Think this might work? Sleeping during power outage

Just to ask a dumb question: would it really hurt us that much sleeping without the machine for 1 or 2 days? I appreciate all longterm illnesses etc you may develop without using CPAP, but that would not happen within some days, would it?

Even a mild case such as mine (13 AHI untreated) would require treatment.-
---I dozed off on the sofa and wound up with a hideous headache.
There would also be that small matter of no one else getting any sleep.
I can drown out a freight train.

Between my first and second sleep study I hit on your idea myself. I wore my recording pulse oximeter all night with the setting to audible alarm when SpO2 dropped below 88%. I propped myself up on the couch with a bunch of sofa cushions and made a cubby hole between one end of the couch and the cushions. I leaned against my tower of sofa cushions and rested my head and shoulders over the top. Each time the alarm went off I shifted a little to find the best position and I was able to sleep that way sitting up. The vertical position was to cut down OA and leaning against the cushions restricted my breathing and I had read on the Wikipedia entry that inducing pulmonary insufficiency can reduce CA events. It seemed to work pretty well. It made my breaths rapid and shallow but they continued when I fell asleep. Not the best possible sleep but not horrible either.


We have crummy power in my house that has killed a couple printers and network switches and probably several PC power supplies. I have several PC's and so I took all the load off my largest UPS and plugged my unit into that. That 1500VA unit was slightly pricy about $220 and not a lot of time at load but you can get an accessory piggy back battery for it for about $140. I have two others in the house that I can recommend and they are not expensive. Sams Club is selling the APC Back-UPS NS 1250 for $144. I really like those units because they have very nice readouts that tell you current load, and how long the unit can run at that load. I told my PT I had it plugged into my UPS and he said, 'although the mfr's don't like it, he thought it was a good idea'. I have the alarms on my unit shut off but the UPS alarms are audible and will go off when power is lost for more than a few minutes. I figure that will let me know its time to take off the mask before CPAP/ASV goes down.

chunkyfrog wrote:Even a mild case such as mine (13 AHI untreated) would require treatment.-
---I dozed off on the sofa and wound up with a hideous headache.
There would also be that small matter of no one else getting any sleep.
I can drown out a freight train.

LOL, I understand about the noise, but am not a snorer myself normally.

A computer UPS is not the best choice for a CPAP machine because they are inefficient, especially with the small load a CPAP machine represents. Many also do not make sine wave AC, which some machines, like the ResMEd S8 series require. Running directly off battery, or through a DC-DC converter for some machines is best. Second best is a good quality AC inverter, with external batteries. Not using your humidifier heater while on inverter will greatly extend battery life.

Twentysix wrote:Just to ask a dumb question: would it really hurt us that much sleeping without the machine for 1 or 2 days? I appreciate all longterm illnesses etc you may develop without using CPAP, but that would not happen within some days, would it?

I had an AHI of 62 and that as my sleep doc said meant I wasn't breathing deep enough to maintain normal oxygen levels, not a single breath was sufficient -- pretty scary eh? Would you want to risk oxygen starvation all night long? Especially given my that I no longer have all the red cell accommodations for living with semi-oxygen deprivation all the time. Waaay too risky in my mind! Luckily we didn't lose power but having the alarmable recording oximeter sure reduced my anxiety about sleeping nekid as it were

Why not ditch that pesky Resmed and buy something that runs from a 12 v battery. A small deep cycle battery doesn't cost much and will run several days before needing a charge. Just connect it to your car battery for a few hours and its charged.

Or, Buy 2 12v Batts and hook them in paralell to get 24v for your pesky resmed. Or buy a 24v batt. 24v Chargers are expensive tho.

I have ran my 420e on battery for 7 years. Don't even notice power outages.

chrisp wrote:Why not ditch that pesky Resmed...

Its breath wave form technology matches my own breathing pattern, so I'm not fighting the machine's inherent technology all night long.

Seems like in an emergency you could do with something simple that works from 12v. Just till the power returns. Beats begging at the neighbors or the salvation army. My 420 e Is small 12v runs for days on a small battery.

They're cheap.

Just a suggestion, Beats choking to death in a recliner.

chrisp wrote:Seems like in an emergency you could do with something simple that works from 12v. Just till the power returns. Beats begging at the neighbors or the salvation army. My 420 e Is small 12v runs for days on a small battery.

They're cheap.

Just a suggestion, Beats choking to death in a recliner.

I've got a deep-cycle 12V battery and my old respironics M-Series Pro for backup. That would last for almost a week without heated humidification on one battery charge. It's not perfect, but it's certainly better than recliner death.