What If No CPAP?

[gwfl]

What might I expect for symptoms if I went a night or two without CPAP? I have been religious with using my treatment from day one 4 months ago. Went from 56 AHI (sleep study mostly on my back) down now to averaging below 5 AHI. Lately I've had a night or two where it went up to about 7 AHI and the next day I felt "off", a little sluggish and general malaise. I'm becoming paranoid of possibly missing a whole night of treatment.
How have others felt after missing a night?

[khauser]

Did I miss something? Why would you do such a thing?

During power outages when I didn't have backup, I have slept, VERY POORLY, and felt that in the morning.

It won't kill you, but if you need CPAP, use it.

[Goofproof]

You already have proven to yourself your like is better with XPAP, than without.

What If No CPAP? Sleep apnea is like DEATH by 1,000 CUT, most of the time, although some do get lucky and like Russian Roulette, the end does sometimes come with the next trigger pull, or even worse the useless death of others around, fellow workers, vehicle wrecks ect you could cause. Why a person would want to take that chance is beyond me. Jim

[LSAT]

What might I expect for symptoms if I went a night or two without CPAP? I have been religious with using my treatment from day one 4 months ago. Went from 56 AHI (sleep study mostly on my back) down now to averaging below 5 AHI. Lately I've had a night or two where it went up to about 7 AHI and the next day I felt "off", a little sluggish and general malaise. I'm becoming paranoid of possibly missing a whole night of treatment.
How have others felt after missing a night?

Without your CPAP you could very well be back at 50+. There is no way to measure without being in a sleep study. CPAP does not cure..it treats while you are using it.

[Pugsy]

Without cpap you go right back to whatever untreated apnea you had before therapy. We don't get any hold over credit for using it faithfully every night.....unfortunately.

This is why we say people should even use the cpap for naps.

I also had one night where I couldn't use my machine. Went on a long trip and found out at 11 PM that I had forgotten to include the long hose in the bag. Nothing could be done at that time of night.
Horrible night...fractured sleep...had to get up and pee 3 times and woke up with a massive headache and felt like total crap the whole next day. That next day I did find a medical place selling cpap long hoses that were way over priced for what you got (cheap generic stiff hose) but gladly paid it and had a much better second night.

[chunkyfrog]

I only sleep without it when unavoidable, because the nightmares are horrendous,
and the headache the next day is not much better.

[gwfl]

Not at all saying that I would choose not to use it....just wondering what my reactions might be the next day if circumstances (like Pugsy mentioned) prevented me from using it.....broken machine, loss of power, etc. Makes me think about having a backup machine...maybe battery operated. I do have an emergency generator (live in hurricane country).

[Pugsy]

I have a back up machine and it is also my travel machine so I don't have to mess with packing everything up and taking stuff apart.
Sometimes crap happens. I went to visit my daughter in Las Vegas and forgot to check the travel machine bag. I had robbed the long hose out of it for some reason and forgot to replace it. I had the spare mask in there and everything else but not the long hose from machine to mask. If it had been noticed earlier I could have gone to Home Depot and found something that would have worked but not at 11 PM....I was screwed and knew it immediately. Luckily we found a place selling medical supplies that had spare hoses that was open on a holiday weekend. I paid $40 for a hose I can get any day of the week delivered from Amazon for $6 and that includes shipping.
Oh well...at least the rest of my visit I got decent sleep.

Crap happens. In the event of a prolonged power outage here at home...I have a whole house generator.

If for some reason you can't use cpap....we usually tell people to sleep upright in a recliner if at all possible. It usually will help at least reduce the apnea events somewhat. Not a perfect solution but might help somewhat.

[tlohse]

They say once you have a cpap you will always have cpap most likely unless some merical happens where you all of the sudden stop having apnea or worse die.

[kteague]

If through unforseeable circumstances you find yourself unable to use your machine one night, try to mitigate the problems as much as possible. For instance, don't sleep supine. It's common for people to have more apnea events on the back. If you were tested in a lab your report should tell you if you do better off your back. A friend of mine whose apnea was very severe was told by his doctor that the only thing that probably saved his life was being a stomach sleeper. Guess it keeps the tongue from falling into the throat. Something under your chin to keep it from tucking may help too. I'm too scared to even chance it. I happen to be one whose apnea is ok if I sleep sitting upright with my neck supported to keep it aligned, so that's what I've done when in a bind. Prepare the best you can, and if all plans fail, just do the best you can.

[SleepGeek]

What might I expect for symptoms if I went a night or two without CPAP? ---
How have others felt after missing a night?

Planning is what works best, planning ahead. Start with having backups of everything that works for you, mask, hose, water chamber, cpap, etc. Oh and about your favorite mask. When you find a mask that works for you be sure to buy more of them when you can. If one thing is certain in cpap life (supplies) it's that mask makers will stop making your preferred mask sooner than you realize. Stock up.

Pickup a used cpap preferably the same make & model you have. Not only is it easier for supplies but you will be familiar with its operation and not have to think about it. Can also be helpful when troubleshooting machine problems.

IMO battery is best during power outage. Let's face it, your neighbors won't want to hear your generator running ALL night and they likely will have troubles sleeping and be grouchy. For DC battery power my preference is a Respironics because the DC adapter is not way over priced. You can get these at cpap dot com