Occupation and has cpap helped or hurt your career?

rock and roll · Post by **rock and roll** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 11:52 pm

I thought we might bring this jewell back. What is our occupation and has cpap helped your career or hurt?

I am a homefurnishings broker, I sell it all, dining, bedroom, occational, sofas, chairs, mattresses, pillows, chemical protectors, and on and on. Cpap, has made me function again, I again can drive, have energy, don't plan my time for the next nap, and in general, keeps my off disability.

Sergeant Bob · Post by **Sergeant Bob** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 12:11 am

I'm a truck driver. CPAP definitely helps me do my job. Before CPAP I often got sleepy while driving (although when I got real sleepy I would stop and take a nap). Now I rarely do.
In addition, if I hadn't gone on CPAP I wouldn't have been cleared to drive a truck again after my stay in the hospital. On our D.O.T. physical questionaires we are even asked if we snore (though most won't admit it anyway), so they're starting to take it pretty seriously. Actually, the physical itself isn't very tough. If you can fog a mirror and don't have real high blood pressure you're petty much good to go.

Pamela444 · Post by **Pamela444** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 12:30 am

I'm a 7th grade teacher, and my cpap has definitely helped me stay on top of things in my classroom. I feel tons better since I began using it nightly.

dsm · Post by **dsm** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 7:10 am

I am an IT Architect who specialises in Systems Integration (linking various types of hardware & software together). In my job I *have* to be alert.

I was being very negatively impacted by doziness & lack of concentration prior to starting cpap therapy.

CPAP has helped greatly. In my case, in the first several weeks I felt like I could leap tall buildings & didn't need much sleep but now that 'cpap high' phase has passed and now I feel I am settling in to a more normal balance with the therapy.

I do find that one bad night can be enough for me to feel pre cpap. My cpap machine is now a very important part of my dailing living.

DSM

Fatigue Fighter · Post by **Fatigue Fighter** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 10:13 am

I write, negotiate and manage contracts and technology licenses for a research and development firm. I have to be alert and clear-thinking with this job. I am hoping the BiPAP treatment works so I can dispose of the "brain fog" real soon!

FF

Boomer · Post by **Boomer** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 10:27 am

I am a Printed Circuit Board Designer, but my job has evolved into reviewing completed designs from our customers (I work for a contract manufacturer) for completeness and any fabrication or assembly issues that may arise, know as a DFM (Design For Manufacturing) review and DFF (Design for Fabrication) review. I also deal with any issues that come up during fabrication that were not apparent during the review.

I was falling asleep in front of my PC at work. My entire day is spent in front of the PC. I was also falling asleep in the car on the ride home, 46 miles, one way, all interstate driving.

Since starting CPAP, I am much more awake at work and do not get drowsy driving home.

I have also recently been selected to serve on the Grand Jury in the county where I live, and 1 entire day was spent listening to the county attorney reading Arizona statutes and I had no problem staying awake!

I feel so much better, overall. Still have a bad night once in a while, but I think we all do.

Boomer

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Sleep Pilgrim · Post by **Sleep Pilgrim** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 10:34 am

I'm a writer, currently working in the computer games industry (mostly massively multi-player online games), and being on cpap has truly helped me to be more creative--not to mention sharpened my concentration and boosted my energy levels.

Being fatigued and generally depressed made being a writer a very difficult task. I've noticed that ideas now flow easier and my work is accomplished with less errors and under deadline.

I'm no longer dreading the novel that has been languishing in my desk drawer for years.

Of course, the rest of my life has also seen a major change for the better.

-Will

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 3:27 pm

Unfortunatly I turned my job over to my assistant and retired, before being diagnosed and finding cpap.

peg · Post by **peg** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 4:11 pm

Dimensional Layout Tech here. I work for a company that manufactures lighting and mirrors for large trucks and trailers among other products. I am given parts and blue prints and use my equipment to check the dimensions. Work is placed on my shelves and I work on it. I have to be a self starter and stay motivated. It was pretty sad for about a year. But now, things are back to normal. I am being productive again, not falling asleep at my computer. I don't get sleepy driving anymore. I CLEANED MY WHOLE HOUSE TODAY!!! That needs to be shouted from the roof tops for sure!
I am me again and it sure is nice to know that I am not the only one who has went through this.

peg

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 6:31 pm

peg wrote:I CLEANED MY WHOLE HOUSE TODAY!!!

WOW I have not been able to do that for a couple of years. I have to do a little bit at a time and it never seems to be clean enough. When I get that much energy I think I will be ready to hire a maid though.

FF

Im2tired · Post by **Im2tired** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 11:11 pm

I'm a data analsyt at a bank. For the last 2 years it has been extremely difficult to do my job. During that time I was dx'd with other conditions that I thought were causing my fatigue (celiac diease and rheumatoid arthritis). but still I couldn't concentrate, was frequently lightheaded and had cognitive problems. I had trouble remembering things and trouble putting information together - not good for an analyst job! It was like one thought didn't have energy to get to the next. If I were new to my job instead of being there almost 20 years, I'm sure I would not have a job. Also many of my projects were cancelled. It has been an interesting experience to try to work with limited brain functions. I have been fortunate to be able to figure out things fairly easily all my life and to barely be able to think straight was very different. I was trying to think of what job I could still do that would make enough to take care of myself and pay my daughter's tuition expenses.

I keep asking phamacists and doctors if any of my medications could cause these symptom. I had an MRI since celiac disease can cause white brain lesions. I'm a type 1 diabetic and was also researching the impact of high/low blood sugar on your brain. When the MRI of my brain was fine the neurologist suggested the sleep study. I was relieved to get the results and know what was wrong with me.

So far the CPAP therapy is not going as well as I would like so I can't really say how it's effected my job. I am less tired but still have bad days and days when the lightheadedness comes back. I know I have to do this or I will have no life as I couldn't continue to function as I was. It's getting better but it's been very slow. It has made it easier to actually drive to work. I think the effects of the sleep apnea have made me insecure about my abilities and I still can't trust my brain to work when I want it to but hopefully that will get better.

Grabraham · Post by **Grabraham** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 6:48 am

I am a "Network Security Engineer" - I get paid to hack into other companies computer sytems (with their OK of course) There was an article written up on my company and my job: http://www.networkworld.com/research/20 ... audit.html

(yep thats me in the goofy picture)

CPAP has definatly made work betrer for me. I used to doze off at my desk and not even knowing it. It is alot easier to talk to clients face to face when you are not totaly exhausted

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 10:52 am

I am a court reporter who has been with the same agency for over 25 years. I get different assignments every afternoon for the next day. When I was diagnosed with OSA, I told my boss and she said she understood, but she really didn't when all her true colors came out. Until I was treated and started feeling relief, I was a walking zombie with no energy. Every day by 3:30-4:00, I would have trouble keeping my eyes open. I told this to my boss, but she didn't seem to understand that this meant I couldn't physically take some of the afternoon dense material type jobs I am accustomed to taking, like medical malpractice and school board hearings that are very difficult and are only given to the very experienced reporters and that go for hours and hours. On top of this, she was giving me things far from home, which meant I would not only be working late and hard, but then have to travel home in rush hour on Long Island. If you've ever been in rush hour on Long Island, that's not a fun thing to have to be in.

We finally had it out, seriously, and I got very upset and tried to make her understand that after all these years of taking everything they've thrown my way, I should be afforded a little understanding until I can get my energy level back and I held my ground and just plain flat out refused to take certain jobs she still tried to give me to take.

I am sorry to say, it made me realize that my relationship with my boss is just that, a relationship with a boss, and not as close as I thought we had become over the years. Also, I am aware that in my profession, you can be in it for as long as I have been and I'm still only as useful to them if I can do whatever it is they need me to do, regardless of the reasons why I may not be able to temporarily.

But that's okay. I am back on top now, ready and raring to take what is thrown my way. But I do still turn things down now if I don't want them because I see what being so compliant with this agency all these years has gotten me, a big fat nothing. But as long as they continue to keep me busy and pay me on time, I will look at it as I should have all along. It's a job, nothing more and nothing less. And nobody there could care less about how loyal or proficient you have been for 25 years. You'd just better be ready to continue to be that way or you're of no use to them. Sad lesson learned, but glad to have found out.

dsm · Post by **dsm** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 4:29 pm

Grabraham wrote: <snip>
(yep thats me in the goofy picture)
<snip>

Hey, thats a great pic - don't you just love what advertising agenciew will make you do for them

Also, interesting how many folk as a percent, are in IT related jobs.

When I was a kid the job everyone seemed to have was automobile related but that has changed sooo much in recent decades - what is amusing to me is that when I 1st joined IBM (in the mid 1960s) I had no idea what a computer was nor what it did. It took me years to get some idea even though I worked on the things.

Very few other people knew about computers either. People who had even minimal computer awareness used to think you had to be a 'boffin' if you did anything with computers. Even punched card machine operators were held in awe

Now I architect systems integration solutions with a focus on SOA - Service Oriented Architecture - (yeah I know, these days no one knows what that is but to my credit, I do )

Cheers

DSM

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 5:10 pm

What goofy photo???

Mask	Humidifier

Mask