ANYONE WITHAN OXYGEN PORT ON THEIR CPAP ALSO ?

deebra · Post by **deebra** » Sat Dec 01, 2007 11:53 pm

HEY I HAVE TO SLEEP WITH OXYGEN AT NIGHT FOR THE LAST MONTH, MY OXYGEN LEVEL IS LIKE NON EXISTANT WHEN I SLEEP APPARANTLY, SO I HAVE A EXTENTION FOR THE OXYGEN TO GO THRU MY CPAP, I JUST STARTED THIS CPAP THIS WEEK , ANYONE ELSE HAVE THIS AND IF SO HOW IS THE TWO TOGETHER WORKING FOR YOU

DME Daddy · Post by **DME Daddy** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 3:45 am

I cannot say that I use Oxygen with cpap personally. I have worked with many cpapers that have used supplemental O2 with cpap. I have found it to be effective and reasonably trouble free except when the cpaper wants to travel overnight. Travel portable oxygen concentrators are very expensive .

Slinky · Post by **Slinky** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 7:11 am

I have 2L of supplemental 02 w/the CPAP. When I travel, if by car and I have room, my DME supplier loans me a 3L concentrator to take w/me and enough small tanks to get me where I am going for emergencies. They also contact a local DME at my destination to provide anything I might need in an emergency.

If I don't have room in the car, they contact a local DME at my location to provide a 5L concentrator and emergency tanks and when I arrive at my motel the concentrator and emergency tanks have already been there waiting for me.

I haven't flown since starting 02 supplementation. My local DME is just that - local, they only cover about 2/3 of my state. It is not an inexpensive proposition for them when I travel as they forego a good share of their insurance reimbursement to pay the local DME for any supplies I might need. Some small local DME suppliers "might not" be so considerate and work as well w/a patient, I don't know. I would think in this case there actually "might" be some advantages to working w/a national 02 supplier.

For a while I had one local DME supplier from my CPAP and a different one for my 02 supplies simply because I heartily disliked my CPAP supplier and wanted nothing more to do w/them than absolutely necessary.

I haven't found traveling w/overnight 02 and CPAP that inconvenient - except for the night we arrived at the motel late and I had to wheel that 3L contentrator to my motel room when I was already so tired I would have been happy to just curl up in a chair in the motel lobby to sleep. The trips where I stay in one motel the entire trip are easier.

There is an excellent e-mailing list for those on 02 at:

http://effortslist.org/scripts/wa.exe?A ... entric.net

or you can e-mail them at: EFFORTS@EFFORTSLIST.ORG

sharon1965 · Post by **sharon1965** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 8:27 am

please check your pm's

6PtStar · Post by **6PtStar** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 1:17 pm

I also use 2L of O2 from an oxygen concentrator. It is bled into the little adapter at my cpap. I was so down when I had my sleep study they could not get my oxygen levels up without it. I have no problems except I have to put the concentrator in the next room because of the noise. I really think in my case that the O2 may no longer be needed now that my health has improved so much but I have not gotten around to getting a pulse/oxygen meter and test it. I have no lung problems and I have never smoked. My present DME does not have a Pulse/Oxygen meter they can rent or loan so I have been puting it off til I get out from under my 13 month period with them.

Jerry

jules · Post by **jules** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 1:58 pm

I had been on O2 with cpap but no longer am on O2.

I have also flown with O2 but since my O2 was only nighttime I didn't need it during the flight. I did carry one of these smaller 3 L concentrators with me on flights but it was a pain to get through TSA. This was almost 4 years ago and the country was on Orange one way and Yellow the other way. I had cleared all of it in advance but the Rx from my doc is what got me through TSA. It was easier getting through TSA in the midwest on Orange then a west coast city on Yellow. I have heard stories of TSA not allowing the concentrators even back then so when flying check in advance what the procedure is.

As Slinky mentions the DME will make arrangements for travel too but again double check those as some DME's are better than others. When I moved that was to be done (one night at my brother in laws, then a permanent machine at the new house) and it was several frustrating phone calls to get it all straightened out and still it wasn't done right when I got here.

For CPAP use some masks have ports built into them. For example I know my Soyala does. However, I had used an O2 bleed adapter as I was using the Swift when I started cpap. The adapter I got from cpap.com was a lot sturdier than the one provided by the DME. My O2 concentrator was at the far end of the house and I had a long tube from there to the bedroom.

Mask