Need help with CPAP for camper

Without delving into personal level issues, please post what you find with regard to blood O2 levels. :)

Good info in this thread. I went and found some interesting software "Sleepyhead" and checked it out. According to it my therapy seems to be working.

I also ordered a recording Pulse Oximeter to see how my O2 level is at night for a verification.

Thx to every one for the good info.

The "brick" referred to above is a 12VDC to 24VDC converter. Many of the newer machines (including my VPAP) operate on 24VDC. Right now DW and I are running a CPAP and a VPAP through a 400 watt inverter. It works for us with 225 amp hrs batteries and 200 watts solar. Don't need the humidifiers unless we're in the desert.
-Mark.

Medicare will approve a new replacement CPAP machine every 5 years if a physician will authorize that you still need a CPAP machine at the 5 year points.

You might consider just getting a new CPAP machine. My new CPAP machine comes setup for use with a built-in humidifier that can be turned ON or OFF. However, I had to buy out of my own pocket a brick that allows plugging the machine directly into a 12V receptacle in the RV - so that no inverter is needed and thus using less power from RV batteries than through an inverter.

It will operate from 12 volts with or without it's humidifier being used. The brick cost about $90.

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2014/01/08/chest-implant-might-help-with-hard-to-treat-sleep-apnea

If this is what you are referring to, it sounds like it is something for treating central sleep apnea, which originates with the nervous system. Like a pacemaker triggers the heart to beat, this apparently triggers breathing.

I note, too, that it has reduced apneas and hypopneas by 68%. Unless your apnea is very mild, it seems to me that a 68% reduction is not terribly effective. With CPAP, I get a 90% or better reduction. If your AHI is above 5, you are still experiencing sleep apnea.

Wayne

The conventional surgery to "fix" the larynx shocked me. IMHO it is a disaster - incorrect swallowing, drooling, a whole fleet of negatives. So news of an implant is heartening (yeah that's a pun). For us lousy CSA victims the only cure would be a brain-stem transplant.

I do not use a CPAP machine but there was a article in the Miami Herald the other day about a gentleman who received some type of implant, similar to a heart pace maker, that does away with the CPAP machine. Do not think it is available to everyone but something to look forward to.
Don

The eBay pages are full of recording Pulse Oximeters. I compared mine to a professional multi thousand dollar unit and the profiles mirrored each other. Downloading via a USB cable to a CD program could not be simpler. Naturally programs range from simple to stupidly complex but the basic nightly or weekly results can be amplified down to the minute. This is the way I found put the shoulder I was sleeping on started to hurt at 0400 I rolled over more supported myself with my right hand and woke up at 0500 screaming with pain. You bet your sweet bippy the O2 sensor showedbwhy my AHI was.skyrocketing. bolster pillows and an ice pack at bed time fixed that and my heart rate and pulse have also returned to normal. St Peter has all of eternity so seeing him right away is not a priority. If a person is being treated for Atrial Fibrillation a pulse oximeter should br mandatory. I dose one of my medications PRN via what my pulse history has shown.

To maintain my Medicare coverage and to acquire regular supplies for my CPAP I need to have periodic visits with my Sleep Center Physician. He adjusts both of my machines as needed to meet my needs.

Empty Nest, Soon wrote:

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
. . . I'll have to toss in another blurb for a pulse oximeter. it has been been a godsend ending guesswork.

What pulse oximeter do you use? I've thought of getting one. I see some relatively inexpensive ones, but I have no idea if they are accurate and reliable.

Wayne

Curios as well. I don't have a Dr. willing to look at the machine data.......