power outage at night?

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Newbie Woman
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Re: power outage at night?

Post by Newbie Woman » Sat Jul 19, 2014 9:34 pm

Something, somewhere in our house makes a beeping sound...perhaps a smoke alarm... and I'm instantly awake. My beloved is also a CPAPer and he sleeps right through it every time. I have to wake him up.

Physician
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Re: power outage at night?

Post by Physician » Sun Jul 20, 2014 1:00 am

gdgiles wrote:Just curious if anyone here has been through a power outage at night while on CPAP. I guess it's designed so you can still breathe, especially with a pillow, but I'd bet a full mask would be kind of scary.


My S9 is plugged into an APS UPS unit and should immediately changeover and give at six hours of use if/when the house AC is off.

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Re: power outage at night?

Post by Stevoreno_55 » Sun Jul 20, 2014 1:28 am

When my power goes out within 60 seconds my NG whole house generator kicks on and everything is fine; something I had installed after Hurricane Katrina and it's worth every penny.

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Re: power outage at night?

Post by Guest » Sun Jul 20, 2014 3:01 am

Newbie Woman wrote:Something, somewhere in our house makes a beeping sound...perhaps a smoke alarm... and I'm instantly awake. My beloved is also a CPAPer and he sleeps right through it every time. I have to wake him up.
Prob a UPS beeping (it will beep until the power returns) which gets annoying when you are trying to sleep.

Which is why I plug into a battery and can sleep right thru w/o missing a wink.

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archangle
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Re: power outage at night?

Post by archangle » Sun Jul 20, 2014 4:14 am

ShelaghDB wrote:Don't worry, even if the power went off, I promise you that you will just take it off in your sleep and likely not even be aware you are doing so and I don't mean ripping if off either, i mean, rather gently and neatly.
That's definitely NOT true for everyone. Some people have kept sleeping with the power off and have not taken off their full face or nasal masks. Some of them felt really bad when they woke up.

Presumably the nasal mask users opened their mouths and didn't suffocate. I guess it's possible some of them died in their sleep and no one figured out it was suffocation from rebreathing.

The medical community doesn't seem to think it's a problem, but I wonder. If someone did suffocate in their sleep from a failed CPAP machine and rebreathing stale air, would the local coroner investigate properly, or just take the easy route and conclude the victim died from sleep apnea/heart attack/stroke after their machine quit?

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naturalisbest
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Re: power outage at night?

Post by naturalisbest » Tue Jul 22, 2014 7:47 pm

What do you mean that the Aloha doesn't have an anti asphyxia valve? I finally find a dream mask and it's missing a valve? Did my swift airfit p10 have an anti asphyxia valve? I thought those things were just for full face masks in case the electric goes out. What's the deal ? Why can't I just open my mouth? If my machine goes off, I wake up unless I'm plastered, which isn't often.

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archangle
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Re: power outage at night?

Post by archangle » Tue Jul 22, 2014 11:47 pm

naturalisbest wrote:What do you mean that the Aloha doesn't have an anti asphyxia valve? I finally find a dream mask and it's missing a valve? Did my swift airfit p10 have an anti asphyxia valve? I thought those things were just for full face masks in case the electric goes out. What's the deal ? Why can't I just open my mouth? If my machine goes off, I wake up unless I'm plastered, which isn't often.
Generally only FFM masks that cover the mouth and nose have anti-asphyxia valves. The theory seems to be that if the pressure shuts off when you have a nasal mask, you'll open your mouth and breathe that way, the same way you would if your nose clogs up.

The Oracle Oral mask also has an anti-asphyxia valve.

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ShelaghDB
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Re: power outage at night?

Post by ShelaghDB » Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:36 am

archangle wrote:
ShelaghDB wrote:Don't worry, even if the power went off, I promise you that you will just take it off in your sleep and likely not even be aware you are doing so and I don't mean ripping if off either, i mean, rather gently and neatly.
That's definitely NOT true for everyone. Some people have kept sleeping with the power off and have not taken off their full face or nasal masks. Some of them felt really bad when they woke up.

Presumably the nasal mask users opened their mouths and didn't suffocate. I guess it's possible some of them died in their sleep and no one figured out it was suffocation from rebreathing.

The medical community doesn't seem to think it's a problem, but I wonder. If someone did suffocate in their sleep from a failed CPAP machine and rebreathing stale air, would the local coroner investigate properly, or just take the easy route and conclude the victim died from sleep apnea/heart attack/stroke after their machine quit?

Interesting.
But I don't think i would have typed that if true.
Too many paranoid CPAP users.
Why give them something else to obsess about?

I personally don't believe its a problem and will side with the medical community on this one.
There would have to be a per cent age of deaths for this to be a problem.
The chance of that happening i would guess to be less than ones chance of being hit by lightening........
Generally only FFM masks that cover the mouth and nose have anti-asphyxia valves.
Ok, I have the QUATTRO AIR.
So what exactly is this valve you are speaking of and how does it work?

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Re: power outage at night?

Post by Snufflenose » Thu Jul 24, 2014 1:24 am

Hi yes, there's nothing worse then a power black whist sleeping blissfully at night, what a experience! Instant suffocation. Is the result what a dreadful way to wake up!


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archangle
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Re: power outage at night?

Post by archangle » Thu Jul 24, 2014 1:54 am

ShelaghDB wrote:I personally don't believe its a problem and will side with the medical community on this one.
There would have to be a per cent age of deaths for this to be a problem.
The chance of that happening i would guess to be less than ones chance of being hit by lightening........
I'm not that worried about it, but I do think the medical community should study this better. The assumption that you'll open your mouth like you will if your nose stops up is somewhat suspicious to me. With the stopped up nose, you can't breathe. With a disabled CPAP, you can still inhale and exhale, but the O2/CO2 concentrations go bad. People in confined spaces with bad O2 levels sometimes lose consciousness with no warning.
ShelaghDB wrote:Ok, I have the QUATTRO AIR.
So what exactly is this valve you are speaking of and how does it work?
I don't have an AIR handy, but I believe it's in the elbow. They're usually a plastic flap that is held closed when there is air pressure in the mask. When the valve is open, you can inhale air directly through the anti-asphyxia valve from the room air.

Disconnect your Quattro AIR mask from the hose and put it on. Plug the hose connector with your thumb. Inhale and air should come in fairly easily. Exhale gently and air should go out through the anti-asphyxia port. If you exhale forcefully, you may cause the valve to close, but it should open back up when you inhale. If you look carefully, you can usually see the open hole from the outside into the mask when the mask is not on your face. When you're breathing freely like this, you're breathing through the anti-asphyxia valve.

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Krelvin
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Re: power outage at night?

Post by Krelvin » Thu Jul 24, 2014 7:08 am

When my machine stops, I am awake fairly quickly. I would not sleep through that. I have a UPS on mine both for line conditioning but also to provide continued service in an outage. Last outage at night which lasted about 2 hours I would have slept through it except my wife woke me up to tell me

I can get about 3 hours or more on the battery if the humidifier is off which is typical during the summer.
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Re: power outage at night?

Post by palerider » Thu Jul 24, 2014 7:42 am

ShelaghDefectiveBrain wrote: Ok, I have the QUATTRO AIR.
So what exactly is this valve you are speaking of and how does it work?
since you're incapable of figuring out anything on your own, say, by googling "quattro air anti asphyxiation" I'll just give you this link, and tell you to look on page 2: https://88559364175b176f8341-7518c0400f ... resmed.pdf

or, perhaps this one, http://www.resmed.com/content/dam/resme ... er_eng.pdf and say 'look on page 6 (labeled iv on the page itself, and follow the line for item 4.

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Re: power outage at night?

Post by chunkyfrog » Thu Jul 24, 2014 8:00 am

There is a flexible bit in the elbow on most full face masks.
It's hard to see if the mask is on. (use a mirror)
Sometimes it makes a little click when the blower is turned on or off.
If your fingers are small enough, you may be able to touch it.
I had a Fisher-Paykel 431, where the AA valve would get hung up if I coughed,
so I'd have to get out the tweezers and coax it into working position.

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Re: power outage at night?

Post by Stevoreno_55 » Thu Jul 24, 2014 5:53 pm

palerider wrote:
ShelaghDB wrote: Ok, I have the QUATTRO AIR.
So what exactly is this valve you are speaking of and how does it work?
since you're incapable of figuring out anything on your own, say, by googling "quattro air anti asphyxiation" I'll just give you this link, and tell you to look on page 2: https://88559364175b176f8341-7518c0400f ... resmed.pdf

or, perhaps this one, http://www.resmed.com/content/dam/resme ... er_eng.pdf and say 'look on page 6 (labeled iv on the page itself, and follow the line for item 4.
Now Paleface do you think you could have been just a little bit nicer to ShelaghDB with your advice or do you get this huge monumental rush everytime you seize upon the opportunity to put someone down; someone who might not be as wise or as knowledgable as you the almighty one? Tell ShelaghDB that you're sorry for coming across sounding like an azz.

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Re: power outage at night?

Post by ShelaghDB » Thu Jul 24, 2014 6:07 pm

Now Paleface do you think you could have been just a little bit nicer to ShelaghDB with your advice or do you get this huge monumental rush everytime you seize upon the opportunity to put someone down; someone who might not be as wise or as knowledgable as you the almighty one? Tell ShelaghDB that you're sorry for coming across sounding like an azz.

Thanks but don't worry. If PaleFace is who I think HE is, I have already been the recipient of several emails at my home calling me every name in the book, understanding that i blocked him after the 3rd i think it was and know a few more came in but bypassed me and were immediately deleted.

Ive already discovered in these sleep forums that there are some people with some serious issues..........as there are some other lovely people, there are some with incredible anger problems and i suspect 1-2 that aren't overly fond of strong woman.
Ive encountered people like this before and just block them.

I have been pretty appalled since i started with sleep apnea as to the rudeness shown many a newbie. In fact in one thread just a few days ago a couple of people were quite rude to one fellow who was new to CPAP and I asked then what the hell was wrong with some of the people here............

Walking Heart Attacks is how i refer to them as

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