Concerned about going to doctors

I have little doubt my boyfriend has apnea. All the usual symptons. He is reluctant to get an official diagnosis from a doctor as this would, we understand, be refected on his licence to operate plant. This is vital to his job. My questions 1. Is our understanding correct about his licence.?

1. Can he self treat by buying a CPAP machine. Is there a benefit to seeing the GP?
2. If we do buy a machine what should we consider? Thanks so much for anyones help. Im scared for him when i see him not breathing in his sleep and falling asleep constantly.

Hi Hypat1a,

There is no simple answer to your first question because there are too many unknowns and a simple answer would probably be irresponsible.

There have been a number of discussions in this forum on the subject in the past that it might be helpful for you to skim through.

These are just a few of them:

Threat to License

Truck Driver

Try a CPAP

The second question could be answered more easily but much of it comes down to trial and error and once again more information would be helpful.

You need a prescription to buy a new CPAP machine in the US and a mask as well. However, you can buy a used machine (SecondWind.com), and you can buy the mask parts without a prescription to assemble the mask yourself. I would select an ResMed AirSense 10 Auto machine as a first choice, and a DreamStation Auto as a second choice.

That said, there may be options to have a home sleep test done first without setting off any alarm bells.

may i suggest asking your doctor their responsibility of having to report sleep apnea patients to transport dept. having the appropriate information a decision can be made. if a sleep study is done and apnea is determined,ensure the machine is used nightly to show a history of use and the results. the machines are not easy to get used to,but they are necessary. an initial issue was for me was the pressure setting.

This is very disturbing. Does he live in Australia or else where?

Before my treatment, I was a danger to society and almost got fired! My fatigue was so bad that I was micro-sleeping while driving. I would conk out at work and got written up to HR and was threatened to lose my job. No one was treating me as if it was a condition, but like a personality problem.

Rollback to 2004, my family told me to get tested just because I was napping during any time I would watch TV and I finally did in 2005. The test was several electrodes and said I was negative for apnea. My condition just got worse and it started to affect my driving and work in 2014. I also started coughing all the time for a year. After the threat of being fired, I asked my doctor to get retested. Such a jerk, he just said if I lost weight, I would no longer have an issue. And he thought my cough was just allergies or acid reflux.

I was lucky my dad had a spare CPAP and he let me borrow it. WOW! Almost in one night, I was cured. My fatigue and cough and depression from them were gone instantly. I begged my doctor to get a test telling him my experience. He reluctantly allowed it.

The new test that just attached to two fingers recorded my sleep and oxygen levels correctly. It showed I had only 5 minutes of deep sleep and stopped breathing 108 times per hour. My oxygen was dangerously low. During this whole time I was so glad that I had my dad's machine. I think it was almost 2 weeks before I got my own machine. I was in a group appointment where 10 people were getting tested at the same time. There were patients in there that didn't even think they should be there but were there on the recommendation from their doctor. Made me think I had a real jerk of a doctor.

My point is that apnea is very treatable and people with apnea but without treatment are the only ones that can cause danger. After proving to my boss (who is actually a friend outside of work) that my behavior was a condition and not a choice, I still couldn't get things cleared up with HR. I even wrote to HR directly and got nothing back. They ended up laying everyone off including my boss so it didn't matter in the end.

Definitely get him treatment even if you side step the doctors. Learn how to get into the doctor menu of the unit (usually holding down the home+dial for ResMed or ramp+dial for Philips) so you can tweak the settings. The mask fit is so important. I've gone through 5 different models before finally finding the right fit. I'm using ResMed AirFit F20 (large full face) now and love it.