Hello all, I am trying to help out a friend who can't camp out overnight due to sleep apnia. She has a device that basically blows air down her throat to ensure an uninterrupted sleep (as long as the bears stay away!). I don't know how much current the unit she has now needs but she does have to plug it in. It seems there must be a good way to either convert this to DC or find a unit that is more portable. One obvious solution would be to use a marine battery for her existing device though that makes it slightly less portable. Solar would be great but you need to store the energy and again it needs to be portable. Any other ideas? I am sure there are some resources out there as I believe this is a fairly common disorder. I've looked a bit but haven't found any yet. Thanks in advance for any tips of links! -Patrick *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On Mon, Apr 28, 2003 at 12:04:09PM -0500, Patrick Maun wrote: > I am sure there are some resources out there as I believe this is a > fairly common disorder. I've looked a bit but haven't found any yet. Could be because you've got a typo in the name of the disorder; try Googling for "sleep apnea", or "obstructive sleep apnea". > She has a device that basically blows air down her > throat to ensure an uninterrupted sleep [...] That would be a CPAP device (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure), of which there are 1 bazillion different varieties of gizmos. Note: this is NOT medical advice, and I urge you to ignore what I'm about to say. I am but a geek who worked in a hospital lab where MD-types were studying organs that move (heart and lungs) and one group was focused on sleep apnea: thus ~10 years ago I read a bunch of papers on the topic, sat through seminars, etc. The state of understanding then was: (a) nobody is quite sure what causes this (b) but they like to argue about it at great length (c) while treating the symptoms, at least, with CPAP and other relatively non-intrusive means because (d) not treating the symptoms is a Bad Thing for much the same reason that Not Breathing is a Bad Thing. My guess is that of all the devices which have come on the market, there must be at least one that's relatively portable and/or rechargeable. But I would strongly advise having this person's physician(s) vet any choice of such a device before attempting to use it: sleep apnea can be - in some patients - a serious and life-threatening condition, and so getting the treatment right is, umm, important (see "Not Breathing" above). ---Rsk *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
I, too have sleep apnea. Mine is a moderate condition with my Oxygen saturation dropping to the mid 80's (97-100% is normal). Severe cases will reach as low as 60%. There are several minor surgeries now available such as radio-frequency ablation, but the local sleep lab director and specialist both say that the benefits are not lasting. However at least one dental appliance looks promising. It works by displacing the lower jaw forward, opening the airway in a similar fashion as the jaw-thrust airway maneuver does. It reportedly has a positive effect with most people still using it a year later. I haven't tried it, but am considering doing so since I'm away from home every third day. One type is called TAPS and I'm sure there are others as well. It may work well enough for your friend to allow her to camp. Bill *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
I have sleep apnea. I have been on trips using a marine battery with my CPAP. The CPAP I have can use either AC or DC current. For camping I bought an attachment that will allow me to use either the outlet in a car or connect the CPAP to a battery using terminal clamps. A battery would usually last me about 5 nights; I do not remember the amps of the battery I was using. On two 10 day trips in Belize were traveling out of a base camp that allowed me to use solar and wind power to recharge the battery. The manufacturer of my CPAP, Medtronics, has all the attachments available to use it this way. I am sure someone could rig these connectors together, just make sure it is fused. The newsgroups on apnea and on telescopes, we need batterys there also, have all kinds of suggestions for using batteries in the field to power gagets. The important part is to have a small CPAP with a DC connection. Knapp Hudson Portland, ME *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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