Traveling with CPAP

[kingsmith]

Today I was telling a patient that he needed to use CPAP to treat his sleep apnea. He seemed a little reluctant, and said, "Do I have to travel with it?"? He was a businessman who traveled almost every month, sometimes international. He was also a good father of 2 boyscouts, and he camped out every month. I told him not to worry about it for now. First, he needed to get used to CPAP, realize the benefits, and then decide later about whether or not he traveled with the machine.
Even though some people have sleep apnea for years and think they sleep fine, after they get used to CPAP they are unable to sleep without it. They end up waking up from the apneas and having a miserable few nights. Other people can use it or not, and not notice much difference. Some people with mild sleep apnea can't live without it, and some people with severe sleep apnea go without CPAP a lot of them time. When the sleep apnea is truly severe, and/or the person has other problems like heart disease, I have to recommend that they travel with it. If it was easy to travel with CPAP, it would always be better to stay on it.