Original Message

Did you complain to the doc that you were tired? If so, then that may be the basis of the request.

You should know that if you snore enough to rattle the windows at night and wake up with a sore throat sometimes you might have sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea ain’t no joke. My O2 saturation dropped from 97% to 54% when I did my first sleep study. That led to a diagnosis of sleep apnea. My insurance company set me up with a BiPAP device. After a couple of weeks, I went back and did another sleep study. This time I went to sleep normally without a BiPAP machine. After that test they woke me up and I used the BiPAP machine I was issued. The second test was run, and it showed a marked improvement of my O2 saturation that was acceptable to FAA standards. They forwarded the results to my medical examiner, and he approved my class one physical with the caveat that I use the BiPAP machine every time I went to sleep.

Bottom line I started feeling a lot better after I started using the BiPAP machine.

Uncontrolled sleep apnea could be severe enough to cause a major heart attack or a stroke. They are doing you a ‘favor’ that could save your life and it may not cost you your career.

I guess the real question you must ask yourself is should I do something about this situation, or just ignore it?

If you ignore it and the worst happens, would it be worth a couple more years of your career?

Your call.