Trucker Headed to Court=SAD

Rabid1 wrote:Patrick,

Should there be any form of monitoring or sanctioning of Commercial Truckers if they are diagnosed with OSA?

I do not think so....there already is enough hops for a Professional Truck Driver to jump through.

If a driver gets a dispatcher or safety director mad at them.... they can ruin the drivers courier.
It's bad enough they seem to hold it against you if you are obese or have diabetes.....
God forbid if you have your diabetes under control they will find a way to disqualify you.....
I know from experience....I worked for a company and the safety director didn't like me, and when he couldn't find a medical reason to fire me he came up with a false statement to get me fired.

OSA is such a hidden elusive disease that many don't have a clue that they even snore.If you really want to think about something scary,think about all of the people who are undiagnosed and may never be diagnosed that work in professions like:
operators at nuclear plants
microsurgeons
brain surgeons
people who take in and screen blood for infectious diseases used in transfusions
pharmacists that fill your precription and can't afford to make mistakes
school bus drivers
ambulance drivers

There are literally oodles of careers out there that have the potential to injure or kill others if the practitioner of them have undiagnosed sleep apnea.
The more media coverage our disorder gets,the more people will start to have awareness about this and the more that will undergo sleep studies and fix the problem.The trouble is,a sleep disorder is often the last disease or disorder people expect themselves to have, as daytime sleepiness mimics symptoms of a lot of other diseases.

Talk to your friends and loved ones,coworkers and even strangers and aquaintances about OSA.You might be the key that leads to treatment that saves not only the person you are talking to, but others lives also.
-Rapunzel111

This hits close to home with me. I am a truck driver on apap.I went to my Dr. a couple of years ago with the complaint that I was always feeling tired & sick to my stomach.He said at that time that sleep therapy was getting a lot of press & referred me to a sleep clinic.It is unreal the difference it made in my life.
Before apap I could not make it 40 miles down the road.Now I can make it through a 12 or 14 day without falling asleep at the wheel! WOOO HOOO!!!!!(which I was doing on a regular basis I am ashamed to admit)
The medical clinic that does our DOT(dept. of transportation) physicals has never asked about sleep apena nor have I ever volunteered any info.(don't need to now I feel)I honestly think that most drivers would deny having apena for fear of losing their medical card that is required for a CDL(commercial drivers license) I would be willing to bet there is a lot of driver with undiagnosed apena. Just my thoughts. Mike

Rapunzel111 wrote:OSA is such a hidden elusive disease that many don't have a clue

Therein lies the rub. Humans are extremely poor judges of their own fatigue.

Talk to your friends and loved ones,coworkers and even strangers and aquaintances about OSA.You might be the key that leads to treatment that saves not only the person you are talking to, but others lives also.
-Rapunzel111

I'm a chatterbox as it is, so I am already doing that.

If I were President of the U.S., I'd make it a REQUIREMENT for all humans to have a Sleep Test. This would save America BILLIONS in the long run as it would cut costs in general health care. It would also send job productivity through the roof as 02 fueled minds spring into action and find cures for all kinds of diseases and invents all kinds of new toys for telly to play with.

CPAP.com gets bought by Apple then their stock goes through the roof and Steve Jobs makes 10 times more money with the iCPAP then he ever did with any iPhone or iPod.

Can't do that? At least make it a REQUIREMENT to get a driver's license or any other sensitive job that was subject to public safety at the very least.

If you "Ruled the World", what would you do?

telly wrote:If you "Ruled the World", what would you do?

Invest in the "IPAP"