow the manufacturers instructions for your cpap.

Ok.... now... There are other forums about sleep apnea where your question has been discussed at length.

I happen to be a big fan of America Sleep Apnea Association forums http://www.apneasupport.org/ in the Cpap machine masks. ... forum you could probably find a dozen or so threads started by other users on this topic. Stop by the Asaa forums to get a taste.

Distilled versus tap depends on how often you're going to be on changing the water, how clean is your tap water, how hard is your tap water, what make and model of cpap are you using, and do you have any medical conditions that make you catch upper respiratory tract infections easily?

The first trade off with tap versus distilled are the little bugs swimming around in any tap water. If it's pretty clean US water it's not a big deal. But if you are looking at using tap water while on vacation in Africa that might not be smart. If you dump and replace the water in the chamber every morning that helps.

I've seen some pretty bad cases of the green slymies from folks using tap water and not cleaning things.

My first winter on cpap I got a bad case of bronchitis probably from not being good about cpap cleaning.

So one vote for distilled water if you get infections easily.

The other problem is lime and hard water deposits in the humidification chamber. You can clean them out with vinegar and water. Be sure to rinse everything well.

The humidification chambers on some cpap are much easier to clean than others. ( Fisher Paykel Hc versus the new Icon) Some models have optional disposable humidification chambers (ResMed s9).

So if you don't mind dealing with lime in your humidification chamber that would be a vote for tap water.

For me I hate cleaning humidification chambers and don't like the smell of vinegar so I use distilled water whenever I can. On the other hand living on the road sometimes I run out of distilled water so I use bottled water and deal with the lime when I get home. At home I use tap water because I'm lazy and have an S9 with disposable humidification chambers.

Welcome to being a hose head.

Hope this helps.

Al...

Sorry to hear you learned about elevation and cpap treatment the hard way.

Hoser... hose head. .... apneatic....

Crusty old truck driver. .12 years on cpap now.

What do you call yourself as a cpap user?