sleep-deprived and still driving

I must comment on a message posted last week. A cpap-user mentioned falling asleep at the wheel, and everyone who replied cautioned against revealing the too much info to doctors for fear of losing drivers license. Talk about a catch-22!

I found this website while searching for help for my brother-in-law. He unknowingly battled sleep apnea for years and now has heart failure along with a myriad of other apnea-related conditions including excessive daytime sleepiness. He is virtually unemployable now because of his health - but since he is his own boss, he still has a job: he is a self-employed truck driver (with no health insurance).

After coming very close to death recently, he was diagnosed with OSA and was put on a cpap. He has tried all sorts of masks and various air pressures, etc., but he ends up taking the mask off in his sleep. And his health is not getting any better.

When I say he is unemployable, I really mean it. With the damage to his heart, he has very little physical stamina. His edema gets so bad at times he can hardly move. His migraines take him out for days on end. He "sleeps" all the time, if you could call it that. I doubt that anyone would hire him now, even for a desk job.

He is a young man still - in his late thirties - and has a wife (my sister) and 3 young kids to consider. My sister works fulltime, but doesn't bring in enough to support the family and pay his medical bills. So if he were to quit driving, they would lose everything. (And if he were to get in a wreck, they would lose everything.)

His doctor says he would be eligible to get disability benefits - eventually. He has to be unable to work for 5 months before he would qualify. Even then, we hear it is very difficult to be approved.

So back to the issue of disclosing too much info to the doctors... The fear of losing his drivers license has forced my brother-in-law to tippy-toe around the most immediate danger to his health, which is sleep deprivation and not the sleep apnea itself.

By the way, does anyone have insight to getting approved for disability benefits?

Worried Sick,

Where are you located? Maybe someone can help directly.
I'm sorry to be the first to reply, for I don't have any answers for you. I'm hoping others do, and I'm pretty sure they will. In the meantime, where are you located, so that maybe we can help in that way too?

Oh dear god, I hope he's getting or can get the best medical help (sleep apnea and others) there is. Please, please keep in touch with this forum. And feel free to private message anyone on the forum if you think it helps.

Linda

Dear Worried Sick- The sleep apnea is causing the sleep deprivation. If the OSA is very severe he will fall asleep and kill himself and possibly others on the road with him.
If he is serious about treating the apnea, have him talk to his physician about an operation called a tracheostomy. Yes, cutting a hole in the throat was the only treatment around before CPAP machines and it worked well by bypassing the upper airway at night when the patient slept. During the day the patient capped the hole and was able to breathe normally.

This is drastic treatment but I for one have no desire to be driving on the same road with asleep drivers. I do believe that one State (I think Maryland )has passed a law making it a crime to drive while sleepy. The woman responsible for geeting this law passed had a daughter killed by a driver who fell asleep behind the wheel.
Get Help!!!