How do very old people tolerate CPAP?

I think it is a legitimate question. I have wondered more than once how I am going to shop for and lug my gallon of distilled water into the house and order supplies when I am 90. I think it is not a question of age but of ability. I think there will be new and better interventions in the future, so I am not going to worry about it now.

I am curious, just how old do you think "old and frail" is?

That really depends on how healthy you are. My mother is only about 60 and she's deteriorating pretty quickly because she has type 2 diabetes and doesn't manage it well (meaning, she relies on drugs to make up for her poor diet and lifestyle). My wife's grandfather, OTOH, is turning 90 and still plays tennis!

I'm only 33 but I've had severe sleep apnea most of my life I think. It went untreated for at least the last 20 years. I'm of healthy weight, I exercise regularly, and I eat well. By all the standard definitions of health, I'm in superb health. However, I've also had a lot of problems resulting from lack of treatment and will likely continue to struggle with them for a long time. I expect it's going to take it's toll over time, especially as I stop healing well when I'm older.

So for my wife, I expect it will be 80-90. For me, probably 60-70. I try my best but it's beyond my control. Not really fair but what can you do.

You're only as old as you feel. Personally, i dont think wearing a mask etc. is a big deal. Yeah i wish i didnt have to but still..not a big deal.

Janknitz wrote:I expect to be using my machine until the day I die, but I think it's unrealistic to expect some older people with cognitive issues especially to newly adjust to CPAP. It's worth a try, but at a certain point the struggle is beyond reason unless you have an extremely patient, kind, and knowledgeable caregiver/spouse like Dori C.
At the point where it causes the person to become agitated or increases agitation, it's time to throw in the towel. That person has lived with apnea for many decades at that point, in most cases. Treatment now will not have terribly dramatic results.
I bumped into a friend of mine who cares for her elderly husband. Despite the fact that she is a retired nurse, she just could not get her husband to wear his mask more than an hour or so. Both were losing sleep and highly frustrated.
Back in my days practicing as an OT if I'd known then what I know now I think I could have helped some people adjust to CPAP, but there are some people who just don't benefit enough to make the struggle worthwhile.

Lots of food for thought! Mike was already having some memory problems as well as other health issues when he was finally dx with OSA after years of denial on my part. I almost said "no more" but I told myself that I would "try" to learn about this cpap stuff but would give it up in a heartbeat if I didn't see any meaningful results pretty quickly or if Mike became agitated or uncooperative. We were lucky in so many ways because he was willing to trust me and wanted to live. He is a sweet gentle soul by nature. I would never have stayed with it if not for this forum who guided me every step of the way and I saw improvement early on. It's never without struggle and gets harder at those times when his therapy goes beserk for some reason and with occasional resentment on my part but it never enters my mind to throw in the towel as long as it keeps him with me. It's not a question of young or old.

Doric is so right about this! It has nothing to do with age! It has to do with the person's ability ( young, old or in between) to deal with cpap therapy on their own OR to have a great caregiver, like Doric to take this on.

If the therapy becomes impossible, for any reason, then it would and should end. Odds are the person will still live some years without therapy. After all, many of us live for many years with undiagnosed and untreated sleep apnea.

I am 84.5 years old and find CPAPing being a nuisance. I was "lucky" to come down with OSA only at the age of 81 and then with an AHI of only 45. During the 3.5 years that I have been on an XPAP I found out that there are NO good solutions to dry mouth, dry eyes, Nocturia, shorter sleeps, and mornings lousy feelings. So talking about traveling places like that and enjoying it is asking for miracles. Most physicians don't like to deal with elderly folks. They would rather treat young athletes, successfully, and then brag about it to their colleagues. Almost all Sleep Docs are not available during weekends and holidays. So you could only go to hospitals, if you need help. At least soon, Docs, will be forced to start accepting your emails, but I bet that no replies would come back till Monday. If I move to an assisted living facility, would someone be there to take care of cleaning my hardware and ordering supply?

balor, if you're at age of 33 then do what that college grad in Art History who works now at my physical therapy place as a receptionist does. He has a sleep disorder and most of the time his head is lying flat on the table while he snores. He is treated with a CPAP that feeds the data to a lab wirelessly. He does not know or care about the make of his CPAP and rather not talk about it at all. But I can see his puffed eyes and tell that he is miserable.

Had not given this any thought until I saw this thread. I guess I'm soon approaching "old people" age, although I admit I'd rather not think about it. I don't live alone so I think that's a plus.

I'm sure there is an organization where I live that would help with the things you mentioned if I had the need. For those who live alone, why not google senior/elder, etc. where you live and see if there is anything like that. Call Medicare or Social Security... they may be able to refer you.

84.5 years old and still interacting on forums? That's awesome! My grandparents were far too sick or just generally computer illiterate to do that. Thank you so much for your input, though I'm still waiting for someone who is actually old to chime in I love the ".5" in the age too btw. It shows that no matter how much time you've had, half a year is still significant.

Anyway, regarding your post, what is it that propose that I do then? Should I just sleep face down? It doesn't sound like it's worked out well for him.

balor123 wrote:84.5 years old and still interacting on forums? That's awesome! My grandparents were far too sick or just generally computer illiterate to do that. Thank you so much for your input, though I'm still waiting for someone who is actually old to chime in I love the ".5" in the age too btw. It shows that no matter how much time you've had, half a year is still significant.

Anyway, regarding your post, what is it that propose that I do then? Should I just sleep face down? It doesn't sound like it's worked out well for him.

What you do is ... keep cpaping IT WORKS!!!!!! When you get old enough or should I say infirm enough to need to go to an old folks home, you pick one that treats its patients properly and not drug them to death to keep them from complaining. There are good seniors residences out there you just have do your due diligence and pick one that will treat you as you should be treated.... well.

Janknitz wrote:I expect to be using my machine until the day I die, but I think it's unrealistic to expect some older people with cognitive issues especially to newly adjust to CPAP. It's worth a try, but at a certain point the struggle is beyond reason unless you have an extremely patient, kind, and knowledgeable caregiver/spouse like Dori C.

At the point where it causes the person to become agitated or increases agitation, it's time to throw in the towel. That person has lived with apnea for many decades at that point, in most cases. Treatment now will not have terribly dramatic results.

I bumped into a friend of mine who cares for her elderly husband. Despite the fact that she is a retired nurse, she just could not get her husband to wear his mask more than an hour or so. Both were losing sleep and highly frustrated.

Back in my days practicing as an OT if I'd known then what I know now I think I could have helped some people adjust to CPAP, but there are some people who just don't benefit enough to make the struggle worthwhile.

I have seen this first hand.

This elderly gentleman in his mid eighties was basically forced into APAP by his Sleep Doctor & DME even over his & his wife's strong objections. He had numerous other ailments & no one expected him to live more than a few years. He died 6 months later.

His AutoSet was paid 100% by his very great insurance & they did not require any compliance at all. I never quite understood why Medicare was not the responsible party or even whether he was even enrolled in Medicare. He did have a business that was still in his name & was covered under their plan. That is the insurance that paid for the machine.

Upon receiving his machine, it was not even taken out of the box & just sat in the closet. Neither he nor his wife thought that trying to adapt to APAP was at the top of the list of what he needed to make his remaining life as easy as possible.

We spike our humidifiers with Geritol.

PST wrote:We spike our humidifiers with Geritol.

Or we go back to our roots of being laid back and "Peace man"

balor123 wrote:84.5 years old and still interacting on forums? That's awesome!.

Hey they / we invented invented computers and the internet. My father at 86 is still surfing and goes to all sorts of genealogy sites. It is his hobby after teaching software for 25 years.

abby123 wrote:I work in long term care (nursing homes) and I am actually surprised how few patients use a cpap...

They are in your nursing home because they didn't use CPAP.

ChicagoGranny - not ALL people are in nursing homes because they have untreated sleep apnea!!!! That is simply not true. SOME people MAY be in nursing homes because of untreated sleep apnea would be more accurate.

There are many other reasons for people to be in nursing homes!