habit forming

Hi
Am going to buy a CPAP on doctors advise. Can someone who has been using these machines for some time tell me if this becomes habit forming and if we beome dependent on it. What happens if after I use if for a year and then have a 10-15 days break from using the machine. Does the apnea go up when we are off the machine after having used it for months/years? Also does the pressure neccy keep increasing over the years?

If you have Sleep Apnea and don't treat it correctly, you die early. I would call it habit forming, as long as you want to live the best life you can. In the end the choice is yours. Jim

What I think is being asked for here is if one builds up a tolerance to CPAP. And it is a good question.

From what I know, which admittedly isn't a lot so hopefully someone else with more experience will answer too ... but apnea is dependent on several factors - including weight for many people. So if you lose or gain weight, that will likely affect the number of apneas you have more than whether you've used the machine or not. I think age can also play into it, as well as allergy/sinus issues, which can change over time.

Having said that, if you use CPAP and then don't for a stretch of time, yes, you are putting your health at risk. To what degree probably depends on the severity of your apnea. If you use the machine successfully, if nothing else, it's fairly certain you'd go back to feeling like crap from not getting sleep. But beyond that... I would be surprised if the number of (untreated) apneas increased based solely on using the machine for a period of time.

You will become dependent on it, in the way that you should feel much better if therapy is successful and you won't want to go back to being sleep-deprived. If therapy is working, you'll also become dependent on it the aspect that it will help curb possible health complications in the future - such as diabetes, heart problems, stroke, high blood pressure, depression.

Does anyone know - is it common to need to increase the air pressure as time goes on? What are your experiences?

jjjmac wrote:What I think is being asked for here is if one builds up a tolerance to CPAP. And it is a good question.

From what I know, which admittedly isn't a lot so hopefully someone else with more experience will answer too ... but apnea is dependent on several factors - including weight for many people. So if you lose or gain weight, that will likely affect the number of apneas you have more than whether you've used the machine or not. I think age can also play into it, as well as allergy/sinus issues, which can change over time.

Having said that, if you use CPAP and then don't for a stretch of time, yes, you are putting your health at risk. To what degree probably depends on the severity of your apnea. If you use the machine successfully, if nothing else, it's fairly certain you'd go back to feeling like crap from not getting sleep. But beyond that... I would be surprised if the number of (untreated) apneas increased based solely on using the machine for a period of time.

You will become dependent on it, in the way that you should feel much better if therapy is successful and you won't want to go back to being sleep-deprived. If therapy is working, you'll also become dependent on it the aspect that it will help curb possible health complications in the future - such as diabetes, heart problems, stroke, high blood pressure, depression.

Does anyone know - is it common to need to increase the air pressure as time goes on? What are your experiences?

I have been on CPAP for over 7 years, my pressure is 14.5 to15 cm for the last 7 years. Over that time I gained 50 lb,(Bad Me), no change in pressure still AHI under 2, before treatment AHI 150.

"Having said that, if you use CPAP and then don't for a stretch of time, yes, you are putting your health at risk."
You just have to make sure that one apnea doesn't turn out to be your last! Odd's are it will just kill you slowly, but a stroke could keep you drooling for a few years, I'd rather not take a chance, I use my machine every nightall night. Jim

Dependant upon? Heck yes, after 17 years of CPAP use I can tell you, For me I cannot sleep without it. But my OSA is severe too.

Tollerant to it? No, my pressures have gone up and down a bit due to weight gain/loss over the years but that's the only times, and the differences haven't been drastic.

Now my body has built up a tollerance i guess you can say for the air pressure itself. while i took to cpap use well the air was a bit strong feeling at first. Nowadays it doesn't feel near as strong but I have a AHI under 1 so I am not complaining. I figure i've gotten used to it.

I read an thread yesterday talking about a study that was done. They had a set of OSA patients use the cpap for 2 weeks then go 1 week without it. Basically they said that the symptoms come back but in the 1 weeks time they didn't get worse.

I myself had a thread that asked does OSA get worse with age? I had a lot of people say yes and it depends. I think if you have OSA it will get worse as you age but not because you do or do not get treated. Treatment opens your air passageways and that's basically it. We have a dependency on it to helps us breathe and sleep but if you don't use it you won't suddenly go from mild to severe OSA.

It's kinda funny because my husband asked the same question yesterday!

While I agree with all the other posters, I think there is a misconception about what CPAP does. CPAP is a machine not a drug. It doesn't cure OSA it treats OSA. If you stop using CPAP the OSA will come back.

Sudhakar wrote:Hi
Am going to buy a CPAP on doctors advise. Can someone who has been using these machines for some time tell me if this becomes habit forming and if we beome dependent on it. What happens if after I use if for a year and then have a 10-15 days break from using the machine. Does the apnea go up when we are off the machine after having used it for months/years? Also does the pressure neccy keep increasing over the years?

It splints open your airways. The same thing that a leg brace does for people whose leg muscles don't work properly.
You are already dependent on O2 and sleep for well being. You have been surviving on an inadequate supplies of both probably for some years. All cpap does is allow you to sleep and use the same amount of O2 everyone else does.

Depending on the severity of your apnea, going off it for 2 weeks will probably totally ruin your holiday as you will feel like crap. Your body will be used to adequate O2 and sleep and the comparison may be unbelievably bad - sort of like going to climb a mountain with thin air.

You ask?? is using a CPAP habit forming... Hopefully Yes, it should be a darn good habit to acquire.
Can you become dependent on a CPAP. NO!! You "MAY" live to be 100 yrs old whether or not you use a CPAP. But I doubt that you'll make it, especially since a Doctor has advised you to acquire one and I'm sure his/her intension's were for you to use it "every" night. CPAP does not cure.

jen4700 wrote:While I agree with all the other posters, I think there is a misconception about what CPAP does. CPAP is a machine not a drug. It doesn't cure OSA it treats OSA. If you stop using CPAP the OSA will come back.

I agree completely.......To put it another way..."It's like a leaky pipe. You can tape it to stop the leak, but the leak will come back if you remove the tape. The tape doesn't fix the pipe."

Habit forming. Analogy: Ask a type one diabetic if insulin is habit forming.

Linus wrote:Habit forming. Analogy: Ask a type one diabetic if insulin is habit forming.

Even Type 2, I got the Habit! I got to Habit it 3 times a day! Jim

I used to worry about this very thing. It's a very good question to ask before starting treatment. What jjjmac says is true:

jjjmac wrote:apnea is dependent on several factors - including weight for many people. So if you lose or gain weight, that will likely affect the number of apneas you have more than whether you've used the machine or not. I think age can also play into it, as well as allergy/sinus issues, which can change over time.

In terms of whether or not we have to increase pressure because we've built up a tolerance, I don't know for sure, but I don't think so.

I asked my sleep specialist about dependence, and she said the only dependence I might develop on this treatment is psychological, meaning that I might become attached to the good feeling of refreshing sleep from sufficient oxygen throughout the night.

I have used a cpap for over five years. I googled habit forming because I noticed that my breath reflex is wimpy. It one thing to have a tight airway restrict airfow to the point I stop breathing. Its another issue when my air passage is good and I am startled awake because my breath reflex is so wimpy I just stopped breathing... I AM SAYING CPAP HAS REDUCED MY BREATH REFLEX...

whatmatters wrote:I have used a cpap for over five years. I googled habit forming because I noticed that my breath reflex is wimpy. It one thing to have a tight airway restrict airfow to the point I stop breathing. Its another issue when my air passage is good and I am startled awake because my breath reflex is so wimpy I just stopped breathing... I AM SAYING CPAP HAS REDUCED MY BREATH REFLEX...

Well, that might simply be complex sleep apnea.

For some people, the pressure of CPAP treatment induces "central apneas", where your body just doesn't even try to breathe for a few breaths (until CO2 spikes and it goes into emergency mode).

There are different machines (ASV) to treat that. They essentially watch your breathing and notice when you pause and give you a little nudge.

If you think that's happening to you, talk to your doctor. You might need different treatment!