A sleep at the wheel (WARNING Graphic)

[Dreamcatcher]

Some people just dont realise how dangerous it can be. Well now you can see for yourselves.





Im amazed this guy didnt need to change his shorts after this, a very very lucky man.

This one is fatal. I know its not the kind of thing people want to see but the message is there for all to see. Driving with sleep apnea can be fatal unless treated. Dont risk it.

[Surly]

I dunno... Sometime 'sleep driving' can work out well for you!

[zimlich]

I am one of the people who was foolish enough to drive sleepy. I would drive to my psychotherpists office, she would stop the session after 15 or 20 minutes because I fell asleep. I would go to 7-11, get a red bull and five hour energy which barely got me home. I KNOW this was my responsibility, but I was allowed to do this because it was too much trouble for anyone to report me to the DMV (I KNOW I should not have driven and don't blame anyone else). After a while of this I came to my senses and quit driving until I got a prescription for Provigil and was able to stay awake and alert. If I didn't feel safe driving I had someone drive me. I am more of a spiritual than religious person, but I thank God every day that I never hurt anyone else on the road.
In the UK when you get a diagnosis of OSA there is a system in place where you have to have a doctor say your sleep apnea is properly treated before you are allowed to drive. I believe this system is not in place in the US because it would put extra work on the doctor- there is not a standardized system for dealing with sleep apnea and driving. The systems in place for truck drivers are just the start. I think a big ad campaign addressing driving while sleepy, or driving too many hours (just one more hundred miles) at the start of the vacation season would be warranted. Coffee alone won't keep you awake. If we had only ourselves to think about it would be one thing (and bad enough), but there are millions of innocent drivers on the road who could be hurt or killed.
Thanks for posting the videos.

[Dreamcatcher]

I am one of the people who was foolish enough to drive sleepy. I would drive to my psychotherpists office, she would stop the session after 15 or 20 minutes because I fell asleep. I would go to 7-11, get a red bull and five hour energy which barely got me home. I KNOW this was my responsibility, but I was allowed to do this because it was too much trouble for anyone to report me to the DMV (I KNOW I should not have driven and don't blame anyone else). After a while of this I came to my senses and quit driving until I got a prescription for Provigil and was able to stay awake and alert. If I didn't feel safe driving I had someone drive me. I am more of a spiritual than religious person, but I thank God every day that I never hurt anyone else on the road.
In the UK when you get a diagnosis of OSA there is a system in place where you have to have a doctor say your sleep apnea is properly treated before you are allowed to drive. I believe this system is not in place in the US because it would put extra work on the doctor- there is not a standardized system for dealing with sleep apnea and driving. The systems in place for truck drivers are just the start. I think a big ad campaign addressing driving while sleepy, or driving too many hours (just one more hundred miles) at the start of the vacation season would be warranted. Coffee alone won't keep you awake. If we had only ourselves to think about it would be one thing (and bad enough), but there are millions of innocent drivers on the road who could be hurt or killed.
Thanks for posting the videos.

Very well put Zimlich

[mjbearit]

Thursday afternoon driving home I was behind a pickup truck that was a delivery truck for a well known motorcycle company. I watched as he began to veer off and I was thinking maybe he was pulling over for some strange reason, because the dealership he should be going to was still about a block and a half to two blocks away. I slowed a bit as he was slowing and then with horror I watched as he plowed into the back of a parked car and slammed it into 3 parked motorcycles! One of the guys was standing on the curb as if he was going to step off and get on his bike. He jumped up and back as all three motorcycles came completely off the road, straight up in front of his nose! Thankfully he was not hurt.
Now I don't know that this guy fell asleep, but he either fell asleep or was texting or something, but he was either unconscious or distracted. Either way, he should not have been driving! He very well could have killed someone! If you know you are too tired to drive, don't! If you are texting or talking on the phone, pull over and park! You could kill yourself and take many other people with you! Sorry, this is my personal soapbox! I ride a motorcycle and have been rear-ended by a distracted child and many, many times I have had people change lanes directly in front of me or almost run me over or whatever while on their cell phones.. I am normally a very mild mannered person, but try to kill me because you won't hang up and drive and I will pull up to you, get your attention and point out the error of your ways to you!

[DrWho?]

Here where I live in Australia there have been ads on television showing a vehical swerving all over the road then hitting a tree on side of the road. He wasn't drunk or on drugs he was just "dead" tired.

[Evpraxia]

My husband totaled our red Thunderbird when he fell asleep at the wheel...with the cruise control on; no one was hurt. We didn't know then that he sleep apnea. He was always tired so he never really felt anything BUT tired and sleepy and didn't know he would nod off to sleep and have no warning that he was about to. We know now!!!! And, he uses his APAP Every night!

[Doc J]

I drive little 45 to 60 minute trips 4 to 5 times a week. While I was waiting to be diagnosed (I already knew I had sleep apnea) I was doing so much caffeine and still nodding off. I ended up hearing someone say they ate sunflower seeds to stay awake and it worked. I guess if you are actively doing something it helps. Still had a few close calls that I caught, was a bad deal for sure. Four days after my sleep test I saw a pickup rolled on the interstate and called the doctor and said I'm next if we don't hurry up. Got my machine and all is well.

[TorontoCPAPguy]

You don't have to get hit by a truck to be killed by OSA. Absolutely not. OSA is a cause for diabetes, hypertension, heart arrhythmias and Lord knows what else. OSA typically will desat your SpO2 causing your heart to go crazy trying to get oxynation to your vital organs and shutting down feed to non vital organs. It will shoot your BP sky high to compensate. It will enlarge your heart and create heart arrhythmias. It is a proven contributor to Type II Diabetes. If this does not get the message across.... most that don't wake up in the morning have this on their headstone: "He died peacefully in his sleep".

[Evpraxia]

You don't have to get hit by a truck to be killed by OSA. Absolutely not. OSA is a cause for diabetes, hypertension, heart arrhythmias and Lord knows what else. OSA typically will desat your SpO2 causing your heart to go crazy trying to get oxynation to your vital organs and shutting down feed to non vital organs. It will shoot your BP sky high to compensate. It will enlarge your heart and create heart arrhythmias. It is a proven contributor to Type II Diabetes. If this does not get the message across.... most that don't wake up in the morning have this on their headstone: "He died peacefully in his sleep".

OR "He died falling asleep into his food."