SLEEP APNOEA

[Rosyrobics]

Be careful with seeking a sleep apnoea diagnosis because if toggled with daytime sleepiness it could mean loss of your drivers license as you have to inform DVLA and they have the right to withdraw your license. You will be given a CPAP machine to use and providing you use it 80% of your sleeping hours they will still allow you to drive. Unfortunately not everyone is able to use the machine so a person may lose their right to drive a vehicle because you are seen (quite rightly) as a danger to others on the road.

[CDreamer]

And quite rightly too! It is also an offense to NOT report sleep apnea and is designed to keep all road users safe. My ex did not - caused 3 accidents through falling asleep at the wheel and it was only when my children took his car keys away from him and reported him he conceded and took the CPAP - and guess what - he now says it has transformed his life and he now has his license back - after Paying the £1000 fine.

Best wishes CD

[Rosyrobics in reply to CDreamer]

There must be a large amount of the population that have it but don’t know it or do know it and won’t risk their livelihood in reporting it though.

[CDreamer in reply to Rosyrobics]

Possibly - I just hope I never encounter them. I have watched 2 cars go out of control because of this issue and I think there was a bus driver in Manchester? With SA who still drove, crashed & killed several people. He was jailed and again, rightly so.

I don’t see how we can do much against those who have no thoughts for others safety - except for supporting low tolerance. I know I threatened to report my husband unless he stopped driving immediately - even though the doctor had told him he mustn’t he was intending to. It was ONLY when I pointed out that his insurance would be invalidated, he was threatening my financial future at risk and I wasn’t prepared to put up with that so I then threatened to report him and he knew I meant it so he took note. He was treated and regained his license.

My view it is encuberant on each and every one of us to take appropriate to report such behaviour. By the way we are still happily married!

[Hidden]

If you are not safe to drive, you shouldn't be driving.

I have SA, and had to give up my driving licence for a month whilst I started on CPAP.

Who can't use CPAP? are there medical reasons? only thing I can think of is if you don't like it and don't persevere . Sure, it's horrible and feels unnatural for a start, but within 3 or 4 weeks it's tolerable , and after that it becomes normal

[CDreamer]

My understanding is that if you can’t use CPAP there are sometimes other treatment options - but you may have to push for them.

[Rosyrobics in reply to CDreamer]

Weight loss can help and using an appliance to pull the bottom jaw forward might be an alternative. Surgery is an option to tighten a flaccid airway but a risky procedure in other ways I believe.

[CDreamer in reply to Rosyrobics]

Depends very much on what is causing the SA which is why CPAP is used as first treatment - because it is low risk, treats for many causes and cheaper than many other options.

[CDreamer]

May I ask - do you know of someone in this position who fails treatment and who has not surrender their license?

[Rosyrobics]

No but I know someone who lost their license because they suffered from it. I just think Doctors should make people aware that if they are pursuing sleep studies this could be a possible outcome. People are not given this information by their GPs before referral!

[CDreamer in reply to Rosyrobics]

I don’t think that that is Doctor’s responsibility or their response ability - it is between the patient’s and the DVLA and if the DVLA are unsure - they will write to your doctor which is why you need to supply contact details of your doctors.

The DVLA position is that you must stop driving if your doctor says you must and you must inform us of certain conditIons clearly stated on their web-site. If you choose to break the law - you will be fined or prosecuted.

If doctors did as you suggest it may very well stop people from seeking treatment - which would be bad for everyone. And you would have to monitor all doctors so that they applied a level playing field - expensive impractical and unworkable and take up far too much of their valuable time.

[BobD Volunteer in reply to CDreamer]

Thre are some conditions which doctors are obliged to report . There are also often conflicts where patients are responsible to report yet doctors are not which to me is a nonsense. For example opticions have no obligation to report poor eyesight and can legally watch a patient drive off with what can only be said to be sub optimal vision.

[CDreamer in reply to BobD]

I think the whole system needs reassessing - and maybe - including age related self assessment. As much as I would not like to lose my license I don’t think we are the best judge of ourselves - happens in the best of families.

[BobD Volunteer in reply to CDreamer]

The problem as I see it is that for those of us who take driving seriously eg advanced or ROSPA drivers we are taught that we need to assess ourselves as fit before every journey. (POWDERY checks- The Y is yourself.) For example if one has a streaming cold there is nothing in the law which says you may not drive but I would consider very carfeully if I were fit enough . Even hayfever could render a person unfit to drive yet there is nothing in the law to prevent that. As a result I could decide to walk to the shops as I didn't feel well and be mown down by some moron who is sneezing rather than looking where he is going!

[Rosyrobics in reply to CDreamer]

Both sleep apnea and daytime sleepiness have to be reported before the DVLA are informed. The person I know of went to their GP because his wife could not sleep because of his snoring. He didn’t have a problem with sleeping but now they are divorced because he lost his drivers license and he saw it as her fault!

[CDreamer in reply to Rosyrobics]

That sounds to be more of a relationship problem........

[Hidden]

Just to clarify, is it the case that you do not need to report SA to the DVLA, unless you also have excessive daytime sleepiness?

N.B. Whenever the term “excessive sleepiness” is used it means “excessive sleepiness having, or likely to have, an adverse effect on driving”, as defined by the DVLA. Where DVLA guidance refers to “drowsiness” it should be interpreted as excessive sleepiness.

[extracted from DVLA guidelines by SA trust]

[Rosyrobics in reply to Hidden]

The sleep apnea has to be moderate to severe in combo with reported daytime sleepiness admitted on a questionnaire at the sleep clinic. Do you suffer with daytime sleepiness? Yes or No answer. If Yes the Sleep Clinic can notify the DVLA and the treatment is offered via a CPAP machine and as long as an improvement is noted (this would be checked at a follow up appointment and the CPAP has an SD card in it) driving can either resume or continue. If no daytime sleepiness is admitted a CPAP machine is offered to treat the SA but not enforced. The DVLA do not have to be notified.

[Hidden in reply to Rosyrobics]

Thank you.

[CDreamer in reply to Hidden]

My understanding is that the onus is on the driver to report AND to review every 3 years if you have moderate or severe obstructive SA - with or without daytime sleepiness - you need to notify - they may just write to your Doctor for a report and then restrict you to a 3 year license or just do nothing or revoke your license - it depends upon the DVLA reviewer and doctor’s or sleep clinic’s report.

If you have a diagnosis of mild SA without daytime sleepiness you don’t have to report. The regulations change every time I look them up and you get absolutely no notification so it’s always a good idea to check every so often. These are from Jan 2019 and the most comprehensive explanation I could find.

sleep-apnoea-trust.org/driv...

1.3 Review of Treatment.

The DVLA guidelines require you, as the driver, to confirm that a review of your condition has been undertaken at least every three years if you are a Group 1 driver, and at least annually if you are a Group 2 driver. It will be your responsibility to contact your Sleep Clinic to arrange for this review in good time before the end of each three-year, or annual, period. How this review will be undertaken will be a matter for your Sleep Clinic, and options may range from a simple telephone conversation to a visit to the Sleep Clinic.

As Bob says - there are many other conditions which may make you as a driver a danger to others but are not illegal but if you don’t check the conditions for which you must notify DVLA then your insurance is invalidated if you have an accident and if it comes to light and you will liable for the fine.

[Hidden in reply to CDreamer]

Thanks CD. I think Rosyrobics might be right. My reading of the information you linked to, is that it is not a question of the severity of your sleep apnoea, but whether you have excessive sleepiness by day which adversely affects your driving, which determines your fitness to drive.

Obviously you would have to be honest answering the question. This protects you too, because if you fall asleep at the wheel, causing an accident, and are already known to have SA, you may well go to gaol. But by the same token, everyone who has a very bad night’s sleep for whatever reason is likely to be committing an offence by driving the next day.

[Rosyrobics]

There must be thousands with sleep apnoea and daytime sleepiness that have never been diagnosed or are aware of their condition though. Many people live alone, sleep alone, get up every morning and drive to work......