How do very old people tolerate CPAP?

[StuUnderPressure]

I work in long term care (nursing homes) and I am actually surprised how few patients use a cpap...

They are in your nursing home because they didn't use CPAP.

That is somthing I have never really thought about.

I currently visit 2 different people in 2 different nursing homes & I have never seen any residents on XPAP.

The 2 people I visit show no signs of needing an XPAP, but what are the chances that no one else in 2 different nursing homes were not on XPAP before they entered the nursing homes.

abby123:
Just how does your particular nursing home handle residents with XPAP?

[DoriC]

Mike has been in 2 different nursing homes at different times on the short-term rehab unit in a separate part of the bulding but the RNs and aides who who usually worked on the nursing home floors had to fill in on the rehab unit occasionally and had never used a cpap machine on any of their long term patients and I had to show them how to use Mike's equipment. I would say that in my situation if Mike was really failing or wasn't compliant, I wouldn't bother with cpap and let him live in peace without machines. As much good as cpap does him, when I take his mask off in the AM, he gives a big sigh of relief and I let him rest for a few minutes without his mask.

[Sir NoddinOff]

My aged mother-in-law is in an exclusive extended care facility on a private lake where she has her every need taken care of... read that as lots of $$$. About eight years ago she started on CPAP auto (I'm no not sure what machine). She loves to tell everybody she meets that it saved her life. She doesn't know her settings, she hasn't had a sleep study in years and still uses the original brand mask she started with (ie. replaced every six months, of course). Some people take to CPAP like a duck to water, she is one of those lucky few. BTW, If you've got the bucks the system does take good care of you... after all the facility has a vested interest in your well-being. If you're poor... well, maybe not so much. No different than the rest of life and the world in general - as far as I can tell. Sorry folks, I don't make the news, I just report it.

[BlackSpinner]

And there is the trade off. The shape my mother is in right now, if I thought I was going in that direction I would throw my cpap out the window. No way would I want to lengthen my existence in the face of dementia and all the other crap she has.

[ems]

And there is the trade off. The shape my mother is in right now, if I thought I was going in that direction I would throw my cpap out the window. No way would I want to lengthen my existence in the face of dementia and all the other crap she has.

I feel the same way. At some point you have to decide... what's the point.

[Sir NoddinOff]

Hey, ems and blackspinner ... don't give up, you may win the lottery! BTW, my wife who's a smarty said, why give CPAP to indigent old folks when you can get first gen psyche meds from China for ten cents a pill ... it's not like the patients have a choice in what they take in those old folk's warehouses. Problem solved <sarcasm>.

[BlackSpinner]

Hey, ems and blackspinner ... don't give up, you may win the lottery!

Yes Dad is doing ok at 86 - his health issues can be traced back to rheumatic fever damaging his heart as a kid. So I guess 50/50 chance or maybe better since I take after him and no diabetes yet or other chronic illnesses and my OSA is totally under control.

[ChicagoGranny]

ChicagoGranny - not ALL people are in nursing homes because they have untreated sleep apnea!!!! That is simply not true. SOME people MAY be in nursing homes because of untreated sleep apnea would be more accurate.

There are many other reasons for people to be in nursing homes!

I did not use the word "all" Hawthorne. You introduced it.

[ChicagoGranny]

I work in long term care (nursing homes) and I am actually surprised how few patients use a cpap...

They are in your nursing home because they didn't use CPAP.

That is somthing I have never really thought about.

I currently visit 2 different people in 2 different nursing homes & I have never seen any residents on XPAP.

The 2 people I visit show no signs of needing an XPAP, but what are the chances that no one else in 2 different nursing homes were not on XPAP before they entered the nursing homes.

abby123:
Just how does your particular nursing home handle residents with XPAP?

Stu, My point, maybe expressed a bit obscurely, was a little different.

They are in your nursing home because they didn't use CPAP.

By that I was hinting that many people in nursing homes would not be there had they used CPAP. I have visited close relatives in nursing homes many, many times and have gotten to know many residents. Many of them have symptoms of sleep apnea but have never been diagnosed.

It is especially bad in dementia units. They are sitting around all hours of the day, falling asleep and snoring. The characteristic "snort" of ending an apnea is often seen.

Many of these people, had they started using CPAP decades earlier, would still be alert and functioning well outside a nursing home setting.

[ems]

Hey, ems and blackspinner ... don't give up, you may win the lottery! BTW, my wife who's a smarty said, why give CPAP to indigent old folks when you can get first gen psyche meds from China for ten cents a pill ... it's not like the patients have a choice in what they take in those old folk's warehouses. Problem solved <sarcasm>.

Give up... who said that? My dad lived to 93 and would have lived longer if he hadn't broken his hip; his brother lived to 100 . My health is good and I expect to live as a healthy person for a long time. Never going into a "warehouse"... I'll leave those ten-cent pills to others.

[Sir NoddinOff]

Hey, ems and blackspinner ... don't give up, you may win the lottery! BTW, my wife who's a smarty said, why give CPAP to indigent old folks when you can get first gen psyche meds from China for ten cents a pill ... it's not like the patients have a choice in what they take in those old folk's warehouses. Problem solved <sarcasm>.

Give up... who said that? My dad lived to 93 and would have lived longer if he hadn't broken his hip; his brother lived to 100 . My health is good and I expect to live as a healthy person for a long time. Never going into a "warehouse"... I'll leave those ten-cent pills to others.

Good for you ems. I am rooting for you to make it to 100 or more ... not that I'll likely be around to see it . I'm in my mid-sixties and am already the BIG longevity winner by many years on my side of the family tree! Hey, you play the cards you've got, not the cards you wish you had.