Can/Should You Take Time Off Work For Treatment?

well it dont matter who she name this person business should't have been brought up. why would I want to know who job granted medical leave for sleep apnea I know people now who gets disability for their sleep apnea so if she needs time off and her doctor wrote that and her job approve it well so be it we dont pay her salary so I dont care if she needs time off. I thought this site was for people to meet other people that have sleep apnea and to find out things to learn. I didn't know your busniess could be posted on here I guess I have to be careful in what I say

CandyADiva wrote:well it dont matter who she name this person business should't have been brought up. why would I want to know who job granted medical leave for sleep apnea I know people now who gets disability for their sleep apnea so if she needs time off and her doctor wrote that and her job approve it well so be it we dont pay her salary so I dont care if she needs time off. I thought this site was for people to meet other people that have sleep apnea and to find out things to learn. I didn't know your busniess could be posted on here I guess I have to be careful in what I say

My last post on this topic.

I don't know who snorefest is ?
I don't have the slightest clue who the 'woman' is that is being referred to.

Do you ?

Cheers

DSM

I wish I could take 4 weeks off to get some rest and blame it on my apnea . Then get 2 1/2 months off when school gets out for summer. Winter break, spring break . Then sit back and complain that I'm underpaid.

CPAP treatment is really tough. You put on a mask and you go to sleep. What other ailment is that easy.... I confess I did fall asleep in the dentist chair years ago while getting a crown . The best rest I ever had was under anesthesia... Didn't stop for 3 days I felt so good.

Tally Ho

Waverly

People work fulltime while getting chemotherapy and radiation. She worked BEFORE her sleep apnea was diagnosed so she should get off her rearend and go to work. I mean put it in perspective, who has NOT gone to work TIRED. It is the American way of life. Sleep Apnea is not terminal UNLESS you CHOOSE to do nothing about it. If anyone here has ever been put on Blood Pressure medication....they understand how difficult it is and how awful it makes you feel. Do people stay home because of that? I don't think so. Good grief, totally disabled people, paralyzed, in wheelchairs hold jobs using mouthpieces and electronics..and we feel we have the right to piss and moan and stay home because we are "tired". Get a grip, look around you......noone said life is easy. Deal with it!

I have a confession to make.

I have been using cpap for almost one year now. I did not have the time to go for a sleep study. I just bought an autopap and started using it.

I've been thinking whether I should go for a sleep study. Anyway I now feel like 100% better. I dont feel tired now despite working a very busy day.

I can remember vividly I was falling asleep when talking to people and also after a long day of working yawning constantly on my way driving home prior to cpap treatment.

waverly-
1- I did not take time off for sleep apnea.
2- I've had surgery this summer, using my entire time off in a leg cast with 2 small children so I didn't have to take time off work
3- I have never complained about being underpaid
4- It sounds like you would like to teach and do what I do every day because you think I have it easy. Please, by all means, come do what I do. I love it and it sounds like you would too!
5- I have only responded to the post to ask people to please consider the fact that you, nor anyone else, including myself, knows all the facts. I think it is sad that someone like snorefest can come to an otherwise friendly and very supportive forum and get support in an issue unrelated to her personal apnea that is upsetting to others. I would bet that there are others out there like me that don't know the story and would not support snorefest in her attack if they were honest with everyone. I also find it interesting that almost eveyone that has weighed in on the issue is a guest to this forum.

That's the last of my 2 cents.
Sue

Man, no kidding. Why does everyone assume a workplace is a big conglomerate? FYI, the "human resources department" consists of a secretary filling out the forms, and our weekly meetings -- where EVERYONE gets a say in this sort of thing -- consist of the entire firm. Everybody fits in our room.

The "president" of our agency is actually against the time off, but others (including me) shrugged our shoulders and said "whatever."

My issue IS honesty and whether the Sleep Apnea was an excuse. You know why? I have sleep apnea, too. So do a kajillion people, including others at my agency (no, not insurance -- why in the world would you leap to that conclusion?). Taking time off for stress would be allowed -- but not two months worth, frankly. This is a stressful, competitive job. She knew that going in.

You know what? It looks like we will hire another person. And we'll have to cut benefits to afford it. You've all been very helpful.

Well you should have talk about it in your group meeting at your job not here. This forum is for sleep apnea( Cpap- Mask ETc.......) Well somebody gave her the time off and if you dont like you maybe you should look for a new job since her taking time off is going to make you even more stressful than you say you are. Shut Up about it and deal with it.

The following quotes are from Snorefest:

My issue IS honesty and whether the Sleep Apnea was an excuse. You know why? I have sleep apnea, too.

Really? What's your AHI?

EVERYONE gets a say in this sort of thing -- consist of the entire firm. Everybody fits in our room. The "president" of our agency is actually against the time off, but others (including me) shrugged our shoulders and said "whatever."

Really? You cast your vote to grant her the medical leave? In another post you wrote:

I just cannot for the life of me imagine how it would help or why the firm should be granting this time off (it really puts us in a bind). I would so much like to have some insight on what's going on here... all her clients are dumped in my lap. It's hard not to feel resentful.

So which is it? Think hard and remember, your issue IS honesty.

Meanwhile, a note to the woman whose private business has been publicized by Snorefest: Your lawsuit is unimpeachable and no company could keep a worker in their employ found guilty of harassment with such overwhelming evidence. Don't forget the damages for mental anguish and emotional distress. Pettiness and vindictiveness have proved quite costly in today's workplace and Snorefest has just cost her company countless thousands of dollars should you choose to pursue it.

A Guest wrote:

I have a confession to make.

I have been using cpap for almost one year now. I did not have the time to go for a sleep study. I just bought an autopap and started using it.

I've been thinking whether I should go for a sleep study. Anyway I now feel like 100% better. I dont feel tired now despite working a very busy day.

Heheh, well.....I don't look at that as a "confession". I look at it as something you should be proud of doing for yourself. But I'm a bit prejudiced since that's what I did, too. Not because of not having the time for a sleep study, but because of no insurance. I weighed the pros and cons of how best to spend my own money for treatment.

Good equipment won out, instead of an expensive diagnostic sleep study to tell me what I already knew.

Good equipment won out, as in an autopap to automatically use what pressure I need - all night, every night - instead of an expensive sleep clinic titration to find just one pressure that I might not even need all the time.

A person going that route really needs an autopap with software in order to tweak the treatment well.

Of course this kind of approach works out best if just plain vanilla OSA is the sleep disorder and a person is otherwise healthy.

Even though I have felt absolutely great during "treating myself", I also toyed with the idea of eventually getting a formal sleep study done. However, almost two successful years into it (and the outlay for a Tempur-Pedic bed for comfy sleeping) and doing several nights with a borrowed recording pulse oximeter which showed me the good difference in my O2 levels while using the machine....nah... there's no night in a sleep clinic in my future unless some clinic wants to do it free. (And will let me use my chopped down Aura and my own adhesive tape during the titration!)

Sorry about sidetracking in this thread, but it's kind of nice to read about others taking up the reins of their own treatment and having it work out well.

In answer to your questions: What's my AHI? I have no idea what you're talking about. Last physical, my doctor sent a barrage of people to my home with a device attached to a recorder that I had to attach to myself while I slept, and I was told "Wow." That's about as far as I'VE gone. When I get more time, I'll address the issue further. My doctor told me losing about 30 pounds will help. I also have ingrown toenails. Haven't done anything about that either. Oh, and I believe I'm also due for a trip to the eye doctor, the dentist, and probably should get my colon checked out.

As for my asking how it would help or why the firm should be granting this time off -- part of the decision making process, genius. I didn't cast a vote to grant the medical leave. I cast a vote for "whatever." We could check with our lawyers, but it didn't seem worth it at the time. Just give her the time off.

However, responses like yours got me to thinking about "what about when/if we grow and this happens more often?" and I do thank you for that. We're now working with our lawyers on our benefits package and cutting it down to only what we're legally required to do (at our size, it's virtually nothing), and reworking our compensation package in general so that those who work on a particular account receive direct benefit, and people who work harder/longer can afford their own insurance. I cast my vote for that, as well.

Ripples in a pond. I never thought we'd become such a stingy business. We've always been more like family. But this is clearly more widespread a mindset than we thought (naive.... we're stopping that right now), and we have to protect ourselves. The honor system isn't working.

thank you for your help. I thought I just needed some soulsearching, but I guess what I needed to do was to bring our vulnerability to the company's attention. I have a feeling there are others on this board similarly conflicted who also needed their eyes opened. It's not just blue collar workers who suffer from sleep apnea.

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): AHI

Titrator wrote:acronym: Apnea Hypopnea Index

AHI (Apnea Hypopnea Index) is the number of apneas and hypopneas per hour. 5-20 mild, 21-50 moderate, above 50 severe

To determine AHI add the total number of Apnea events, plus Hypopnea events and divide by the total number of minutes of actual sleep time, then multiplied by 60.

Example

Apnea + Hypopnea divided by actual sleep time, then multiply by 60

200 Apnea
200 Hypopnea

400 Total Events

420 Actual Sleep time (7 hours)

Divide 400 by 420 =.95 x 60 = 57 AHI (Severe OSA)

Don't feel bad for not knowing it, I have been treated for OSA for going on 20 years and still don't know what mine is/was.....At the time they described it as waking up and sitting up in bed every 30 seconds, and I was the worst case they had ever seen, that was good enough for me...

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): AHI, Hypopnea

The following quotes are from Snorefest:

My issue IS honesty and whether the Sleep Apnea was an excuse. You know why? I have sleep apnea, too.

In answer to your questions: What's my AHI? I have no idea what you're talking about. Last physical, my doctor sent a barrage of people to my home with a device attached to a recorder that I had to attach to myself while I slept, and I was told "Wow." That's about as far as I'VE gone.

Really? People came to your home and you had to attach a device to yourself? But in a previous post you wrote that you simply assumed you have sleep apnea because you snore so loudly:

I know I have sleep apnea myself (no idea to what degree... I just know no human ... or cat... can sleep in the same room with me while I gasp and wheeze in my sleep), and plan to treat it sometime, so I'm not trying to belittle the disorder.

So which is it? Think hard and remember, your issue IS honesty.

I didn't cast a vote to grant the medical leave. I cast a vote for "whatever."

You didn't take a stand then. So you're raking her through the coals publicly now. Such genius. Such professionalism.

Although it is in all likelihood too late to save your job at this point, I am quite surprised you have not been advised by legal counsel to cease and desist before the damage you do to your company is irreparable.

well, you know, I was actually tending to sympathize and side with snorefest, until the his last post pulled back the curtain to reveal what a jerk he is.

He was obviously looking for an excuse to screw ALL of his employees out of benefits and just find justification to asuage his conscience. So one person that found some bizarre loophole in their system, and could have blamed it on a hangnail as much as Apnea, is being used as that excuse.

I believe snorefest is working in a high stress environment. I think I have figured out the source of much of that stress too.

I think snorefest needs to get some health issues resolved for himself and use some vacation time to destress...or maybe get a doctors note....

Incidentally, I work in a VERY high stress environment, where we just lost a person for about 4 months due to a complete nervous breakdown. She is patched up with meds and back on the front lines for who knows how long. I myself have been getting vacation time for destressing turned down, which we lose at the end of the year, which seems like abuse by the corporation.

I NOW side with the opinion....
1) this person probably is finding an unrelated reason to take time off to avoid a nervous breakdown.
2) Snorefest is making very poor use of this forum for non-apnea reasons.
3) Can I find out the name of snorefests company so I make sure I NEVER EVER work there?

Yep, I had a device brought to my home. Over a year ago. You want a description? Came in a briefcase-sized kit. Little microphone taped to my chest, mask with hosey thing, recorder registering the level of my snores and my breaths or something. It was a pain in the ass. I never pursued it further and yes, no human can share a room with me.

So far as "saving my job" -- you poor soul. I cannot imagine what it must be like to have no say in the decision making processes or to have Big Brother lurking over your shoulder at every turn. The day we have to become that is the day we dissolve the business and everybody retires.

Our lawyers say "hi."