Craving my machine!

Julie, I can truly relate to having major problems with the onset of summer heat and having no AC. I live in the mountains, and we never needed AC, really. It's a challenge with menopausal symptoms or otherwise, but there is no way in hell I would just go without my cpap therapy. Despite the new reaction I've had to painters tape; despite the irritation of the silicone against my face; despite the sweating creating leaks with a FFM..........I simply value my life above discomfort, and have been determined to find solutions. Not that you are not determined, but...

I'm thinking that with all the "yes-but's" you have fired here, it might be a good idea for you to set some priorities for your therapy. Might help to recall that the whole mask-on-face-with-pressured-air blowing at you every night--was probably not an easy adjustment. If you did that, then why not conquer the next challenge. Yes, each of the many suggestions already made to you may not be your wish for your comfort. But any one of them can be adjusted to, with the right attitude. Choose the one that seems least obnoxious to you, and develop some determination in the way you think about it! Give it more than a few nights, just like I would guess you did when you started this experience.

All the best!

I just can't imagine going one day without an airconditioner. Living in Mississippi there is no way around an AC. We have to have heat in the winter and AC in the Spring/Summer/Fall. Also I have a ceiling fan in every room running except the bathroom.

Have you looked in purchasing a portable airconditioner? We had trouble with our central over a 2 week span and we looked into getting one. Although we decided on getting a window unit and now that our central AC is back working and we plan on using the window as a back up, the portable one looked promising. It was a little expensive.

Hope you get cool soon.

Juliebove wrote:

Paul56 wrote:Put your pj's in the freezer... that will cool you right off when you first put them on.

Places to hang out... try the food court in the local malls. I see people hanging out there all the time and some of them even bring their own food.

I don't wear PJs. But I guess I could try that with my gown. The mall isn't really near here and the food court is always packed with people. I don't think the mall is very cool though. We just had to go there to get daughter's feet measured and get some new shoes. The shoe depts. were sweltering!

Okay, better yet... keep your bed sheets in the freezer... I guarantee you will be chilly.

There are portable air conditioners on wheels available, for spot cooling. The idea is to cool your area and dump the heat elsewhere with a flexible duct. Place such a unit next t your bed and run the hot air duct out into the hallway or out a window (or another unused room). If you keep the diameter large, significantly alrger than the output duct, you can run the duct 20 feet or so.

Wulfman wrote:

Juliebove wrote:

Wulfman wrote:Try turning your humidifier "Off" (if you have it "On") and keeping your distilled water (for your humidifier) in the refrigerator. When you get up in the morning, dump the remainder back into a container (bottle) and place it back in the fridge. Then, refill your humidifier tank before going to bed.


Den

I can't use it with the humidifier off. I've tried. It's very annoying with it off. And someone here said not to use chilled water because it would only cause rainout.

That's the exact opposite of what would happen (WRONG). There should be NO RAINOUT with the humidifier turned "Off".

Why would it be "annoying"? You apparently can't even use the machine at all the way it is. The machine would be blowing COOL air into your face (with SOME humidity).


Den

I don't know why but it just doesn't feel right. I've had the humidifier off twice by accident and once on purpose. The feeling of that air in my face just felt annoying. I had to put the humidifier back on.

Bert_Mathews wrote:Try filling your humidifier tank with ICE <I like CRUSHED...> It's better than AC with CPAP.....

BERT

Have you actually tried this? Someone said that would cause rainout.

Juliebove wrote:

Bert_Mathews wrote:Try filling your humidifier tank with ICE <I like CRUSHED...> It's better than AC with CPAP.....

BERT

Have you actually tried this? Someone said that would cause rainout.

I would think that the lack of decent restful sleep would be pretty annoying and that you would want to get that resolved ASAP.

With this therapy sometimes we have to experiment to find out what will work for us as individuals... what may not work for one person may work marvelously for you.

So start experimenting and find your way back to restful sleep despite the heat.

I live in Missouri -- so we can have sweltering heat with high humidity in the summer and below zero temperatures in the winter.

No way would I go without my machine. Our furnace went out last fall late in the year. It was already cold and when we replaced it (brother is in HVAC) he suggested we wait till spring to hook up the air. Well he finally got around it this past Sunday. I have had to deal with not having air conditioning till then.

You do what you gotta do, as the old saying goes. And in my thinking that does NOT mean doing without my cpap!!!! Even in our sweltering heat, I used my machine every night. I HATE having a fan blowing on me and don't sleep worth a hoot when I have one blowing on me -- yet I used one on the really hot nights, at least the fan cools you when it heats the sweat your body produces from the heat. Finally I broke down and purchased a room AC, after several nights using the fan.

It appears that Julie is not open to trying some of the suggestions posted. She is making her choice by not using her machine. Of course, some of the sweating could be due to the struggle to breathe at night, along with the other symptoms that OSA cause. After all it is HER choice, and it will be her that suffers the consequences of not using her machine. I say she quit whining about it and realize she has choices -- and she has made hers by not using her cpap.

jasminechichi wrote:Living in Mississippi there is no way around an AC. We have to have heat in the winter and AC in the Spring/Summer/Fall.

I didn't realize that Mississippi was uninhabited until about 60 years ago.

When our a/c broke down here in Arizona we slept out on the porch under a wet blanket with a fan blowing on us.

If the humidity is low enough where you are then an evaporative cooler or swamp cooler may work, its not that difficult to make your own.

jasminechichi wrote:I just can't imagine going one day without an airconditioner. Living in Mississippi there is no way around an AC. We have to have heat in the winter and AC in the Spring/Summer/Fall. Also I have a ceiling fan in every room running except the bathroom.

Have you looked in purchasing a portable airconditioner? We had trouble with our central over a 2 week span and we looked into getting one. Although we decided on getting a window unit and now that our central AC is back working and we plan on using the window as a back up, the portable one looked promising. It was a little expensive.

Hope you get cool soon.

They have to be vented to the outside which means leaving a window open or cutting a hole in the wall. I can't/won't do either thing.

sleepycarol wrote:I live in Missouri -- so we can have sweltering heat with high humidity in the summer and below zero temperatures in the winter.

No way would I go without my machine. Our furnace went out last fall late in the year. It was already cold and when we replaced it (brother is in HVAC) he suggested we wait till spring to hook up the air. Well he finally got around it this past Sunday. I have had to deal with not having air conditioning till then.

You do what you gotta do, as the old saying goes. And in my thinking that does NOT mean doing without my cpap!!!! Even in our sweltering heat, I used my machine every night. I HATE having a fan blowing on me and don't sleep worth a hoot when I have one blowing on me -- yet I used one on the really hot nights, at least the fan cools you when it heats the sweat your body produces from the heat. Finally I broke down and purchased a room AC, after several nights using the fan.

It appears that Julie is not open to trying some of the suggestions posted. She is making her choice by not using her machine. Of course, some of the sweating could be due to the struggle to breathe at night, along with the other symptoms that OSA cause. After all it is HER choice, and it will be her that suffers the consequences of not using her machine. I say she quit whining about it and realize she has choices -- and she has made hers by not using her cpap.

AFAIK, sweating is not caused by not using the CPAP. When I went to the air conditioned hotel, I didn't use it and I didn't sweat.

Here's a great product for those non-standard windows. It's a portable air conditioner that doesn't actually sit in the window itself.

Just roll it into whatever room you want - shove the outlet hose out the window and off you go. I've used them without having any sort of cutout or frame or anything - just left the hose dangling out the window (I had the roll-out type windows at the time).

These things aren't as great as a high quality window unit or central air, but when you are sweltering they are friggin wonderful.

http://www.amazon.com/DeLonghi-PAC-T110 ... 681&sr=8-2

It appears that Julie is not open to trying some of the suggestions posted. She is making her choice by not using her machine. Of course, some of the sweating could be due to the struggle to breathe at night, along with the other symptoms that OSA cause. After all it is HER choice, and it will be her that suffers the consequences of not using her machine. I say she quit whining about it and realize she has choices -- and she has made hers by not using her cpap.

AFAIK, sweating is not caused by not using the CPAP.

Night sweats can be caused by sleep apnea. Using the machine does stop the night sweats for most of us. I think the point is that you don't even seem to want to try any of the suggestions. You have asked for help before and you do the same thing...make excuses. The choice is yours, try some of the suggestions or don't. If you're looking for an excuse to not use the machine and have everyone here say "OK"...ain't gonna happen.

Brenda

Juliebove wrote:They have to be vented to the outside which means leaving a window open or cutting a hole in the wall. I can't/won't do either thing.

There is one of the reasons you find that there is no way to cool off the house... without AC generally one opens the windows on the cool side of the house or at least in the evening when it is usually cooler without the sun streaming down.