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After having been on APAP/CPAP now for about five years and getting ready to go bipap, I have wondered something. I have realized how reliant I am on my sleep apnea gear. If I dont use it regularly, the following happen to me:

1) my blood pressure goes up
2) my eyes get real bloodshot
3) I get shortness of breath all day long
4) I get chest pains all day long despite not having a bad heart
5) I become so tired and fatigued I cannot function
6) I become super irritable
7) my cognition gets super bad
my mood deteriorates fast
9) I have all kinds of sleep problems to the severity I am not even going to begin to go into it here

Ive told people IRL, if for some reason I did not have access to my gear anymore on a permanent basis, Id give myself five years to live. Reason I say that is my blood pressure gets out of control so bad it becomes ridiculous and I figure I'd stroke out or have a heart attack or some kind of cardio-respiratory emergency. If you are one of these people like myself who has found your life DEPENDS upon sleep apnea gear (and compliance), and for some reason your gear was taken away or could not afford it or something anymore. How long do you think you'd last? A year? Five years? Indefinite?

Worn Out

Considering my O2 drops to 56% I doubt I would make it very long.

Suddenly Worn Out,

Unlike you, I am still new to the Hose Head world and still have 10 days to go to reach my 6 month mark. Due to the incredible impact that PAP therapy has had for me with surviving denile and at least 15 years of severe OSA (73.8 AHI untreated before diagnosis), I can't even go there, can't even begin to really think about not using a therapy that has literally saved my life, and given me a life worth living! Honestly, living without my PAP 'gear' is not something for me to ever question, because I would be more than happy to have my very last breath in this world be from my beloved machine, hose, and mask .

John

Id give myself five years, that is about all. Ive told people IRL, take my gear away for whatever reason, insurance wont pay anymore, I cant afford it anymore, does not matter the reason. Take my gear away, Im a dead man.

I swear a lot of people in real life dont seem to recognize how dependent some people are on their sleep apnea gear for survival. Including some doctors Ive met and even some respiratory therapists.

Maybe 5-8 years,I think.

Suddenly Worn Out wrote: I swear a lot of people in real life dont seem to recognize how dependent some people are on their sleep apnea gear for survival. Including some doctors Ive met and even some respiratory therapists.

In my experience, this is a TRUE statement! Some of the people I know think we use our machines to just keep from snoring. They don't realize the other damaging, life threatening issues that are going on in our bodies along with the snoring. Some of them (after I explain in more detail then they probably wanted to know) finally start to understand the severe nature of OSA and related sleep conditions, but the rest just excuse it away as a fad or a money making gimmick. I even had one moron say he would rather die than to be hooked up to a PAP machine to sleep... knowing what I now know to be true about this therapy, I hope he never needs a PAP machine, for his families sake .

John

Thinking back to how bad off I was before PAP therapy, I doubt I'd last more than a year without it.

I know that if they didn't find I had OSA three years ago, I would've been dead within months of that, if not sooner. In the event of a natural disaster, or Zombies take over the world (LOL!), and there's no more electricty to run my PAP, I know that I will NOT be among the survivers for very long.

For me, I would probably have a car accident, or related injury that would kill me. I've fallen straight back and hit my head on a cement floor, broken both hands and wrists trying to break various falls. So for me, I fear it would be a short while!

if my children don't cremate me I'd like to have my mask on at the funeral and buried with it....The CPAP theraphy (msp) is a life saver for me and its my buddy....want to take it with me...TKS=FA

Komodo wrote: I know that if they didn't find I had OSA three years ago, I would've been dead within months of that, if not sooner. In the event of a natural disaster, or Zombies take over the world (LOL!), and there's no more electricity to run my PAP, I know that I will NOT be among the survivors for very long.

The zombies, I always forget the ZOMBIES!!! Note to self: Always remember to include zombies into the equation for world destruction and pestilence! Look up zombies and their correlation of using PAP equipment in the absence of electrical power

Komodo, so glad you got diagnosed about your OSA and took the appropriate measures to treat it and still be around three years later to write about it! It is sobering to think of how close most of us probably got to very serious health issues that could have taken our lives. It is like a time bomb, how many seconds are left? How many people do we come into contact with each and every day that are hearing the ticking of a time bomb, and either don't know, don't care, or are caught in denial and fear? I knew long before diagnosis that something major was up. But like some, I convinced myself that it might be something easier to ignore then to face. Luckily, my body adapted and kept me alive until I finally could not ignore the evidence or my downward spiraling health anymore. In retrospect though, the entire time it was there, sometimes faint, sometimes extremely loud, tick, Tick, TICK...

John

I've had 3 warning heart attacks already.............so I gladly hose up EVERY night and I have a backup battery in case theres no power, I'm not taking any chances

If I had to give up my ASV unit, I don't think I would last more than six months. I was getting VERY desperate when I was switched to ASV. I rarely get emotional. I try to stay calm and collected. But I broke into tears when my doctor said I should go through another BiPAP sleep study. I ask "What will change? I get one or two hours of sleep per night .. and that's all because as I go to sleep I stop breathing to long (more than a minute) that my machine turns off. Even when I set the machine to stay on ... I awaken gasping because I've stopped breathing for so long!".

My blood pressure was through the roof and it led to kidney damage. No, I would not last long without my ASV unit.

Well, seeing I died once already and had 2 strokes (I think... pretty sure) before getting on it and I know I was going downhill fast, if I had not gotten on it I would probably be gone in a month or two, but now I'm on it for 5 months, I would think it would take me a month or so to get back to the bad shape I was, so I'd say 3-6 months I'd be dead. That's one experiment I won't try

Sleeping without therapy made me feel so horrible,
if they said I could NEVER use my CPAP again,
it would probably take me less than a month to decide to kill myself.

JohnBFisher wrote:If I had to give up my ASV unit, I don't think I would last more than six months. I was getting VERY desperate when I was switched to ASV. I rarely get emotional. I try to stay calm and collected. But I broke into tears when my doctor said I should go through another BiPAP sleep study. I ask "What will change? I get one or two hours of sleep per night .. and that's all because as I go to sleep I stop breathing to long (more than a minute) that my machine turns off. Even when I set the machine to stay on ... I awaken gasping because I've stopped breathing for so long!".

My blood pressure was through the roof and it led to kidney damage. No, I would not last long without my ASV unit.

John, you and I are in similar situations. Considering that I cannot breathe and do anything that requires my arms muscles - even moving my coffee maker from the sink to the counter makes hold breath since I can't do both. And I've determined that once I start getting really tired before I go to sleep, I can barely breathe while I'm laying there...

I'm not sure I would last more than a couple weeks without my equipment.