Can you try CPAP without becoming dependent on it?

[Lukie]

Your client must need CPAP or he would not have qualified for the machine which costs a lot of money. If he has sleep apnea he really should be on CPAP and remain on
it for the rest of his life or until somehow his condition got reversed either by extreme weight loss or surgery.
If he does not use the CPAP his health will continue to decline and he will be at risk for heart attack, heart failure, stroke, and dementia. Dependent on CPAP you betcha. If you have sleep apnea your life depends on CPAP. Period. End of story.

[chunkyfrog]

+100
"Dependent" or six feet under; your choice!

[archangle]

If you're a long term apneac, your body and brain have probably adapted somewhat to being strangled in your sleep, having oxygen deprivation, poor sleep, lack of REM sleep, stress hormones, etc. There are still bad health effects, but your body does get used to it to some extent.

If you use CPAP for a while, your body will lose its partial adjustment to all these bad things about apnea. If you do CPAP for a few months, you may find it very hard, at least at first, to adjust to not having CPAP. In particular, sleeping while being choked is probably going to be really hard for a while at least. The effects and risks of apnea will probably be a bit worse for a while after you stop CPAP.

I think you'd probably eventually readjust to apnea and be no worse than you would be than if you never did CPAP.

Think of untreated apnea as being like being a three pack a day smoker. You somewhat adapt to the side effects of cigarette smoking. If you stop smoking for a year or so, and then smoke three packs in one day, you'll probably feel the bad side effects more than you did before, until you adjust to the smoke again.

Even if you do CPAP and then quit, you'll probably be in better shape after a month or so than if you never did CPAP.

[SleepyToo2]

Our chiropractor told us last night that he has some patients who get adjusted for a time - while their immediate problem is "fixed" and then they stop the adjustments. They feel better for a while, then go down hill to be worse than they were before they started the adjustments. Think of CPAP the same way - if you stop because you think you are addicted, at some point you will be worse than you were before you got the treatment. I am not addicted to either the chiropractic care or my CPAP, but I would sure be reluctant to stop either one, and especially both!

[DeadlySleep]

I'm a relationship counselor and sex therapist

Can you try CPAP without becoming dependent on it?

Most people using CPAP for six weeks will find they are no longer dependent on a counselor/therapist.

[Daydream Believer]

Is this recommendation for cpap made because one partner's snoring is causing marital problems? Maybe the recommendation should be for a sleep study instead of cpap. If there's physical danger associated with the snoring then cpap should be encouraged.

[RandyJ]

I have become dependent on oxygen. My blood loves being oxygenated above 90% throughout the night, instead of going down as low as 61%. I'm addicted...

[archangle]

Our chiropractor told us last night that he has some patients who get adjusted for a time - while their immediate problem is "fixed" and then they stop the adjustments. They feel better for a while, then go down hill to be worse than they were before they started the adjustments. Think of CPAP the same way - if you stop because you think you are addicted, at some point you will be worse than you were before you got the treatment. I am not addicted to either the chiropractic care or my CPAP, but I would sure be reluctant to stop either one, and especially both!

I do not believe you are worse after stopping CPAP than you have been without ever doing CPAP, other than the sort term readjustment period where your body has to readjust to struggling with apnea. I don't think CPAP does anything long term like "stretch your throat" or weaken your muscles.

[kjell]

I would never sleep without my Apap. Took off my mask one night when I was blocked nose and could not be bothered to take nasal spray and woke up with a migraine as I always did before I got Apap!

[70sSanO]

I have lost 40lb with regular exercise and not much in the way of dietary change. During that journey my AHI and required pressure on my APAP machine fell until a new sleep test was called for. This sleep test showed that I no longer require the therapy that is provided by these machines. I was advised to come off the machine and being under the NHS the sleep clinic wished to retain my machine there and then. I did not wish to part with my machine with immediate effect and requested retention of the machine while I tried coming off the machine.
I tried to come off the machine but found that I could not get to sleep. I remained awake for hours unable to fall asleep. I did manage eventually to get to sleep but the same thing happened on the next two nights. By now lack of sleep was catching up with me in exactly the same way as the sleep apnoea did so I have reverted back to my machine. Addicted maybe, Dependent maybe, feeling better definitely. I will give breaking away from the machine another go as I have been advised by the clinic that the unnecessary therapy my now be more detrimental to my health than continuing.

This is a really interesting post and I'm not sure I can parse out which side of the dependency fence (medical or psychological) this actually falls, possibly both. I know it is always a fallback to state there is no medical proof to support any dependency on CPAP. Most likely as another poster indicated, there probably has been never been a study because getting cured of an obstructive sleep disorder and suddenly not using CPAP after long term use is somewhat of an anomaly. Are withdrawals from CPAP always psychological?

That said, there are not a lot of viable alternatives to CPAP and if a dependency can result, I'm certain that it should not be given any real consideration when making a decision on whether or not to begin therapy.

John

[Julie]

Any 'dependency' on Cpap would have to be psychological - there's no physical component that can create dependency on it. And if you allow yourself to feel that you can't sleep without it, it's up to you to deal with that, with or without some kind of help from a therapist. It would be like saying you're so used to eating peas every day that you can't live without them... all in your head.

[Lukie]

Once you have sleep for a few nights without the horrible life sucking apneas, you never want
to sleep without your cpap machine.

[VikingGnome]

Yes. I am 100% addicted to CPAP. Been on it for 15 years with the last year on BiPAP. I absolutely CANNOT sleep without CPAP. Just dozing off I startle awake gasping for breath. If I can't breathe, I can't sleep. So I am a CPAP lifer.

[Chevie]

Yes. I am 100% addicted to CPAP. Been on it for 15 years with the last year on BiPAP. I absolutely CANNOT sleep without CPAP. Just dozing off I startle awake gasping for breath. If I can't breathe, I can't sleep. So I am a CPAP lifer.

That's a good thing.

[chunkyfrog]

I'm addicted, too.
The hard part is finding a dealer I can trust.