Sleep Apnea

[bitchstewie]

A chap at work has been diagnosed with sleep apnia. I don't know too many details other than that he has to wear a mask of some kind whilst sleeping.

Anyway, long story short he has been signed off work for several weeks, basically due to being utterly fking knackered and incapable of doing his job.

So.. my understanding is that it's a condition rather than something "curable", so he's not going to get any better presumably, is he?

[guards red]

He'll get better in as much as he'll get some sleep and regain some productivity.

[bitchstewie]

swerni said:

Is he a bit of a big chap?

Quite small actually.

What I don't understand is how his condition is likely to improve as, presumably, you can't simply work until you're too fked to work, then get signed off, then come back and work until you're too fked to work.. and rinse and repeat.

[Pothole]

The oxygen mask will help him get some sleep. He won't only have to wear it when he's off sick.

[rfw1]

I have it. If he can tolerate the breathing mask he will be back to normal in a day or two. I was stopping breathing over 400 times a night and permanently drowsy during the day. Within a day or two of using the mask I was back to normal. If he is driving DVLA will want to get involved and that is nightmare.

[bitchstewie]

rfw1 said:

I have it. If he can tolerate the breathing mask he will be back to normal in a day or two. I was stopping breathing over 400 times a night and permanently drowsy during the day. Within a day or two of using the mask I was back to normal. If he is driving DVLA will want to get involved and that is nightmare.

I know he's struggling with the mask, not entirely sure why as he's not the most sociable chap so I haven't really pried, and being honest I'm just being nosey here.

I did wonder about DVLA but knowing what happened with one of my own family members I know that if the doctors feel driving is an issue they'll just inform DVLA and take it out of your hands.

[rfw1]

The mask is not nice at first. I was surprised that I was able to tolerate it so well. If he is having problems there are several types and sizes available.

If you have the condition you have to tell the DVLA. You also have to inform your insurance company.

The DVLA send you a form and in my case promptly revoked my licence when I returned it. This was in December.

I begun treatment in February and it took until May to get it back.

[williamp]

I have it too. The mask does take time to get used to, but its natural now. You only wear it when you want to sleep. Not before/after, so it doesnt get in the way of anyting.

As above, I was stopping breathing over 400 times a night. The problem is exascerbated bt overweight (the weight of fat aroudn the neck pushes the windpipe are closed- they say if you are a 17" collar size, you could suffer) and alcohol: the drink relaxes the tongue, which is a muscle and dropps backwards into the throat and closes the gap.

I have stopped drinking, losing weight (approx 1kg a week) and use the mask (but its just with an air pump, not oxygen) and do feel better for it/have more energy. Not sure why you need weeks off work, but that might be due to the type of job he does??

[bitchstewie]

The guy drinks and smokes a lot so I suspect (may be way off the mark here) that isn't going to be helping.