British Snoring & Sleep Apnoea Association

Hi all,

Had a couple of tired fuzzy days followed by a bad experience today.

Since my 'mild OSA' diagnosis I've kept driving to an absolute minimum. Sometimes difficult as people just don't seem to get it........

So today, I had an incident. First one ever whilst driving. All I can say is I lost a second. Driving along quite normally and then I found myself veering onto the wrong side of the road having missed my turn off. Lucky it's a Sunday with not much traffic.

Anyway, it's really shaken me up Bus from now on I think!

I'm still waiting for my re-referral to the sleep clinic. I hope they will take things a little more seriously this time

Wooah, sorry to hear about your near miss, Mountain. I hope that you are OK.

Scary stuff, you best go and see your doctor again. Are you not using your CPAP machine any more Mountain?

Really sorry to read this Mountain. You must have been scared ****less.

Get to your GP post haste and get him/her to chase up the sleep clinic on your behalf. The outcome could have been horrendous.

Well, more upset as to 'what could have happened' because my son was in the car with me, plus of course the other road users. It's still heavily playing on my mind.

A bit of a wake up call, if you'll excuse the pun, to how serious this condition can be!

Yes been using the CPAP but it seems to have become less effective. I expect either the pressure isn't right anymore, or I've been getting leaks. However, I've had my sore throat back so maybe I'm opening my mouth??? Sure I'd get on better with a full face mask.

I'm still convinced that my home study did not give an accurate recording of the 'full picture'. Never mind the 'your necks too fat' now please sod off attitude

Will pester my GP again and see if I can get past the austerity measures and get some treatment!

Just done the Epworth & Berlin tests again.
Taking into account the recent event, epworth is 20 & Berlin is high risk

Since my 'mild OSA' diagnosis I've kept driving to an absolute minimum. Sometimes difficult as people just don't seem to get it........

Damn right people dont get it, they just think you cant sleep, I said to one woman, no, I stop breathing and get starved of oxygen, she responded, open a window, that'll help

Mike

Exactly, which part of the 'I stop breathing' don't they get?

That one is a classic, on on par with the 'can't you just go to bed earlier?' from one of my colleagues

...............then there's the endless 'I'm a bit tired today too' comments..............

My management at work are the worst offenders . They have trivialised it and now refer to it as my 'snoring problem' I'm really beginning to lose patience with some Lot's of stupid comments reported in my 'bunged up' thread. Have a read, I'm sure there will be some familiar 'quips'!!!

People ARE ignorant and plain insensitive sometimes. Glad you retested ... take that ammo to the doc ... it's as clear as the nose on my face that you need to be taken far more seriously. Good luck. And thank you for being responsible and taking care of yourself ... and those whom you love.

Tomorrow at work I have a meeting with my Bosses to discuss my condition, I will ask them if they understand what is wrong, should be amusing, I bet they haven't even looked it up

Mike

Remember that OSA is a condition mentioned under the Disabilities Act!! I don't know much about this as I no longer live in the UK, but Nuneatonman37 and others have mentioned it loud and clear ... I wonder if your employers realise that it affects them as well as you!!!

Good luck tomorrow.

Get reading up on the DDA and Equality act Mike. The Equality act takes things even further than the DDA and places more onus on your employer.

http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/equality/disab ... tments.cfm

http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/advi ... downloads/

Mind you if they're anything like my management they probably just don't give a damn

I believe most companies these days have some sort of 'Dignity at work' policy. This is to stop people mocking others, they are breaching your dignity by mocking your disability. Our workplace treats breaches of this policy as gross misconduct and we have fired people because of it.

Ours states:



Check with your HR department or if you have the documents on an intranet?

Yes we have one, but many are still stiuck in the dark ages nonetheless
Also, it seems my manager already has had a disability discrimination & bullying and harrassment claim put in against her
Some people never learn, and seem to think being in a 'management' position places them above the law

On a plus note, I've 'solved' my problem. My cheap chinstrap has gone floppy! Woke up this morning with my mouth open with air gushing out. This is why I've lapsed back into zombieland!!!

So, better quality chinstrap on order & Dr. pestering sleep clinic for a fast re-referral.

Full face mask & decent CPAP machine will sort me out I think