CPAP, standing for continuous positive airway pressure, is a commonly prescribed sleep therapy for individuals suffering from obstructive sleep apnea. With almost 22 million Americans suffering from sleep apnea, CPAP therapy is the most widely used method to curb the negative side effects of sleep loss. However, its use may not be straight-forward. Continue reading to learn more about commonly asked CPAP therapy questions.
What is a Travel CPAP Device?
CPAP therapy is saving countless people from the negative effects of sleep apnea all over the world. A travel CPAP device is a smaller, lighter, easier-to-carry, and more discrete CPAP machine. Other travel benefits include the fact that they are:- Are TSA friendly
- Can be FAA approved for in-flight use
- Are easy to disassemble and reassemble
- Portable! They fit into a carry-on bag
One of the reasons they are more travel friendly is that they tend to:
- Use smaller tubing
- Have fewer components
- Are battery powered, and don’t require power cables
Travel CPAP machines are made specifically for traveling, and though they are a bit more expensive than regular CPAP machines they are not made to “replace” your regular CPAP.
Should You Travel With Your CPAP Device?
Traveling is often a hassle, and your CPAP device takes up a lot of space. Additionally, people with CPAP devices may wonder if they even can even travel with their CPAP device. Because of this, people with sleep apnea can be a bit...neglectful in being diligent about traveling with their CPAP device. Nonetheless, it remains important to wear your CPAP every night.
So, can you travel with your CPAP device? Yes. Should you travel with your CPAP device? Most definitely. Here's some useful information to know about traveling with your CPAP device.
We are so excited to let you know about the latest technology for people with sleep apnea. Ultra-portable, compact, seamlessly integrated, and superior quality are just a few of the adjectives used to describe the NEW DreamStation Go by Philips. Anchorage Sleep Center is proud to introduce you to a new portable CPAP machine which delivers on all of the features sleep apnea patients desire in a unit. The newly released Philips DreamStation Go is the perfect size and portable without lacking in effectiveness or functionality. Here are some advantages of the DreamStation for individuals who have sleep apnea.
It’s not surprising that the week of Thanksgiving was chosen as GERD awareness week, especially with our tendency to indulge in a little too much of everything! GERD. or gastroesophageal reflux disease, is a common disease that affects millions of Americans.
Are you or a loved one a CPAP user? They are the mainstay treatment for significantly improving sleep apnea, but up to 50% of people stop using them within one year. Why? One reason is how daunting the maintenance of their equipment is. At first, it might seem overwhelming but understand with time it will become as routine as brushing your teeth.
The holiday season has arrived! Not only should you be excited, but there is so much to look forward to. Time with family and friends, shopping, and traveling are all many things that we take part in during the holiday season. However, for patients with mild-to-moderate obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), going untreated while traveling can put them at risk for serious health consequences and, perhaps, ruin their trip as well. Sleep apnea doesn’t take a holiday, so it's important to continue treating it during yours. Here are a few quick tips to make traveling with sleep apnea a little less cumbersome.
What is CPAP Therapy?
CPAP therapy is a treatment that is used to treat obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Obstructive sleep apnea is a medical condition that causes you to repeatedly stop breathing throughout the night. With OSA, you stop breathing because your throat muscles relax, your airway becomes obstructed (by your tongue or tonsils), and you stop breathing. Each time this happens - which is many times throughout the night - you rouse to begin breathing again. Each time this cycle happens (stop breathing/waking) is referred to as an “apnea event” or apnea.
Obstructive sleep apnea can be mild to severe, depending on how often this cycle occurs:
- Mild OSA: 5-14 apneas per hour of sleep
- Moderate OSA: 15-30 apneas per hour of sleep
- Severe OSA: 30+ apneas per hour of sleep
When you stop breathing and rouse this much throughout the night (anywhere from 40 to hundreds of times throughout the night), the natural result is severe sleep deprivation. As a result, your life may be shorter, unhappier, and less performant than if you treated your sleep apnea.
This is where CPAP therapy comes in. In CPAP therapy, you use a CPAP machine to gently push air into your airway to keep it from collapsing and, in effect, to also keep you breathing and sleeping.
Be comfortable with CPAP Therapy
CPAP is often scary for people who are concerned they have obstructive sleep apnea or have already been diagnosed with it. After all, it doesn’t exactly look comfortable. People who already use it sometimes struggle with ensuring that their CPAP is effective. Let’s look at the main ideas behind:
- What a CPAP is
- What CPAP therapy is used for
- How to keep your CPAP effective
- How to maintain your CPAP
- Additional CPAP Tips