Terminal Apnea

[Dreamcatcher]

If sleep apnea is Incurable could you say its terminal? And also why is death or dying of this illness, quite a sparce topic. I wouldnt say I put my mask on at night and think is this the last time, is it my time? I couldnt cope with my illness if I felt like that. I put my mask on like I would bed socks or ear plugs or even a condom but as a life saving devise, NO! Doesnt mean to say I dont believe that it is saving my life as I know it is.

My Question is, would you class it as terminal? I know most survive it and some dont but if you dont get treatment then your chances are very high of dying from it. The rreason I ask is because someone asked me which got me thinking. Are we even classed as disabled and I dont believe we are. It seems that these areas are grey areas and with it becomming more prevalent in society I think these questions should be asked.

[PaulaO2]

No, it isn't terminal. It is chronic. Terminal means it will end in death. Chronic means it will just never freakin' end. They are saying that football player (who's name I can't remember) died of "complications related to sleep apnea" but I could never find anything that said he was using a CPAP, only that he had bad sleep apnea. Being a football player, I'm betting he had some brain injuries that might have been causing CSA.

In the US, we have the Americans with Disabilities Act which offers rights and protections to those who are disabled. The definition of who qualifies is, basically, having one or more daily life activities impaired. You can be disabled under the ADA but not disabled according to Social Security (which determines eligibility on the 'gainfully employed/employable'). Persons with sleep apnea probably would be covered by the ADA but I would not want any one to test it through the court system.

Several years ago, two sisters were pilots and applied for jobs with a major airline. They were not hired because they wore glasses. The sisters sued under the ADA and it went all the way to the Supreme Court. THey were heavily discouraged from it but they did it anyway. What happened is the Supreme Court said that if the disability is mitigated by something (their vision is corrected via glasses), then they were no disabled according to the ADA. This set a huge precedent and many people lost their rights because of it. And it opened a huge can of worms. Does crutches helping me walk mean I am not eligible for protection under the ADA? What about prosthetics?

So, looking at that, CPAP use mitigates our drowsiness and would make us ineligible for protection. But without it, we would be miserable and have a host of other issues. But what about those bad days? What if we fell asleep during a meeting? Could we be fired because of the condition? Probably. Could we fight it in the courts? Probably, but I doubt we would win. The CPAP is our cure, from a legal standpoint. If our data backs up that we have less than 5 AHI nearly every night, we are as "normal" as anyone who does not have it. But if you are one of those where the CPAP is not enough and the AHI is still above 5, then you'd probably have a case.

[Dreamcatcher]

wish I had a "LIKE" button for that Paula, your knowledge never seems to amaze me. If we have to use a machine or an aid to make our lifes better then surely we must be disabled. My partner uses a wheelchair, is she not classed as disabled when she's in it as she is capable of movement. I wonder what the actual law is for sleep apnea, do we have a case to say we ARE disabled and would it hold up in court.

Chronic, I never thought of that one.

[greatunclebill]

being alive itself is a terminal illness. we all die as a result of being alive.

"the game of life. no one gets out alive".

[Rritch]

I voted a condition. That being said, I think that treated apnea would be a condition, untreated apnea would be a serious illness. BTW, Paula the football player that you are thinking of was Reggie White. Also Jerry Garcia from the Grateful Dead died from complications from Apnea. I don't know in either case if they were diagnosed and being treated or not. Last year one of the crew members from the Time Bandit on Deadliest Catch on Discovery died from complications from untreated apnea.

[PaulaO2]

I am a person with disabilities (PWD) and used to be quite involved in the ADA. I was at the big event at the Statue of Liberty way back in 1990. I was there as a staff person and had no clue I would be considered eligible for protection by that law in less than a year. Life happens.

They recently re-did the ADA and made it better. They erased a lot of what the Supreme Court did and made definitions much clearer.

If SA is your only condition and you are being wonderfully treated by the CPAP, then I'd say you are not disabled according to the ADA. And certainly no where near being eligible according to Social Security.

The key is to be smart with it. If you know that some days you're going to be tired because of power outage or your machine just isn't always doing enough, then tell your employer there will be some issues. "Reasonable Accommodation" does not mean they have to give you a cot but it does mean they should allow you to not schedule important meetings first thing in the morning or last thing in the afternoon.

[CHanlon]

No, it isn't terminal. It is chronic. Terminal means it will end in death.

Got it. So... Life is terminal... CPAP is chronic. :-)

[zonk]

Sleep apnea is not a disease or can be passed from one person to another by contact or otherwise. As reading glasses are vision aid to help me see better so is cpap machine is an aid to help me sleep better. People die with or without sleep apnea and as cpap user my chances of dying in my sleep is not any greater than anybody else probably less likely scenario and have a higher chance to be struck with a truck crossing the street or by lightening for that matter.

[Dreamcatcher]

A disability may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, developmental or some combination of these.


Disabilities is an umbrella term, covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions. An impairment is a problem in body function or structure; an activity limitation is a difficulty encountered by an individual in executing a task or action; while a participation restriction is a problem experienced by an individual in involvement in life situations. Thus disability is a complex phenomenon, reflecting an interaction between features of a person’s body and features of the society in which he or she lives.

—World Health Organization

Disability is caused by impairments to various subsystems of the body - these can be broadly sorted into the following categories.

(WIKI) Physical disability

Main article: Physical disability

Any impairment which limits the physical function of limbs or fine or gross motor ability is a physical disability. Other physical disabilities include impairments which limit other facets of daily living, such as severe sleep apnea.

Need I say more

[PaulaO2]

Yes, but successfully treated SA would not be a disability. We sleep and we sleep well.

Personally, I would never consider sleep apnea to be a disability. Perhaps in the extreme case where someone is not capable of tolerating the mask (skin allergies) or the pressures (friable skin).