Sleep Apnea

The first question is what symptoms do you have?

If you have excessive daytime sleepiness and spend large amounts of time asleep then you may have it.

If you don't have those symptoms then the poor accuracy of home sleep monitors combined with Bayes theorem means that it's likely to be a false positive. Switch if off and ignore it.

If you do have those symptoms, then it's worth doing a Berlin questionnaire.

And if you have a bed partner, asking them to do a partner questionnaire.

Things that you can do yourself to help with sleep apnea:

• If you smoke, stop
• Avoid alcohol
• If you have hayfever then get yourself on an effective combination of treatments - steroid nasal spray, and antihistamines regularly. Both available over the counter in the chemist. Instructions on how to effectively use a nasal spray here.
• If you have reflux symptoms then get yourself on a reasonable dose of PPI for 3/12 and see if it clears it. You may need to take a very high dose to do this.
• If you can, lose weight, although doing this in the long term is a rigged game. Confirmed sleep apnea combined with a high BMI is an indication for bariatric surgery.
• Consider good quality ear-plugs and/or a separate bedroom for yourself or your partner.

If none of these measures are working, and you score positive on the questionnaires then make a routine appointment to see your GP, and they should be able to refer you to a sleep clinic where they'll monitor you in a sleep lab to see if they can confirm the diagnosis.

If they confirm the diagnosis then you may be offered CPAP. This is a ventilator that you wear at night to keep your airways open. They're cumbersome and uncomfortable and in my experience (patients and family members) very few people stick with them in the long term - although I probably see a biased sample. The ones who do stick with them do say that they take some time to get used to and make adaptations to accommodate them.

I hope this is helpful to you.

The last Apnea thread

They’re cumbersome and uncomfortable and in my experience (patients and family members) very few people stick with them in the long term – although I probably see a biased sample.

I'm 6 months in and it's neither cumbersome or uncomfortable, only adaption i've made is working out where to route the pipe from device to facemask and not sleeping fully on my front, which i rarely did anyway. Have even managed to get some 6-7 hour nights recently when the kids aren't here and i don't have an alarm set.

My ex wifes boyfriend has been using one for over 20 years, and the only complaint he has is the noise, but his current machine is nearly 10 years old and still works, so they won't replace it. After seeing mine, he went and bought his own, same model as the (silent) one i have.

Yes, depends on what you have and it can cause driving licence problems

Start with your GP, you want someone involved who can bat DVLA off if needed. DVLA criteria is "confirmed" obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS), with excessive sleepiness https://www.gov.uk/excessive-sleepiness-and-driving

EDIT to say my GP got me diagnosed properly so that he could make a decision on the need to inform DVLA, or not

I don't have the "syndrome", just the sleep apnoea bit. Officially recorded as below any driving threshold and doesn't need treatment, YMMV

Ah thanks, more investigation needed then.

I’m 6 months in and it’s neither cumbersome or uncomfortable, only adaption i’ve made is working out where to route the pipe from device to facemask and not sleeping fully on my front, which i rarely did anyway. Have even managed to get some 6-7 hour nights recently when the kids aren’t here and i don’t have an alarm set.

My ex wifes boyfriend has been using one for over 20 years, and the only complaint he has is the noise, but his current machine is nearly 10 years old and still works, so they won’t replace it. After seeing mine, he went and bought his own, same model as the (silent) one i have.

Ah, sounds like they've got much better then. Thanks for the update, I'll change what I tell my patients.

That's me adding OSA to my long list of MOT failures. Will get a letter for.an appointment to be set up with a CPAP in the near future.

In the meantime it says I need to notify DVLA and insurance and not drive until I'm recieving treatment and my events are below 0-5 events per hour.

I don't drive long distances due to my concentration and tiredness, but not being able to drive the 15-20mins to the nearest town is going to be a real PITA.

Nearest bus is 2miles away and even ebike use is dependant on my knee (needing a replacement) not being too bad at that time.

Bollocks!

Edit: I have no actual details at this stage of how bad the OSA is. Wondering if I should hold off contacting anyone until I have a figure or idea of severity?

Do you have OSA or OSASyndrome?

OSA can be treated by CPAP, but is different to OSAS

WWL.NHS.UK "https://www.wwl.nhs.uk/media/.leaflets/63d7c8377c6367.41716292.pdf"

Speak to your specialist/GP to ask why you need to notify DVLA, but don't drive until you've clarified the diagnosis and advice given https://www.gov.uk/excessive-sleepiness-and-driving

Please read my whole post before doing anything else

From ^^

"Yes, depends on what you have and it can cause driving licence problems

Start with your GP, you want someone involved who can bat DVLA off if needed. DVLA criteria is “confirmed” obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS), with excessive sleepiness https://www.gov.uk/excessive-sleepiness-and-driving

EDIT to say my GP got me diagnosed properly so that he could make a decision on the need to inform DVLA, or not

I don’t have the “syndrome”, just the sleep apnoea bit. Officially recorded as below any driving threshold and doesn’t need treatment, YMMV"

@timba the letter I've just got says that on the basis of my sleep study test and sleep questionnaire it is likely I am suffering from obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and that I will be treated with a CPAP machine and have to wait for a letter in due course for an appointment to get that.

I have no intention of driving any real distance and haven't got quite some time never more than about 30mins. I only drive the 15 minutes to the nearest town and don't in anyway struggle with that. But on the basis of this information I now can't drive at all and have to notify DVLA, not even to drop my son off at the bus stop 2 miles away.

It's a bit confusing as some stuff says don't drive and notify DVLA and insurance immediately, where as other says don't drive until it's been shown that your events are below a certain level and notify DVLA if they're not after 3 months.

Obviously they all say I can't drive for the  time being.

There's supposed to be loads of info on the sleep apnea trust website about driving, but it seems to be either down or  ceased to exist.

I can try my GP tomorrow, but GPs and appointments....  The letter from the sleep clinic just says any questions i have will be answered at that appointment, whenever that is...

Sorry just confused! Happy to have the treatment, just want expecting to be told now you've opened this letter you can't drive at all.

Ah, sleep apnea trust website appears to be working now so will have a dig

I spoke to the consultant about the driving and he said that as i wasn't drowsy when driving (that was a question they asked at every session!) i didn't need to inform the Licensing people. Obvs. different rules here.

I also got my medical for extended license categories *after* the diagnosis and *before* treatment without any issues. Obviously your mileage may vary on this.

(70+ events per hour, but have had it untreated for decades so i've probably adapted to the lack of sleep quite well!)