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[tee_bee]

A few of us have hijacked a thread on colonoscopies (the OP is going well after the procedure), into a discussion of CPAP machines. I thought a separate thread might be in order, because a lot of folks (like me) use them. Some of us swear by them, some swear at them.

CPAP users, do you have hints and tips? We were, in the other thread, talking about travel machines, when our insurance will pay to replace our machines, and the like. Other ideas? Any machines you particularly like, including travel-ready machines? Experiences with taking your machine and using it on airplanes or in foreign countries? Any problems at TSA? This is kind of a travel-heavy set of issues, because I travel a lot. There are other issues--getting used to them, fitting masks, etc. Let's share tips!

My CPAP changed my life in the best way. I know I need to lose weight to ease the sleep apnea, but, in the mean time, my CPAP is the difference between a good night's sleep and a really bad day. I'd love to hear others' experiences!

[dept_geek]

Thanks, tee_bee...  yes, indeed, the CPAP changed my life as well (somebody say Amen!! <grin>). It used to be if I stopped moving, I fell asleep. Now, I can go all day. Very weird to talk like that, but really being able to stay awake for a meeting, or on the phone is kinda nice.

I'm looking into a travel machine.. whether it is a second new machine (mine is 5 years old already) or just a primary one that is smaller.

Masks - tried the full mask and hated it. Love the nasal mask (looks like a large cannula). I don't feel like I am drowning.

TSA - never had trouble.  Gate agents are a different story, but the TSA has always been nice about it.  Spottier coverage in Europe, some agents look at it closely, others don't care.  I also have a European power strip so I can charge all the electronics and still sleep (many European hotel rooms have only a few outlets, so the power strip was a must buy.) I don't bother with the humidifier when I travel, it's too much of a hassle for me.

Looking forward to reading other comments.

[tee_bee]

Does the dry air bother you if you don't have a humidifier? I always bring it with me, but it would be nice if I didn't have to.

[pgher]

I got my first CPAP about 8-9 years ago, a new one about four years ago, and apparently I'm eligible to get a new one now, as in tomorrow (Thursday).  (I just had a new sleep study, and that somehow triggered it.)  Anyway, my second CPAP, without the humidifier especially, is plenty small enough for travel.  BUT, my son is in Boy Scouts now, so I'm looking for something that can run off a battery and that is, in total, light enough to take backpacking.  Tall order.

My question is, for those who have a small, portable CPAP, is it good enough for daily use, too?  I don't want to suffer 360 days a year for the sake of the 5 days I go camping.  I also don't want to buy ANOTHER one just for those five days.

I usually take the humidifier if I'm traveling just because hotels are often VERY dry.  I have gone without, though, and get by.

[clean]

My CPAP  is all of 2 months old.  I have had no real problems getting used to it.  I still have some issues with the mask making noise, but I sleep through the night now.  Before the CPAP I could sleep only 90 minutes or so before I woke up for the first time. 

My sleep study showed my blood O2 level dropped to 84%. 

I need to lose a lot of weight, but sleeping well is the first step. 

I use the nasal mask that goes up your nose, not the ones that cover your nose. 

I traveled to Fl for Christmas.  I had no problems at the airport.  TSA had no issues at all with the CPAP.  SouthWest didnt have a problem.  we are allowed 1 carry on and a personal item.  I use a backpack like the students use.  It carries my laptop and has plenty of space for what I carry. 

Mine has a humidifier.  I will soon add a UPS to the house. While I was away, the power went out for a while.  I dont like the idea of trying to sleep through a power outage. 

I would certainly be interested in hearing what is found out about the battery options.

[infopri]

My question is, for those who have a small, portable CPAP, is it good enough for daily use, too?  I don't want to suffer 360 days a year for the sake of the 5 days I go camping.  I also don't want to buy ANOTHER one just for those five days.

I usually take the humidifier if I'm traveling just because hotels are often VERY dry.  I have gone without, though, and get by.

My Better Half bought a travel machine when he still had a big ol' clunky machine at home.  (He recently got a new one for home, very small and compact, courtesy of insurance because enough time had passed since getting the old clunky one.)  The small portable ones are no different from the daily home-use ones.  It's just that, as time has gone by, the machines have gotten smaller and lighter, making them suitable for travel.  Until MBH got his new home machine, the travel one was actually better than the one he used every day at home.

We're in Somewhere Warm now, where the air is often quite humid.  While the CPAP humidifier was absolutely essential in MyCity (a much drier climate), it's actually causing problems here in Somewhere Warm because he occasionally ends up with water in the tubes.  But he was able to dial back the humidity provided by the humidifier, and that seems to have solved the problem.

By the way, I call it a CPAP, but he actually has a biPAP, which provides two different, alternating air pressures, one for inhaling and a slightly lesser one for exhaling.  The biPAP (vs. a CPAP) makes exhaling much, much easier than it is with a CPAP, so if anyone has this problem, look into a biPAP.  Insurance doesn't really care which one you get.

By the way, clean, MBH has slept through a power outage.  I was terrified that he'd suffocate (we get outages a lot here in Somewhere Warm), but he is able to breathe through the unpowered system.  (It usually wakes him up within a few minutes, though.)

Also, as I mentioned on the other thread, TSA allows you one carry-on, one personal item (briefcase, purse, etc.), and medical equipment.  The CPAP does not count in your allotment of carry-on stuff.  In other words, you can take everything you would ordinarily carry on with you, PLUS the CPAP.

[tee_bee]

I would certainly be interested in hearing what is found out about the battery options.

Some of the big on-line sellers of CPAP machines sell batteries. They are pretty easily found and are fairly common. In my experience, they seem heavy and expensive, which is why I never got one. But some of these smaller machines seem really compact and have smaller batteries, so, for the first time, I am tempted to get a travel machine and battery.

FWIW, I use the full mask. When I first got it, it irritated the skin on and just under my nose, but now I am used to it. I don't get a great seal--I have a full beard--but it's good enough. Sometimes the mask makes strange noises; the other day, my wife thought she heard a kid crying, but it was just the air whistling through the mask.

[pathogen]

Thanks for this thread. I am going to show it to the PathoSpouse. I really, really, want to convince him to do a sleep study this year. I'm worried he has sleep apnea. He thinks it would be really hard to sleep with a CPAP.

[clean]

IF he has apnea, then he is not sleeping NOW! 

I used to get up a few times a night. Now I sleep through the night.  It does have a few annoyances, but when you sleep, you sleep for hours!

I sleep with a bite guard too because I grind my teeth.  Initially, it would make me want to throw up after a few minutes.  Now, if I lie down without it, I have to get up and get it!

It doesnt take too long to get used to. 

[gilda]

HI all -- I already have a bite guard for TMJ and am going in soon for a sleep study.  My TMJ specialist says there is another kind of bite guard/ mouth appliance that can aid in sleep apnea if you don't want to get the CPAP.  Has anyone tried one of those?  I think it's called OASYS.

[infopri]

Thanks for this thread. I am going to show it to the PathoSpouse. I really, really, want to convince him to do a sleep study this year. I'm worried he has sleep apnea. He thinks it would be really hard to sleep with a CPAP.

Pathogen, show PathoSpouse this post:

My Better Half and I had that exact conversation for years.  I was certain he had sleep apnea.  He was equally certain that, even if he did have apnea, he'd never be able to adjust to sleeping with the machine/mask.  I finally videotaped him having all the snorting and gasping that is life with obstructive sleep apnea.  That, and being tired all the time during the day, finally convinced him to get the sleep study.

Turned out, his blood oxygen during "sleep" was 75 percent!  (Normal is in the high 90s.)  The doctor told us that 75 percent blood oxygen is heart-attack territory.  My Better Half bit the bullet and got the machine.  It took him about a week, maybe less, to get used to sleeping with the machine.  After that, he wouldn't even consider sleeping without it.  It's been something like eight years now, and he's a different person--and so am I, as the apnea was disrupting my sleep as much as his (or perhaps more, because he "slept" through his difficulties while I lay in bed, wide awake, listening/watching him gasp for breath.)

HI all -- I already have a bite guard for TMJ and am going in soon for a sleep study.  My TMJ specialist says there is another kind of bite guard/ mouth appliance that can aid in sleep apnea if you don't want to get the CPAP.  Has anyone tried one of those?  I think it's called OASYS.

We heard about the bite guard, but My Better Half didn't need it, so I can't tell you much about it.

[pgher]

I have a new CPAP now.  I had an experience, eight or so years ago, similar to infopri's MBH.  What made my wife push me was Reggie White's death.  He died of a heart attack, but there was conjecture that it was related to sleep apnea.  (By the way, my study a few weeks ago showed a bottom of 86% O2 and 98 events per hour.  No wonder I can't sleep without my CPAP!)

I'm not convinced my new CPAP is any smaller than my 4-year-old one.  However, my old one is a ResMed and my new one is a Respironics.  There is some issue with running a ResMed off a battery.  I don't know if I'll spend the $400 on a Li-ion battery, but at least it's an option.  Car battery for this weekend's camp-out.

I asked my doctor if there was any option besides a CPAP for travel--obviously, a bite guard would be more portable.  He said not really.  I asked what people did before CPAP's.  He said, "Suffer."  I suppose it depends on what exactly is causing the obstruction, and how severe it is.

My brother also has a CPAP.  He's in sales, and so travels all the time.  That's why he resisted it at first.  Now that he has one, he travels with it and is happier.

[tee_bee]

It's interesting to see how many events an hour folks have. I was at about 88% blood 02, and 72 events an hour. They ended the sleep study an hour or two early because I was so profoundly apneatic, if that's a word. So they hooked me up to one of those hospital grade machines, and I thought "oh, I will never fall asleep with this mask and all these monitors....." Five hours later, the staff is waking me up. They wouldn't let me stay and sleep more, nor would they just give me their machine! But I got it the next week, and it was amazing. But it blew my mind how much better I felt right after the sleep study when they put me on a CPAP. I was sold on the spot.

[libprof]

Last year about this time I started using new head gear by ResMed. It's pink and pretty but more importantly the accompanying nasal pillows seem to reduce or even eliminate the annoying "balloon leaking" whistle sound I had with my previous headgear. It helps too I've been told that I use a humidified CPAP machine and we keep the bedroom pretty cool.

I recent problem I've developed is nighttime congestion. The sleep Dr prescribed a steroidal nasal spray but at $50 bucks a shot I doubt I continue using it. My Dr also suggested sleeping in cotton night clothes and avoiding flannel and sleeping of course, slightly elevated. These tactics have reduced the congestion to the point I can continue using the machine without fearing I'll suffocate.

[infopri]

The sleep Dr prescribed a steroidal nasal spray but at $50 bucks a shot I doubt I continue using it. My Dr also suggested sleeping in cotton night clothes and avoiding flannel and sleeping of course, slightly elevated. These tactics have reduced the congestion to the point I can continue using the machine without fearing I'll suffocate.

My Better Half using the steroidal stuff and it doesn't even work that well.  He finds better relief from over-the-counter products like Afrin.  Yeah, yeah, we know that it's bad for you--but using it just the once a day, right before bed, isn't going to hurt you, and it will enable you breathe easily all night through your nose.

I'm curious, though: How does wearing cotton (flannel) help (hurt) in this context??  (It doesn't matter to us, as we sleep nude, but I can't figure out the connection between choice of material and level of congestion.)