Sleep Apnea Question

[tzone]

I have one and can't sleep a wink without it. I've had mine for 17 years now. It changed my life. I could/would fall asleep while driving or even while having a conversation. If I'm hunting where there is no power, I bring a deep cycle battery and a power inverter. Obviously you're not going to be backpacking with that set up. There are new "travel" style set ups that I would consider if I did some backpacking.

 

[WyoDoug]

Well folks, once I am issued my CPAP, I will look for travel options. My style of hunting though is with a pop-up camper base camp and a generator. I generally hike out all day and come back to base camp every night. Only exception is when I park my butt on the side of the hill for the night because I am sitting on top of a bedded elk. I have done that before. But I may try them denture type fittings to see how they work.

 

[Woodrow F Call]

I'm working on building a house battery setup for my truck to charge lead acid batteries. I love my CPAP.

I need to look into the mouth piece and a small generator as options too.

 

[wheels]

freedom cpap battery

 

[WyoDoug]

I got the verdict, now I know why I fatigue so severely sometimes I have to do another sleep study in the lab this time. Fun.

But anyway, how many of you need to use oxygen with it? And how do you adapt in the field? Apparently, my blood O2 hangs around 70 while sleeping and should be in the 90s when I am sleeping.

 

[Bigjay73]

70??? Holy crap!!!

 

[MO Betta]

Yeah, 70 seems real low. When my mother was in the ICU they were struggling to get her blood o2 to 90 using basically pure oxygen. Doesn't help that she has COPD, has to use oxygen at night when she sleeps as well.

 

[WyoDoug]

Yup 70s. Should be high 90s.

 

[Bigjay73]

Glad you're taking care of it. You're gonna feel great!

 

[Cav1]

I've been on one for about 14 years and always use it at home or in a hotel. But for backpacking I use a plastic football mouthgaurd and this head harness I found on-line that hold my chin/jaw shut. I don't sleep quite as well with it as with the CPAP, but still a whole heckuva lot better than I would with nothing and I can get by with it for a few nights. Nowadays if I go without anything at all I wake up feeling like I haven't gone to sleep yet and like someone sandpapered the inside of my throat.

 

[MJE2083]

I got the verdict, now I know why I fatigue so severely sometimes I have to do another sleep study in the lab this time. Fun.

But anyway, how many of you need to use oxygen with it? And how do you adapt in the field? Apparently, my blood O2 hangs around 70 while sleeping and should be in the 90s when I am sleeping.

When I first started using my CPAP I had to have oxygen with it. If I was traveling I just went without the oxygen and used the CPAP by itself.
Now for some encouraging news... after using the CPAP and oxygen for a couple years I was reevaluated by my doctor and they found that I no longer needed the oxygen. My doctor said it's not uncommon for the body to adjust after continual CPAP use and O2 levels go up. I was really happy because even with my insurance I was paying a lot of money for the O2 and it was loud at night.

My advice, make sure that you're going to see a sleep specialist and going for yearly check ups. When I was first diagnosed, my primary care doctor felt like he could handle this himself and essentially just sent me home with the CPAP and O2 set up with no follow up or anything. If I hadn't moved to a new area and started seeing an actual sleep specialist, I would probably still be using that oxygen.

 

[ccc23454]

Been on one 15ish years, sleep like crap without it! Use one in trailer but when backpacking aint feasible for me, temps drsin batts and weight isnt worth it, just know my sleep will diminish for those days and i take day naps. I have to sleep on my side and cover my mouth to retain moisture in my breathing. I have spare machines now so i built one into my camp trailer, i dont take my home machine out. Turn off all features and just run pressure to not wear out batts overnight in trailer, recharge batt daily.

 

[robsev]

I bought a Rockpals 250 watt multi purpose power station and a foldable solar panel From Amazon. I haven’t taken it to the woods yet, but I tried it at home. It worked great. There was still over 50% charge leftafter running all night. The next day I set it up outside with the panels and it charged back up to 100%. It also has plug ins to charge your phone and other devices.

 

[XXL]

I got the verdict, now I know why I fatigue so severely sometimes I have to do another sleep study in the lab this time. Fun.

But anyway, how many of you need to use oxygen with it? And how do you adapt in the field? Apparently, my blood O2 hangs around 70 while sleeping and should be in the 90s when I am sleeping.

If you need to use Oxygen with the CPAP, you can bring small tanks, like an e-cylinder, with a regulator and "T" it into your cpap tubing. Usually just a liter or 2 a minute will bring your sats up. At one liter/minute an e tank will last about 5 hours. If your saturation levels don't come up on their own with the cpap, adding some additional O2 is relatively easy. Your next sleep study can be used to titrate the amount of O2 you need to add to keep your sats up, which, in turn will determine how large a tank you need to make it through an uninterrupted night.

 

[WyoDoug]

When I first started using my CPAP I had to have oxygen with it. If I was traveling I just went without the oxygen and used the CPAP by itself.
Now for some encouraging news... after using the CPAP and oxygen for a couple years I was reevaluated by my doctor and they found that I no longer needed the oxygen. My doctor said it's not uncommon for the body to adjust after continual CPAP use and O2 levels go up. I was really happy because even with my insurance I was paying a lot of money for the O2 and it was loud at night.

My advice, make sure that you're going to see a sleep specialist and going for yearly check ups. When I was first diagnosed, my primary care doctor felt like he could handle this himself and essentially just sent me home with the CPAP and O2 set up with no follow up or anything. If I hadn't moved to a new area and started seeing an actual sleep specialist, I would probably still be using that oxygen.

My doc sent me to a sleep specialist. I have been on CPAP now two weeks and so far both my hypertension and nighttime hypoxia has went away. I might get off my heart medication when I go in for physical. I am now a firm believer in CPAP machines. It sure has worked for me.

 

[PaulRevere]

My doc sent me to a sleep specialist. I have been on CPAP now two weeks and so far both my hypertension and nighttime hypoxia has went away. I might get off my heart medication when I go in for physical. I am now a firm believer in CPAP machines. It sure has worked for me.

Great news!!

 

[Bluffgruff]

CPAP is the right way to treat OSA for most people, but the root of it for almost everyone is obesity. Drop your belly, and your neck fat with it, and there's a decent chance you will improve in all parts of your health, and many folks can get off their CPAPs entirely.

 

[WyoDoug]

Easier sa

CPAP is the right way to treat OSA for most people, but the root of it for almost everyone is obesity. Drop your belly, and your neck fat with it, and there's a decent chance you will improve in all parts of your health, and many folks can get off their CPAPs entirely.

Easier said than done and not a one size fits all. Sleep Apnea also causes metabolism disorders in some people and some have genetic issues. It is an assumption by many that sleep apnea patients are all overweight. Not true. Weight is a risk factor but not always. My hunting buddy is as slender as you can get and moves heavy boxes of explosives all day long and he is now in his first week on CPAP. My issues are genetics. Seems every male in my family has belly, back and neck fat. I do physical exercise all day long in my job and lift 200-300 30 to 60 pound boxes a day and eat a 1500 calorie diet a day on a dietitian prescribed diet so I should be losing rather than gaining weight. In my case, I was diagnosed with abnormal gut microbioma which the doctor says is common with people that eat a ton of junk or processed foods which I do and trying to change. That is also something that reverses itself in some CPAP patients because when your body is deprived of oxygen especially at night, it messes with everything, including your metabolism.

 

[Turnbull71]

I have the Transecend travel unit and got the battery and solar charger. I don't think the solar charger worked barely at all. I am doing 9-10 days backcountry Elk hunt this September and will have two of the batteries (1 pound each) for the unit and am thinking of getting the Goal Zero Sherpa 100 AC battery (2 pounds), which should give me at east one charger per battery and getting a Goal Zero solar panel (2.2 pounds). Going in I should make it 4-5 nights with out solar. Total battery and solar charging is about 6 pounds. Taking llamas in to a base camp so weight not that big of a deal but will be doing camps away from base camp if the need arises and will only need battery power for 1-2 nights.

 

[tzone]

Well folks, once I am issued my CPAP, I will look for travel options. My style of hunting though is with a pop-up camper base camp and a generator. I generally hike out all day and come back to base camp every night. Only exception is when I park my butt on the side of the hill for the night because I am sitting on top of a bedded elk. I have done that before. But I may try them denture type fittings to see how they work.

With that "style" of travel/hunting/camping...I don't think you'll any issues unless you have generator problems. I use a deep cycle battery and it's good for 2 nights without a charge.