Poll: Age/Cpap Users

Prior to my mom's passing two years ago, I spent 10 years visiting her in a nursing home. During this time span, I did'nt see a single cpap machine.

Hence my curiousity with this poll.

I hate to say it, but I'm probably one of the older ones here. (I'm in the 66-75 group).
That's an interesting observation. I have been a frequent visitor to nursing homes. Inlaws, brother-in-law, sister,
and also visiting as part of church outreach groups. So there are not many here in my home city (of about 100,000) that I haven't
visited. And come to think of it, I don't remember seeing any either. Especially, since aging increases the probability of one being
declared to have sleep apnea. I wonder why, with so many being covered by Medicaid, that they (the doctors which are assigned to visit and monitor their health) don't seem to consider it as part of their overall health. Perhaps we'll never know how many have succumbed to the malady, who otherwise would have lived longer. For example, I was in my 60's before I discovered I had it, and who knows how much it may have impaired my health before that?
Jay

Now that you mention it, I've never seen a cpap in a nursing home either.

I selected the box with my current age range, though I've had symptoms of OSA for many years.

To answer my own question, it may be that if the body gets to beyond 65, it somehow compensates. I know this was posted a couple of months ago, but remember that this study was done in Israel and is very surprising to me still. I wonder if it still stands. Or maybe I'm just desperate for some good news, since every time a study comes out, it's always bad news for those of us with sleep apnea.
Jay

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/ind ... 03332.html

Are these folks you are visiting in Nursing Homes napping when you visit or is it the middle of the night?

I just wonder if you have visited when they are awake and, therefore, would not be using their machines.

I think this may be a sign that I am too competitive . . . I want my age group to "win"! Go 46 - 50!

packitin wrote:To answer my own question, it may be that if the body gets to beyond 65, it somehow compensates. I know this was posted a couple of months ago, but remember that this study was done in Israel and is very surprising to me still. I wonder if it still stands. Or maybe I'm just desperate for some good news, since every time a study comes out, it's always bad news for those of us with sleep apnea.
Jay

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/ind ... 03332.html

Packitin,

That's a good point you bring up about that study. You did not ask, but I will give you my take on it anyway.

Let's think about those two groups in the study. One group has moderate sleep apnea and one group does not have sleep apnea. All individuals in both groups are over age 65.

Now let's discuss the group with sleep apnea. Now as we know from reading this forum and other sources, many, if not most, of the individuals in the group with sleep apnea did not get it after the age of 65; they had sleep apnea for years or decades before the age of 65. How do you think the mortality of this 'apnea group' compares to the 'non-apnea' group before either group turns 65? I think the apnea group had a much higher mortality before age 65 than the non-apnea group.

Now back to the study, I would say the apnea group, having lost many members to death, is now made up of indiduals who are more fit to survive. So the study is comparing a group which has already culled many weaker individuals to a non-apnea group which has not culled so many members. Thus you end up with the surprising results.

What does this mean for us? The easy answer you already know is "Use CPAP every sleeping minute."

Regards,

My mom has been telling me that around 50 years of age things start to happen... I figure she knows having reached 81 herself in relatively reasonable shape.

In my case this turns out to be quite correct now that I'm 52.

I may have had apnea for a while but it was just diagnosed last September. Perhaps when I was younger I could deal better with the lack of good nights sleep and did not notice much different. <shrug>

I've also been diagnosed with high blood pressure and am on 3 meds for it again. Working on losing a few pounds in the hopes of perhaps dropping some of those meds.

Dentist discovered mild case of gingivitis so I had to go through a major "power scrub" last week that involved 6 needles for freezing. Gums are now back to a health pink color. Yay! I look forward to a cozy future relationship with my electric toothbrush & floss to avoid future "power scrubs".

Losing weight is now more difficult than I remember it to be... but I will stick with it.

I used to love driving... but after a major accident a few years back, driving long-haul transport for a while and some wising up with age... I view driving as hazardous to my health.

We are in the midst of a deep freeze here; however, I am about to walk down to the pharmacy to pickup another bottle of distilled water. I figure on "killing a few birds with one stone" here... get some exercise, replenish my supply of distilled water for the machine, enjoy some fresh (albeit cold) air and get out of the house. I work at home now and need to find excuses to get out.

Okay, that is my rambling for today.

Hmm, interesting article, I will bring it to our Dr, he did some of his training in Israel. Although my husband is in 65-75+ group, his medical condition is considered stable now, but his quality of life due to the sleep apnea was so poor that we opted for the therapy at this late date with all his Drs in agreement, to improve his energy levels and depression and give us both a better outlook for the future. Cpap has accomplished that and we are grateful for these more active days we are enjoying now. We're even going for an overnight stay in Atlantic City next week and our equipment will be all packed and ready to go! My first quarter bet will be for all of you!

DoriC,

How lucky your husband is to have you who stuck with him during his untreated apnea time rather than my husband who ditched me for many of the reasons you mention the CPAP helping your husband with.

I am 64 next month and was diagnosed with sleep apnea less than a year ago.

I volunteered in a NH twice a week for almost 7 years and never saw a cpap machine either.

This causes me to wonder if any of us were to check out every room in a NH near us would we find any cpap machines at all?


Anne

I actually recall 2 incidents related to cpap in nursing homes, in the last year, on the forum. One was an elderly friend of a forum member who was on bipap and died recently.

Rested Gal related a story, I think in this last year, about seeing an older man in a nursing home with his cpap on. She was concerned about how good his care was since he had a sore from his cpap mask on his nose I think it was.

rooster wrote:
That's a good point you bring up about that study. You did not ask, but I will give you my take on it anyway.

Let's think about those two groups in the study. One group has moderate sleep apnea and one group does not have sleep apnea. All individuals in both groups are over age 65.

Now let's discuss the group with sleep apnea. Now as we know from reading this forum and other sources, many, if not most, of the individuals in the group with sleep apnea did not get it after the age of 65; they had sleep apnea for years or decades before the age of 65. How do you think the mortality of this 'apnea group' compares to the 'non-apnea' group before either group turns 65? I think the apnea group had a much higher mortality before age 65 than the non-apnea group.

Now back to the study, I would say the apnea group, having lost many members to death, is now made up of indiduals who are more fit to survive. So the study is comparing a group which has already culled many weaker individuals to a non-apnea group which has not culled so many members. Thus you end up with the surprising results.

What does this mean for us? The easy answer you already know is "Use CPAP every sleeping minute."

Regards,

Rooster, that so makes sense. Did you take a lot of logic in school? I would not have come up with that answer--but I'm old and spent a lot of years without CPAP.

Been visiting skilled nursing facility and an assisted living facility for the past 10 years--now that you mention it, I've never seen a CPAP machine in any of the rooms. Wonder why?

RipVW wrote:Been visiting skilled nursing facility and an assisted living facility for the past 10 years--now that you mention it, I've never seen a CPAP machine in any of the rooms. Wonder why?

The ones with CPAP machines don't need nursing homes.

My mother had a cerebral incident when she was 83 and now has vascular dementia. This was before I was diagnosed and none of the family knew what sleep apnea was. Mom had snored heavily for more than 30 years and my brother went to her house early one morning to see why she did not answer the phone. She was on the floor and was very confused. Brain MRI showed some damage. I wonder if she didn't have some long repetitive apneas that morning that changed the rest of her life.

We have discussed CPAP with her doctor twice but all of us are sure she would not understand or tolerate CPAP in her demented condition.

For a while when I visited her I would peek into a room just down the hall. There was a tiny, slim, elderly lady, always in a nice dress and always lying on the bed on her side. She was always snoring heavily and struggling to breathe. After about a month she passed away. I wonder if she was in the death throes of sleep apnea? What a shame.