In a nut shell, I think it’s when your airway gets blocked/throat closes up in your sleep and like yer man says, your brain wakes you just enough to open your airway but not enough to regain consciousness.
This can happen 60 times an hour so basically every minute and you never get any deep/REM sleep through the night so you’re always shagged no matter how much time you stay in bed and are prone to falling asleep at the wheel.
daleyboy:
I have been on cpap for the best part of two years now. I use a phillips remstar a-flex. If you ask the hospital they will give you a ■■■ lighter adaptor. I drive a MAN which the firm adapated to have a permanant 12 volt live socket. I plug into that and never had any bother. I was waking 59 times an hour before i started using it. Now i wake twice a night when i get an air leak and need to adjust the mask.
Ive gotta resmed S9 with a H5I humidifier! resmed do a 12/24V adaptor lead, for trucks and cars and stuff, but the hospital seem unwilling to provide one, and at over £60 new from resmed BUGGER THAT! I want an inverter for my laptop and stuff anyhow, and at under £40 its cheaper than an adaptor! and i can plug my cpap into that!
daleyboy:
From being diagnosed to losing my licence and then getting it back was only two weeks. But i have read of cases where its taken 18 months to get it back. The dvla put me on a one year licence then when iwent for my check up they wrote to the dvla who then returned my licence with no time restrictions at all.
It was about 5 months in my case, and im on the 1 year licence now (i think July is my review) apparently if there happy this time ill go on 5 year reviews. i think there keeping it like that as im a PCV driver aswell!
daleyboy:
If you want to know anything let me know. I also did a piece for commercial motor last year, so maybe do a search for the article.
yea, i will! many thanks for answering some questions mate 
shep532:
My very good friend suffered from this. Built up over a couple of years and almost ended in disaster falling asleep at the wheel. it took a lot to get him to seek help
Sadly it DID end disaster for me, im just lucky no-one was killed or injured! I ploughed a bus into some parked cars/vans, wrote 1 car, 2 vans and a parking meter off! the bus was badly damaged, but like i say lucky no-one was injured!
I was the subject of a police investigation, but luckily it was deemed as no offence had been committed due to the nature of the medical condition, but they were trawling through my medical records and had a meeting with my sleep consultant!
DOLLY BLACK SHEEP:
Ask your consultant for a 12 v machine I’ve had 1 for the 4-5 years so I just use that when in the truck, it also works on 240v so i used it at home,but as my Nights out are not planned I asked for another for home not sure what model I’m using as its in my truck
I asked about a second machine for in-truck use, and they wont fund one blaming cut-backs! they said they will supply one for me to buy myself and they will set it up an maintian it, but at nearly £800… i think ill try to manage with one machine! 
Cheers Lads
B…
Hi
I got diagnosed last July as having OSA. Have been on CPAP ever since.
No real issues with DVLA, in fact they were very good. My car and motorbike licences have no restrictions, my HGV is restricted to 1 year then I have to complete a D4 medical form I believe, do any of you guys that have been through this process know, will I need to have a full medical like you do at 45, where you have to pay your doctor or will they (DVLA) just want a letter from my sleep doctor saying I am compliant with my CPAP therapy?
Cheers
ps. Any if you that think you might have sleep apnea but scared of kissing job or licence, don’t worry and get to the GP to get referred for treatment you won’t believe how much better you will feel.
NJDav:
HiI got diagnosed last July as having OSA. Have been on CPAP ever since.
No real issues with DVLA, in fact they were very good. My car and motorbike licences have no restrictions, my HGV is restricted to 1 year then I have to complete a D4 medical form I believe, do any of you guys that have been through this process know, will I need to have a full medical like you do at 45, where you have to pay your doctor or will they (DVLA) just want a letter from my sleep doctor saying I am compliant with my CPAP therapy?
You’ll have to take the D4 to the sleep clinic with your CPAP machine for them check your compliance… as long as your still compliant, they will send it off and bingo! the DVLA medical Dept will then decide how long to give you till your next “review” that could be anything from 1 month to 5 years depending upon your assessment and test results
NJDav:
ps. Any if you that think you might have sleep apnea but scared of kissing job or licence, don’t worry and get to the GP to get referred for treatment you won’t believe how much better you will feel.
this is true, its way better to find out NOW rather than do it the hard way like me!
B…
daleyboy:
To answer your question Weeto. When you stop breathing your brain wakes up to get you breathing again. You dont know youre waking up because you only come out of a deep sleep but dont fully wake up. I was having roughly 58-59 episodes an hour so i was never get any proper sleep. I could go to bed for 12 hours and wake up then go back to sleep an hour later. I was eating nearly 6000 calories a day just to stay awake. Now i sleep 7 hours on cpap and then i’m bouncing around all day.To answer Cheds question. Being overweight certainly doesnt help matters but when i have been to the sleep clinic maybe 20% of the people there are overweight, the rest are all normal frame and weight.
Being diagnosed and getting treatment was the best thing thats ever happened to me. I reckon i have suffered from it for at least the last 13 years as my missus said i have always snored. They say that 1 in 7 people suffer from it and going undiagnosed puts massive strain on your internal organs.
I regret not going and getting diagnosed earlier because then maybe i wouldnt be as big as i am. I am currently weighing in at 27 stone, luckily i am also nearly 7 feet tall so its not so bad, but i am now deperatley trying to undo all the damage i have done to myself from over eating to get enough energy just to stay awake.
Take this as a warning, if you snore, if you are overweight and if you still feel tired even after 8 hkurs sleep go and see a doctor and ask to have a sleep study done. Otherwise you could be risking not only.your.life but all those around you on the road.
Thanks for the info, very informative and may help others.
I do have a problem being woken, but with a load bang in my head, whilst watching Doc Martin one of his patients had similar probs, and was diagnosed with Exploding Head Syndrome, lol.
Bungle666:
I am hoping (eventually) to get night out work, but this has set me to thinking…I am a sleep aponea sufferer and have to use a CPAP device at night when im sleeping (its a condition of my license to use the machine EVERY night) and I was wondering if anyone else on here used a similar device AND had it in the truck for nights out??
how do you power your device??
what device are you using??
does its use cause a problem sleeping in the cab??
My plan is to use a 24V inverter (300W) to power the machine, but im a little worried about killing the batteries??
Can anyone out there help??
Cheers
B…
I also have cpap machine ,ive had it for approx. 4-5 yrs now and I don’t know how I managed without it. I rarely do nights out so I don’t have your problem regarding powering the unit however having read your post I did a bit “surfin”. if you contact
intus health care ltd
t/a cpap Europe ct .com
2 Walton biss ctr
46 terrace rd
Walton on thames
surrey
kt12 2sd
they supply a lead to go in the cigarette socket for £20 hope this helps
Anyone who wants to know more can look here sleep-apnoea-trust.org/