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Re: Forced by job to get testing and CPAP I don't need..
Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 2:18 pm
by sookiebulldog
Thanks Pugsy. Ill update what happens. I feel they want to sell me a cpap either way. The vendor is getting rich making all these employees pay and get cpaps plus schedule all these appointments. So far anyone with a 5 or greater AHI out of the overnight study is forced to purchased a cpap machine and is monitored to use it 4 hours every nite or they are removed from service at work. I would of figured my oxygen would of went down if I stopped breathing so that information is good to know. Thank you again.
thanks Janknitz.. I don't want a CPAP just in case.. $600-$1200 out of pocket at the moment.. Ill do my best to sleep thanks.
Re: Forced by job to get testing and CPAP I don't need..
Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 2:21 pm
by sookiebulldog
I'll delete the post then.. I am try to find information on how this process works and if someone can have sleep apnea who experience no symptoms.. not looking to "whine".. but you would be aggravated if someone was trying to shove aspirin down your through for the headache you don't have either.
Re: Forced by job to get testing and CPAP I don't need..
Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 2:26 pm
by Duck
sookiebulldog wrote:if someone can have sleep apnea who experience no symptoms
I'll say most of us did not
understand the symptoms we had were symptoms of sleep apnea.
Re: Forced by job to get testing and CPAP I don't need..
Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 2:28 pm
by Pugsy
sookiebulldog wrote:I'll delete the post then.. I am try to find information on how this process works and if someone can have sleep apnea who experience no symptoms.. not looking to "whine".. but you would be aggravated if someone was trying to shove aspirin down your through for the headache you don't have either.
No. Don't do that. There are those of us here who understand that you don't want to have to use a machine unless there is a proven need.
Trust me...I understand. I would rather not use it myself.
I didn't think that you were "whining". I heard "frustration"...and it's understandable. My husband is an over the road truck driver. His company has a similar policy for their drivers.
These places don't make this stuff up though just to sell something. There are certain guidelines that they have to go by when coming up with the official diagnosis. The reduction in air flow has to be a certain amount for one thing. There has to be documentation proving that so and so happened.
It's kinda like being pregnant...no half way. They don't give you a diagnosis just to sell you something. They don't make this stuff up...you earn it by the air flow.
Re: Forced by job to get testing and CPAP I don't need..
Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 2:30 pm
by Wulfman...
sookiebulldog wrote:Hello recently my employer decided they want to test their overweight people for sleep apnea. I am being forced into the testing since I am fat. I have no symptoms of sleep apnea.. I sleep perfectly each night and wake up with full energy as long as I had gotten between 6-8 hours of sleep.. (I normally get 6-7). I have no day time sleepiness nor am I tired all day. I rarely snore unless sleeping on my back in a weird position. Yet because I have a big neck and am fat my employer decided I am a candidate for sleep apnea. I took an employer contracted home sleep test and it came back with an AHI of 8.3. the result of 8.3 puts me in the mild case of possible OSA.. they want to now do an overnight study. There is no way I will sleep at an overnight study and I have to take a day or two unpaid time off to do this test. If my AHI is 5 or below everything would go away and I move on as normal. I figured the first home sleep test came out with an 8.3 because I slept on my stomach and was pushing the monitor into my throat disturbing my sleep. I recommend I do another home sleep test at my cost. This time I did the test quietly and peacefully lying awake in my bed for 6 hours monitoring the test. (I feel this forced testing and a lot of the OSA politics surrounding my issue was a scam) I wore my OWN o2 sensor on my other hand to monitor my oxygen and heart rate. My heart rate stayed steady at 79-85 and it showed my o2 stayed around 92-98%. The result came back higher with a 12 AHI... How does this test say I stop breathing while I am awake??? Any help surrounding these home sleep tests and these results would be most helpful.
Maybe they caught your sleep apnea before it got worse. This can take years to develop and it doesn't go from "zero to sixty" overnight. You should consider yourself lucky. If you always sleep on your stomach, it may be accurate.
Just accept it and use it.
Den
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Re: Forced by job to get testing and CPAP I don't need..
Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 2:32 pm
by chunkyfrog
Either use cpap--or get a different job.
Safety is for everyone.
Could you live with harming an innocent human being because you dislike the rules?
Re: Forced by job to get testing and CPAP I don't need..
Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 2:54 pm
by Cardsfan
Do you drive a vehicle? If you have untreated SA, you are a danger to yourself and others on the road.
Re: Forced by job to get testing and CPAP I don't need..
Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 3:16 pm
by sookiebulldog
Thank you Pugsy for understanding. I have sat at plenty of doctor appointments with other frustrated truck drivers, CDOT workers, and railroaders in the waiting rooms. I do not drive company vehicles or operate equipment.. They consider me safety sensitive just because I 'CAN' walk about or around the railroad tracks. So basically if I pass out while walking from sleep apnea and lay in the middle of the rail I could "possibly" kill myself.. but since I work with a group of people they would all have to either leave me there or pass out with me.
And to confirm the AHI was 8 with the home sleep test while sleeping
The AHI was 12 while I laid awake with it the whole night
is it possible I do not know how to breath while sleeping and awake yet feel perfectly fine all day with NO signs of tiredness, sleepiness, exhaustion, irritability, or any other symptom that is listed under sleep apnea???
Re: Forced by job to get testing and CPAP I don't need..
Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 3:40 pm
by Pugsy
sookiebulldog wrote:is it possible I do not know how to breath while sleeping and awake yet feel perfectly fine all day with NO signs of tiredness, sleepiness, exhaustion, irritability, or any other symptom that is listed under sleep apnea???
Is it possible to have OSA and no outward symptoms that is normally associated with OSA? Sure. Anything is possible especially when in the really "mild" category. OSA is usually more of a progressive type of problem than something that markedly changes over a relatively short period of time.
Meaning it starts out mild and gets worse with time. The thing is though that sometimes the getting worse (to the point that those usual symptoms manifest themselves) the body gradually learns to accept the new norm and doesn't really recognize how bad things are getting.
I don't know that is what is happening with you or not....but it can happen. No symptoms of a disease but still have the disease. It happens all the time.
At any rate...the AHI of 8 with the home sleep study and you got some sleep...is diagnostic so further investigation is needed to see for sure what might be happening. If you really do have OSA and it's mild at 8 per hour average...better to find out now than later after things have progressed and gotten much worse and damage is done to your body.
If that home study picked up some awake stuff by mistake (like the one you tried)....and you don't really have that diagnostic AHI of 8...better to find out for sure and put this all behind you and keep the HR department off your back.
Re: Forced by job to get testing and CPAP I don't need..
Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 3:46 pm
by Goofproof
It is possible you would rather spend more effort complaining about what you are forced to do, than man up and follow the rules. I don't like the government
and others telling me what I have to do, but I'm not going it let it keep me from taking care of business. Could deliver newspapers on a bike, I guess, until they make more rules. Jim
Re: Forced by job to get testing and CPAP I don't need..
Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 4:57 pm
by JimW159
sookiebulldog wrote:I'll delete the post then.. I am try to find information on how this process works and if someone can have sleep apnea who experience no symptoms.. not looking to "whine".. but you would be aggravated if someone was trying to shove aspirin down your through for the headache you don't have either.
Why would I complain? - quite often it is said "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Aspirin is often directed as a first line of defense against strokes and heart attacks. What I am hearing is one who thinks any admission of a health issue is an admission of personal weakness and failure.
Re: Forced by job to get testing and CPAP I don't need..
Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 5:19 pm
by Wulfman...
JimW159 wrote:sookiebulldog wrote:I'll delete the post then.. I am try to find information on how this process works and if someone can have sleep apnea who experience no symptoms.. not looking to "whine".. but you would be aggravated if someone was trying to shove aspirin down your through for the headache you don't have either.
Why would I complain? - quite often it is said "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Aspirin is often directed as a first line of defense against strokes and heart attacks.
What I am hearing is one who thinks any admission of a health issue is an admission of personal weakness and failure.
Yeah. We've heard that so many times on the forum.......
Macho, macho man (macho man)
I've got to be, a macho man
Den
.
Re: Forced by job to get testing and CPAP I don't need..
Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 5:30 pm
by greatunclebill
If they offered you $10mm to sleep in a bed at night hooked to wires you would try to be first in line and sleep like a baby. think about that.
Re: Forced by job to get testing and CPAP I don't need..
Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 5:40 pm
by Goofproof
JimW159 wrote:sookiebulldog wrote:I'll delete the post then.. I am try to find information on how this process works and if someone can have sleep apnea who experience no symptoms.. not looking to "whine".. but you would be aggravated if someone was trying to shove aspirin down your through for the headache you don't have either.
Why would I complain? - quite often it is said "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Aspirin is often directed as a first line of defense against strokes and heart attacks. What I am hearing is one who thinks any admission of a health issue is an admission of personal weakness and failure.
However I was taking that Aspirin 3.25mg daily when Sleep Apnea triggered my last heart attack. I might have needed a few more Oz's of prevention... Jim
Re: Forced by job to get testing and CPAP I don't need..
Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 6:40 pm
by greatunclebill
sookiebulldog wrote:I'll delete the post then.. I am try to find information on how this process works and if someone can have sleep apnea who experience no symptoms.. not looking to "whine".. but you would be aggravated if someone was trying to shove aspirin down your through for the headache you don't have either.
the answer to your question is yes. if the sleep test says you have apnea and the doctor prescribes a cpap, then you have apnea no matter how you think you feel. if a doctor were to prescribe a cpap and you don't have a medical need, at best it could cost him his md license, at worst there could be criminal charges. you are blessed that they are finding it early when you haven't done much damage.