Archive for the ‘Equipment’ Category

Well I have been on a CPAP for about 3 months.  General conclusion is that it is going very well.  After the pressure increase a month ago, I have noted further improvement.  It seems to have solved the mask vibration issue that was bothering me.  So I now tend to have the mask on more of the night – which is a good thing.

Also, we took a trip to a lake cabin last weekend.  I packed an extension cord with the CPAP just in case I needed it.  The outlets worked out so I didn’t, but seemed like a good idea to bring one with.  Still not 100% used to traveling with one yet, but a little preplanning goes a long way.

So all in all the CPAP treatment is a success to date.  I am sure there are more things I am forgetting at the moment, but that is what follow-up posts are for!

Well traveling with a CPAP was a whole lot easier than I expected.

To keep things simple, I checked my main bag in, though since a CPAP doesn’t count against your carry-on limit, I didn’t have to.  However, I flew out of Jamestown on a pretty small plane, so wanted to keep it simple.  Going through security was easy.  I just pulled it out and put it in its own bin and while I was repacking my laptop checked it, and I was through.

The way back was just as easy through the Phoenix airport and Minneapolis airport.  I had been told having a copy of your prescription was recommended, but I doubted this and didn’t bring one.  No, indeed it wasn’t needed at all.

So my best advice for other CPAP travelers – treat it just like a laptop and you will be fine.

I came down with a cold over the weekend and discovered a cold and a CPAP don’t go well together for me.  Having just a nasal mask didn’t work out at all and I ended up taking the mask off pretty quickly in the night.

I also received a call that my data had been reviewed and the Dr. was bumping the pressure from 7cmH2O to 8cmH2O.  I suspected this would be the case, so wasn’t surprised.

I went into the local accessories store and had them increase the pressure on the machine.  I also checked out a demo full face mask to try that before my 30 day period is up on my nasal mask.  I will see how that works in general and specifically with a cold.

It would help if the cold will just go away, since having one has skewed my stats in general much less testing out a different mask.

In this part we will be looking at how sleep apnea is treated.

Part 4 of 5 – Sleep Apnea Education series

Today, lets look at how sleep apnea is treated from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute.

Goals of Treatment

The goals of treating obstructive sleep apnea are to:
Restore regular breathing during sleep
Relieve symptoms such as loud snoring and daytime sleepiness

Remember in a previous part we looked why not seeking treatment can be a risky proposition with long range effects.

Specific Types of Treatment

Lifestyle changes, mouthpieces, breathing devices, and/or surgery are used to treat sleep apnea. Currently, there are no medicines to treat sleep apnea.

If you have sleep apnea, talk to your doctor or sleep specialist about the treatment options that are most appropriate for your specific condition.

Lifestyle changes and/or mouthpieces may be enough to relieve mild sleep apnea. People who have moderate or severe sleep apnea may need breathing devices or surgery.

The full article covers the varies types of treatment.  Seeing this is a Hosehead blog I will focus on just Continuous Positive Air Pressure (or CPAP) treatment.

Breathing Devices

Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is the most common treatment for moderate to severe sleep apnea in adults. A CPAP machine uses a mask that fits over your mouth and nose, or just over your nose. The machine gently blows air into your throat.

The air presses on the wall of your airway. The air pressure is adjusted so that it’s just enough to stop the airways from becoming narrowed or blocked during sleep.

This is the treatment I was prescribed.  During my sleep study different air pressures were tested and my sleep Dr set a pressure of 7cmH2O.

See other Education articles on Hosehead Life.  (Including all 5 parts of this Sleep Apnea Education series.)

Well the third night on CPAP is down.  Still making some adjustment to it.

Woke up around 2am and was going to get something to drink, took off the mask, and fell back asleep for a hour before realizing it.  So missed a hour of use.  Probably not the end of the world, but something I should probably avoid.

Either way, still waking up in the middle of the night.  Might be the slight moisture waking me up, so I could turn down the humidity.  Though while the tendency to tweak everything is there, I feel I haven’t used it long enough to really worry about tweaking settings.  The mask seems to fit well enough without discomfort.  So I am planning on getting a full 7 day stats so help figure out if any changes need to be made.  Then I believe at the 1 month mark is when the doc will review the data and see if any changes need to be made to the prescription.

Well the first night on a CPAP was interesting.  I had a little of the laying there wondering if the mask was leaking, but got to sleep pretty quickly.

Interesting part was I woke at 2am feeling like it was time to get up and go to work. (ie as well rested as I normally am).  It took me a bit to get back to sleep, but then slept till shortly before my alarm normally goes off. Far more rested than usual.  So no matter what, I would say that is pointing in a darn good direction.

My wife did mention when I asked that I was still slightly snoring, though at a much reduced volume. Not quite sure yet if that is a normal part of the adjustment process or if that means the pressure will be adjusted later.  It was just night #1, so not really concerned since I suspect there will be a bit of up and down adjusting to it.

Posted my results on the forums and it sounds like that is actually a very good result overall.  A lot of people have difficulty adjusting to wearing a CPAP.

Well Meritcare Healthcare Accessories here in Jamestown was actually very helpful and great to work with.  A number of forum posts seemed to indicate that it was going to be hit or miss, but they managed to go a very good job here.

I did my homework reading up on the major CPAP brands and scoured the boards reading folks opinions.  They varied widely, but the 2 main US brands both had new models out that were full data capable (meaning a SD card can be pulled and review how treatment is going) though it was possible that a local place might not yet have those in.  Reporting is my job, plus being a geek, being able to pull information from this very expensive gadget was quite important to me.

I was pleasantly surprised when the gal came in with a Respironics PR System One REMstar Pro C-Flex+ with humidifier, which was one of the 2 top recommendations I gathered over the weekend.  While there I was finally able to get a copy of my sleep results.  Finally was able to put a number with the prescription.  Apparently I have an AHI of 23.9, putting me smack in the moderate obstructive sleep apnea category.

So it should be interesting to see how the first night of CPAP therapy goes.