Noob for advice on sleep apnea!

Hello everyone,

First post here so I hope this hasn’t already been talked about, I couldn’t see anything…

So I went through the steps on here for getting my license, hopefully cat C+E eventually, It’s something I’ve really fancied for years but never taken the leap for various reasons, mainly cost.

Anyway I got a D4 pack and I was just reading through the D4 form and realized there is a section for declaring if you have sleep apnea which I do, it’s under control and is actually probably very mild now as I’ve lost over 3 stone since being diagnosed years ago.
before I go coughing up for my medical and getting the dates of diagnosis for the the D4 I just wanted to check how much of a problem this causes getting through the medical and obtaining my provisional?

I imagine there are plenty of drivers that have ended up with sleep apnea at some point in their driving career and carry on driving once they are under successful treatment but is it harder to get through the medical or find work because of insurance hikes because of it?

Any advice would be great as I wanna get this ball rolling

I have sleep apnea too , don’t worry if you’re getting treatment and it’s under control it’s not a problem.take it you have a capr machine? If you go ahead and get a job involving nights out just inform whoever your dealing with at the hospital and they will send you a 12v lead for the cigarette lighter socket. Ps it’s a lot more common than you think, it’s just that people don’t talk about it .

syramax:
I have sleep apnea too , don’t worry if you’re getting treatment and it’s under control it’s not a problem.take it you have a capr machine? If you go ahead and get a job involving nights out just inform whoever your dealing with at the hospital and they will send you a 12v lead for the cigarette lighter socket. Ps it’s a lot more common than you think, it’s just that people don’t talk about it .

Thanks m8, I was just concerned I might get to the medical after coughing up cash to have them say I needed something else from the clinic or my doctor to prove I was under successful treatment or maybe get held up while they contacted my doctor or something themselves.
I’m glad you mentioned that about nights out because it never even crossed my mind about needing to have my machine with me and yes m8 I use a cpap machine every night.

I’m actually hoping that I’ll stay within the company I already work for as the rates of pay are nice and they do nights,days,afters but only ever do nights out if they get stuck out on the road but I suppose that would mean I would also have to take my machine with me every day in case I got stuck out on the road, never really thought about that one either. A long road ahead yet anyway!

What can often happen with DVLA medical is that they send you to one of their approved medical places local to you for further investigation - no charge for that but it does delay the approval process

Hi Rog as I was already “in control” of my apnea DVLA simply contacted Furness general to get confirmation that the apnea was being managed . Although it did delay things by a couple of weeks .

ROG:
What can often happen with DVLA medical is that they send you to one of their approved medical places local to you for further investigation - no charge for that but it does delay the approval process

Cheers ROG.

As long as I know things aren’t going to get completely halted or put me out of pocket more than expected I’m fine with a little extra time longer or a follow up appointment of some sort.

syramax:
Hi Rog as I was already “in control” of my apnea DVLA simply contacted Furness general to get confirmation that the apnea was being managed . Although it did delay things by a couple of weeks .

Cheers for the reply m8, I’m good with that.

A couple of extra weeks won’t hurt lol

Gonna get booked in today or maybe Monday then!

Doesn’t weight loss cure sleep apnea?

Maybe I’m crazy but I’d consider losing a bit more weight to get rid of it completely before getting behind the wheel of a lorry. Better then relying on a mask anyway.
Not trying to be harsh but role of a lorry driver can be very sedentary which coupled with sleep apnea and being overweight is not a great combo.

Valid points Adam , however whilst I am overweight now (sitting for a living won’t have helped ) when I was first diagnosed with apnea I was working in heavy engineering and a steady 14s 1 lb at 5’11" so I wouldn’t have considered my self over weight at the time . While I appreciate your concerns regarding drivers with apnea (controlled) I would be more concerned about the drivers who have it and don’t realise , or those that do that are either too embarrassed or ignorant to tackle it .

syramax:
I have sleep apnea too , don’t worry if you’re getting treatment and it’s under control it’s not a problem.take it you have a capr machine? If you go ahead and get a job involving nights out just inform whoever your dealing with at the hospital and they will send you a 12v lead for the cigarette lighter socket. Ps it’s a lot more common than you think, it’s just that people don’t talk about it .

Does the Cpap machine running off the cigarette lighter all night cause any battery issues for the wagon? I’ve always wondered if it’s ok to just run the cpap all night…

no , no problems at all :smiley:

Found this bit on sleep apnoea.In the DAF driver magazine if its any help.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

My son had surgery for sleep apnea. Within a couple of weeks he was sleeping on his back and not making a sound. Previously he could keep the entire house awake with his snoring. CPAP helped him, but the surgery ended his problem- validated by the sleep lab.
If you choose surgery, go to an ENT doc who specialized in sleep apnea/snoring.