Diagnosed with severe sleep apnea
Posted , 3 users are following.
I am a 40-year-old lady who a few days ago was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea and sought the help of CPAP equipment and supplies . A few weeks ago, I decided to spend my holiday in London and booked a flight. Now I am having second thoughts regarding the machine and also the unreliability of power. I am a frequent traveler to such countries and spend a lot of time there.
I will mainly be traveling on my own and so my snoring won't disturb anyone. However, I feel definitely better using the machine. But I think traveling without the machine is good for me, but night traveling in the flight will disturb others. Are there any other sleep apnea sufferers who travel to areas with unreliable power and how do you find it? Also, how do you find having to cart the machine around and going through security? All help will be gratefully received.
I need to enjoy my holidays. Sleep apnea should not affect my trip.
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0 likes, 3 replies
craig84609 victoria46127
Posted
You can get a battery for the machine so it can run even in areas without power. You will have to have a way of charging it, so when you get to a place that does have power then recharge it. You can also buy a smaller machine. They have some that are ultra portable. I have a ResMed Air Sense 10 Auto set for her and it is fairly small for being a full size machine. I have apnea only in allergy season. My nose gets plugged up and my throat swells a bit due to allergies. I first started using it I noticed that my Apnea was classified as severe 4 months latter I went back to the doctor for a follow up and he said either the machine is working really super good or you don't have Apnea any more. I told him yea, that was what I was thinking. How did I go from severe to no apnea in 4 months, so for allergy season I use it. If I traveled a lot I would buy a compact machine that was a smart auto machine and I would build my own lithium battery pack for it, but if you can't build it buy one and you will need to if you fly on a plane as they are funny about these batteries on planes. There are good options out there, so check out what they have online to buy. If you have insurance then use it to pay for the machine, but for me my insurance didn't cover enough of the cost, so I purchased one online and spent half as much then using my insurance. Plus I got the machine I wanted, not the one my insurance wanted me to have.
lily65668 victoria46127
Posted
Hi Victoria, I don't know about the plane but you certainly shouldn't have any trouble with power supplies in London! That being said, individual hotels etc. all over the world - including the US - can have occasional power outages. The battery Craig describes sounds like a good idea, especially for the plane, but even to keep at home in case you have a brief power cut in your own area.
Since you say you travel frequently to Europe, I assume you know the power in the UK (and most northern European countries) is at 220-240V, so you'll need a transformer if you're coming from the US. This voltage will burn out equipment designed for 120V in minutes.
Concerning the plane, I'm wondering whether you actually snore very much when sleeping sitting up?
I snore loudly in bed and pretty clearly suffer from sleep apnoea (though it can't be diagnosed as I live in a country where sleep apnoea in women isn't acknowledged) but I only sleep very lightly on planes and trains, and barely snore at all as a result.
Have a good trip!
faith87650 victoria46127
Posted