Forced by job to get testing and CPAP I don't need..

[sookiebulldog]

Hello recently my employer decided they want to test their overweight people for sleep apnea. I am being forced into the testing since I am fat. I have no symptoms of sleep apnea.. I sleep perfectly each night and wake up with full energy as long as I had gotten between 6-8 hours of sleep.. (I normally get 6-7). I have no day time sleepiness nor am I tired all day. I rarely snore unless sleeping on my back in a weird position. Yet because I have a big neck and am fat my employer decided I am a candidate for sleep apnea. I took an employer contracted home sleep test and it came back with an AHI of 8.3. the result of 8.3 puts me in the mild case of possible OSA.. they want to now do an overnight study. There is no way I will sleep at an overnight study and I have to take a day or two unpaid time off to do this test. If my AHI is 5 or below everything would go away and I move on as normal. I figured the first home sleep test came out with an 8.3 because I slept on my stomach and was pushing the monitor into my throat disturbing my sleep. I recommend I do another home sleep test at my cost. This time I did the test quietly and peacefully lying awake in my bed for 6 hours monitoring the test. (I feel this forced testing and a lot of the OSA politics surrounding my issue was a scam) I wore my OWN o2 sensor on my other hand to monitor my oxygen and heart rate. My heart rate stayed steady at 79-85 and it showed my o2 stayed around 92-98%. The result came back higher with a 12 AHI... How does this test say I stop breathing while I am awake??? Any help surrounding these home sleep tests and these results would be most helpful.

[USMCVet]

What country are you in? What's your occupation? I find it hard to believe an employer can just one day say you have to talk sleep test and not pay for it and pay you for your time if your doing an overnight study.

Also of you read here breathing while awake is different then asleep and can give false flags.

[Goofproof]

You're in De-Nile and you haven't been in the boat yet, take a snorkel. You must have OK'ed the first test (WHY) is you didn't want it. Sounds like you played yourself. What do you do for a living, does it put others in harm's way? Jim

[ChicagoGranny]

There is no way I will sleep at an overnight study and I have to take a day or two unpaid time off to do this test.

Why would you "need to take a day or two off" for the test? Do you work a night shift? The test is done at night. Take the test, "sleep perfectly", "wake up with full energy" and go do a full day's work.

You're in De-Nile

Yep.

[sookiebulldog]

I work for the railroad BUT am NOT an engineer nor do I operate equipment. I am still considered a safety sensitive job and since there are all these accidents happening with in railroads they are forcing anyone deemed safety sensitive (only if your overweight though). If you are skinny or not heavy you get a free ticket train engineer or not. I am not in DE-NILE.. I sleep happily with my wife in bed every night.. my blood pressure is fine, I take no medications, I don't drink nor smoke, and I have never missed a day of work as I always wake up in time. I can work odd hours.. switching to days and nights.. I can easily come home and sleep 6-7 hours and wake up rested no matter what shift I work. I know there are a lot of people on this site dealing with actual sleep apnea and trying to solve their issues. In my case it's like fixing the machine that is not broken. It amazes me that the home sleep test couple pick up 12 false positives while I laid away peacefully. According to the vendor I stop breathing an average of 12 times an hour (while awake)!!

[sookiebulldog]

They are making me take a day off for the over nite test and the next day off to "rest" before going back to work

[Pugsy]

These devices measure air flow only.
They don't know if you are asleep or not and our awake breathing is often very irregular and can easily mislead a device that only measures air flow.
You should have actually slept with it.
Awake breathing events don't count but the device doesn't know you weren't asleep and were only trying to fool the device.

Typically these home sleep study devices will usually have a lower reported AHI than an in lab sleep study but with when you get the in lab study they can know for sure if the apnea events are happening when asleep or not....because they have EEG leads hooked up to you to know if you are asleep or not.

Bite the bullet and get the in lab sleep study to make sure...awake events will be tossed out the window if you have any and only asleep events will be counted in the final AHI. That way you will know for sure what the AHI is and is it enough to need a cpap machine.
I understand your frustrations but short of finding a different job that's pretty much what you are going to have to do. Companies do get to make their own in house policies and you have to play by their rules if you work for them.

Get the in lab sleep study. You might get lucky and have an AHI below the cut off line anyway.

[Goofproof]

Do you work for the same company that thinks it's a good idea to take a curve marked 30 MPH At 81.3 MPH. When I got my first American Flyer for XMAS at 6 years old, I knew better than that. They do need to tighten up their operation, maybe even read a manual on turning on the safety devices. Jim

[Pugsy]

Oh...before I forget it. Oxygen levels...the fact that there is no significant drop doesn't mean much. Not everyone will have a significant Oxygen level drop with an apnea event.
I have a friend who had over 60 events per hour at her in lab sleep study and her oxygen levels never really dropped all that much...baseline was 97% and the worst it ever dropped to was 93%...which can happen just from going to sleep without any apnea events.

[sookiebulldog]

Thank you Pugsy and what happens if I can't fall asleep with all the machines hooked up to my head and body.. I am one of those people that sleeps best in my own bed. I normally can't sleep in strange locations and usually end up staying awake.. Happens a lot when we go on vacation. Takes me a while to adjust hotel rooms ect. I read that they video tape and watch you all night also. Thank you for any information and taking time to reply.

[Pugsy]

Get your doctor to give you something to help you actually get some sleep at the lab.
I know it's hard....I had a dickens of a time myself and I had some Ambien to help me out.
Do everything you can to make yourself sleepy....no caffeine after Noon...no naps...no alcohol...etc.
Try not to worry too much about it. If you can get some sleep they can get a good idea and they don't need 6 or 8 hours of sleep...a couple of hours of real sleep is enough to make a diagnosis...just as long as you can get through the sleep cycles at least once and get some REM is enough sleep.
The REM is kinda important because some people have apnea events mainly in REM...so want to rule that out if at all possible.

[sookiebulldog]

No I don't work for the company that has engineers going over 80mph in a 30mph.. I am not an engineer and am not behind the controls. Our railroad has signal in the rails also which would make it extremely hard to near impossible for anyone to do 80 in a 30 sleeping or awake.

[Janknitz]

Thank you Pugsy and what happens if I can't fall asleep with all the machines hooked up to my head and body.. I am one of those people that sleeps best in my own bed. I normally can't sleep in strange locations and usually end up staying awake.. Happens a lot when we go on vacation. Takes me a while to adjust hotel rooms ect. I read that they video tape and watch you all night also. Thank you for any information and taking time to reply.

Talk to them about taking a sleep medication then, because if you're not sleeping the test is inconclusive and they are more likely to prescribe CPAP "just in case". Don't take anything without discussing with them first, obviously, but the doctor in charge of the sleep test may prescribe a mild sleep aid in that case. Otherwise, you are wasting your own time and theirs.

[ChicagoGranny]

I am still considered a safety sensitive job

I am one of those people that sleeps best in my own bed. I normally can't sleep in strange locations and usually end up staying awake..

Oh, really? So you do have sleep problems!

Man up and get the in-lab study and CPAP if needed. Or find a job that is on the subway or bus line and is not considered safety sensitive.

[Duck]

This is a forum of CPAP users who do their best to take care of their health including sleep.

You'll probably have trouble finding someone here who is sympathetic to your whining.