Take CPAP when traveling

[jnk...]

A vacation during which one denies oneself restful sleep and good O2 to one's organs is, in my opinion, no vacation at all. You take vacation to get away from stress, not to add medical stress by forgoing a needed medical therapy.

Hey, just me.

[zoocrewphoto]

I would take it with my for a couple reasons.

One, if I suddenly stop using my machine, I leave myself even more open to sleep apnea than before I started cpap. Back then, my brain had methods of keeping my safer. Lighter sleeping, waking up to stop the problems, etc. But once we accept and trust the machine to do the job, we can sleep deeper and get better sleep. That also means that we have lost our old coping skills. Skipping a night or two means back to headaches and crappy sleep. Not great during a vacation.

Sharing a room? I don't know about you, but waking everybody up is NOT something I want to do. My sister and I went to Mexico last April to celebrate our exchange sister's wedding. My sister and I shared a bedroom, and we were staying in a small enough house that my exchange sister and her parents would have heard my snoring too. I would have been disturbing 5 people for 7 nights. Because I didn't want to haul my machine (which is the same Resmed S9). It's not THAT Big.

On the way to down (3 flights), I carried it as an extra carry bag since we don't get charged. I also had a regular carryon, a small personal bag, and a checked bag. My regular carryon has wheels, so I just attached the cpap bag and personal bag to the carryon and wheeled it around. Security was no big deal. They were way more interested in my personal bag. On the way home, I had fewer things to take since I had hauled down wedding gifts from me and my family. So, I was able to pack my cpap bag inside my carry on bag.

Keep in mind that most of the time, you are NOT hauling the bag around.

[hobbs]

Use it without the humidifier for the length of time you will be gone before you go and see if can use it that way. S9 without the humidifier is not that large. And it's nice to get home and use the humidifier again!

[shaina]

This may not apply to you, but I find it very difficult to fall asleep without my CPAP. If you decide that the machine is more trouble than it's worth, at least test out beforehand how you sleep without it.

[remstarcpap]

Here's the skinny:

1. Taking a machine is not a big deal. Esp. if you can do without humidifier, even a standard S9 is pretty small. Pay for the smaller power https://www.cpap.com/productpage/s9-30- ... -cord.htmlsupply, and you can take the main unit, the powersupply, and a mask in your carry on luggage or in a separate cpap bag. Small, light, and compact.

2. Even with humidifier it is not a big deal. Or try the humidifier filters like these: http://www.directhomemedical.com/inline ... icomp.html They work ok, not as well as full humidifier, but better than nothing. And weigh nothing.

3. If it's really an issue, buy a travel machine, like the Z1, but realize that they don't work as well.

4. If you use cpap every night, you should travel with one. The only exception would be camping, as power can be an issue. Trust me you will sleep better, snore much less, and feel better. Leave home the extra pair of shoes.

[Hoot]

I was in Europe in March for two weeks traveling light so I didn’t pack my bulky cpap. I woke up every morning with extreme dry mouth and a sore throat from snoring. I bought a ResMed AirMini so I can have a small, easy to pack, travel cpap.

[ChicagoGranny]

Pay for the smaller power https://www.cpap.com/productpage/s9-30- ... htmlsupply

That's cool. I didn't know. Will order one since I rarely use the humidifier. Thanks.

[Bons]

I'm thinking that you'll have enough troubles with tiredness that you don't need to add to your problems by doing without the cpap. Can you just hang the cpap case over the handle of your rolling luggage? That's what I did on a recent trip. If you can manage without the humidifier, you won't have to worry about distilled water.

My only issue was that the passenger in the plane row ahead of me had the same ASV that I do, and they were stowed next to each other, so we opened one to make sure we had our own at the end of the trip. If either of us had marked the case it would have made things simpler, of course. He joked with me about it when I boarded behind him - like members of a secret club. I used the ASV as one of two allowed carry on pieces (had that and a backpack) and was never asked to open it - put it through the xray machine and that was that.

[OutaSync]

I dragged my ASV to Norway with me and it's a whole lot bigger than yours. It has never helped me sleep better, in fact, I haven't had a good night's sleep since I started this nonsense over 10 years ago. But the thought of embarrassing my family by dying while on vacation made me take it.
Norway is beautiful! Enjoy your trip.

[chunkyfrog]

A member of our church died on vacation to Ukraine.
It cost his children $20,000 to bring his remains home.
Embarrassment is the easy part.

[RobertS975]

I have been on CPAP since February 2014. Three trips to Asia, three to South America, and multiple trips to Europe... never been without my S9 along with the humidier. It is never an airport security issue, and only once did I ever have to remove the machine from the case (Greece). I can't imagine why you would consider leaving your machine behind.

[SewTired]

My former boss is traveling a lot right now and he can't do without his machine. He bought a travel machine (Z1 with powerpack) and that has worked very well for him. He carries it in the separate container only when on planes. After he gets his baggage, he stuffs it into the suitcase. Since he's retired and paying his own dime, he walks and uses a lot more buses and trains and almost no taxis, so he needed something very light. Plus, it's his backup machine if his machine goes wonky. Anyway, just mentioning this as an option. Z1 and powerpack aren't cheap.

[coconur]

When I traveled to Europe several years ago, I had purchased a small, cheap, basic travel machine with no humidifier. It had dual voltage, but I needed an adapter for the plug. I was really glad I did. Both that machine and my little dual voltage travel hair dryer developed issues with the motors some time afterwards. No proof that running them on 220V shortened their life, but I was glad it wasn't my main machine.

[coconur]

Oh, and travelers should be aware that some airlines are no longer allowing full sized carry ons. Only one personal item and nothing else, except the 'free' cpap bag, of course. On my last flight, I was lucky that I had enough room in my under seat carry on to stuff my purse in, otherwise I would have had to check a second bag at $35-60.

[palerider]

Both that machine and my little dual voltage travel hair dryer developed issues with the motors some time afterwards. No proof that running them on 220V shortened their life, but I was glad it wasn't my main machine.

Your cpap runs on either 12 or 24v power, so the motor in your cpap isn't affected by whatever power is supplied to the power supply brick.

Your hair dryer, maybe.