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Cpap

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Cpap

Postby Elkhntr08 » 08 26, 2017 •  [Post 1]

Ok, one more stupid question. Started using a cpap. I can live without it, but it does help. How does anybody deal with it in camp? Is a battery unit worth packing in?
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Re: Cpap

Postby wunder6 » 08 26, 2017 •  [Post 2]

When we are at our main camp a buddy runs a small Honda invertor all night. Kinda sucks for the rest of us but I can handle it. He tried a marine battery with an invertor one year but it didn't work well for him.
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Re: Cpap

Postby BobcatJerry » 08 26, 2017 •  [Post 3]

I've slept every night for ten years with one, but have to bite the bullet as we pack in, on our backs. First night I have one sore throat the next day. Buddy says it sounds like I quit breathing every five minutes. I haven't found the solution yet, they say they make portable ones now you can use on a plane, check with your doctor. You need an RX for it, so I would have to do another sleep study and shell out $3K since i haven't had one done in a long time. I use it when I nap in the truck on the way out, and at the hotels. They make some snore ease products that help coat your throat. It may help with the sore throat. I doubt if a battery would get the trick done. The inverter in my truck works though when driving. Not sure how you're camping, but you could try it from your truck, but it would probably put a drain on it if it wasn't running. Any way you look at it it adds a lot of weight. Might also try sleeping without it for a night before you go to toughen up your throat. My regular doctor says to sleep on my side, as that helps keep the air ways open.
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Re: Cpap

Postby saddlesore » 08 26, 2017 •  [Post 4]

If you camp at your truck,Harbor Freight or Northern Tool carries a 800w, 2 cycle generator for less than $100..It puts out 12 v or 120. If you can get a 12v cpap you could run it on a truck battery ( don't bother with marine batteries). Charge it up very few days or every day so take along a battery charger. Sometimes you have to use a 100w light bulb in addition to the charger to make the generator run more efficiently.This alleviates the problem of running it all night and is more courteous to other campers.

Sometimes life and health get in the way of our hunting and we have to make some compromises to keep hunting. BTDT
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Re: Cpap

Postby elkaholicid » 08 27, 2017 •  [Post 5]

I have Sleep Apnea also and have done a couple of things. For a base camp, I bring a 12V Deep Cycle Battery and a set of crab claws to run my CPAP machine. I also bring a small generator and a trickle charger that I'll use to charge the battery every couple of days.

For back country, I have a dental appliance that I got from a Sleep Apnea doctor. It's light weight and I can throw in my pack in the morning for those afternoon naps on the mountain side.
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Re: Cpap

Postby Lefty » 08 27, 2017 •  [Post 6]

I have a Harbor Freight 1000 watt inverter, a marine battery and a solar trickle charger.
I dont need the CPAP every night after losing 40 lbs but I still prefer to use it
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Re: Cpap

Postby Charina » 08 28, 2017 •  [Post 7]

Not at all a stupid question! Not in my book anyway.

As of yet, there are not many good options for packing in. There are units and batteries designed for backpackers that can go a couple days, but weight is an issue. And then how do you recharge after a couple days? I've seriously contemplated packing in and stashing ahead of time a small battery and large solar array. But until super-capacitors become a reality, or solar cells quadruple in efficiency, backpacking and cpaps are largely incompatible beyond a two or three day trip. It's been more than a year since I priced them, but I think you are looking at close to $1,000 for one of the backpacking units with lightweight (that's relative lightweight, not absolute) battery for two or three days.

I've had a UPPP, septoplasty, and one other surgery I can't recall the name of. 45 lbs lighter. I use a mandibular advancement dental appliance every night, along with CPAP. Still have an AHI of 2 or 3, and feel like garbage unless I get at least 9 hours sleep. But when you put me at elevation, even with all that, about the 4th day my mental state takes a nose dive from the lack of quality sleep. And the machine is reporting a AHI above 5. I'm chronically on the verge of insufficient rest, so it only takes a couple nights for me to go down hill. I simply don't have the option of elk hunting without my CPAP, so packing in away from base camp is just not an option for me. That's life. Gotta deal with the cards we are dealt, and focus in on the things we can control.

In the past, I would bring two deep cycle batteries and a cheap (harbor freight type) generator to charge them every couple days. I could get 3 nights out of each 27 series battery, but kept it at 2 to keep from discharging as deeply to extend their life. That was with the humidifier on. Then, run the generator during the day after 4 nights to charge them up. Well, the poor quality generator didn't last but two seasons of light use. It's an option for sure, but ended up being more expensive for me in the long run.

This year I bit the bullet and bought a quiet generator. Westinghouse digital inverter 2200 after much research. With a 25 ft extension cord, and as quiet as it is, it doesn't bother me (or my wife) one bit. Almost better to have that little bit of white noise to mix with the cpap and smooth it out. Just days before season opened a week ago, I finished off a silencer box for the generator. It's big, but man is that generator quiet now!!! You can talk softly right next to it and hear each other. Walk 75 yards away and you can't even tell there is a generator running.

A long and technical, but worthwhile read is: The Effects of Altitude Associated Central Apnea on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Comparative Data from Three Different Altitude Locations in the Mountain West. After reading that, and since I have the generator running anyway (drawing less than 1/10th its capacity to run the cpap), I picked up a nearly-new used O2 concentrator to run in camp as well. Low and behold, my AHI (as reported by the cpap) dropped to 0 when without the supplemental o2 my AHI can run up over 5 at elevation.

Waking up early on successive days camping at 10,000 ft was still a struggle this last week, but FAR more doable than in prior years.
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Re: Cpap

Postby Elkhntr08 » 08 28, 2017 •  [Post 8]

Well crap, looks like the first thing I need to do is lose 40 pounds. That would make my doctor happy. Hate it when she's right.
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Re: Cpap

Postby saddlesore » 08 28, 2017 •  [Post 9]

Charina.Bad news about the HF generator,I have had mine for about 6 years and it still is good. I am no expert,but service guys have told me you have to slow charge the marine/deep cycle batteries, and recomended I get a heavy duty truck battery 800-850 CCA. So far that has done better.

I don' t know where you hunt, but in northern CO,you can rent horses about anywhere across the northern part of the state from Sombrero Ranches.

Yea,they are lot of trouble and more work for a hunt, but if I didn't have my two mules,I would have to quit hunting. I camp at a trail head and ride in 3-6 mils every day and hunt.I have been very successful,but my hunting days are numbered. I use to run 4 mules and pack in, then I had to quit that,I couldn't put u pa tent anymore , so I use a small pop up slide in camper.Not ideal,but it is better than sitting home on the couch
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Re: Cpap

Postby BobcatJerry » 08 29, 2017 •  [Post 10]

You could try a deep cell marine battery with a solar charger from Harbor freight. We have a pump station at work with no electric. Bought a small solar panel from HF and set it up with the battery to operate the meter and injectors. Works all summer never needs to be recharged. It would be lighter and more quite than a generator. Rainy cloudy weather may be a problem.
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Re: Cpap

Postby Charina » 08 29, 2017 •  [Post 11]

It's been over a year since I've done the math, so my recollection isn't real fresh, but when you take the watts used by a machine (variable, but typically 80-300) x hours used, then back into the necessary solar array to ensure adequate charge, it's a pretty big array, and pretty expensive, even via HF. My conclusion back then was that a generator was cheaper, and really, the small units are no more weight than a big battery. Sure would be nice not to deal with fuel daily though. (still working on a plan for hooking up an extended run external tank.)

Saddlesore, I had daydreamed of mules a few times. Perhaps someday when I get land, and can't get around as well. I've had a chance to ride a mule and a horse one right after the other, and I prefer the ride of a mule. But I'm in UT where many hunters are road-hunters, so getting away from the crowds and into elk isn't too hard.
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