Sleep Apnea and CPAP – The Not So Sexy LifeSaver
Space Camp for Little People
Our 2011 visit to Space Camp — what it was like for an LP child and family, plus an update on the program’s current status.
Packing to travel can be a pain if you have to include a CPAP/BiPAP in your luggage. No matter how tall you are, the CPAP is just one more thing to lug around. At the same time, you need to keep this expensive medical equipment safe from damage. It helps you breathe while sleeping, so no matter where you are, you will always need your CPAP. Otherwise, even just one night without it can mean a really groggy, grumpy day to say the least.
Packing Your CPAP
I prefer to put the CPAP in hard sided luggage and check it in with the other luggage, but this does add some risk if your bag does not show up on time. If you choose to pack your CPAP as carry-on luggage and go through security, be prepared to have them touch all the parts that go into your nose and mouth. Since it’s a medical device, it should not be counted as one of your personal carry-on items. My husband usually asks TSA to change gloves before examining the CPAP so there’s no cross contamination. However, lately the airlines seem to have relaxed their policies around CPAPs — we remove the CPAP case from the carry-on, place it in the bin, and they haven’t questioned it.
If you pack it in your checked luggage, try to pack clothing around it even if you have a hard case. Packing it tightly with your clothing helps prevent it from being tossed around. I usually pack it at the bottom towards the wheels — it’s going to be the heaviest part of your luggage, so it helps to keep it there.
CPAP Travel Accessories
Whether you’re sleeping at a friend’s house or vacationing at a resort hotel, you never know what setup you’ll need. Here are the accessories we keep with our CPAP machines:
Allows enough room for your CPAP and other devices without spreading them around the room. Dwarf Dad also really likes the Hug-A-Plug Outlet Splitter — works especially well for hotel rooms where they only provide one power outlet on a lamp or clock radio.
Don’t forget a USB charger alongside your Anker PowerLine cable — one is useless without the other. We like Anker for both.
We’ve unfortunately needed this more than once — many older hotels have only one accessible power outlet and your CPAP cord may not reach. One time at the National Conference the outlet was completely behind the headboard and we had to have the hotel hook up an extension cord. Don’t leave home without one.
You never know when you need just 4–6 inches of height to reach something — like those impossibly high hotel beds or to keep your CPAP off the floor. A compact folding stool is one of the most practical LP travel accessories you can pack.
Helps prevent mouth breathing and mask leakage. For LP children with achondroplasia whose mask tends to slip due to midface anatomy, a reader tip: try a wide sports headband worn around the chin as an alternative — some LP families find this stays in place better than a standard chin strap.
If you are camping or on a long plane ride, a CPAP battery is essential. The Medistrom Pilot-24 Lite is compatible with ResMed AirSense and AirMini machines and will last a couple nights without the humidifier. Name-brand batteries from ResMed and Respironics are very expensive — this is a well-reviewed alternative at a more manageable price.
Travel CPAP vs. Your Regular CPAP
There are quite a variety of travel-focused CPAP machines these days — the Transcend Auto, ResMed AirMini, and the Z1 Auto among them. They all seem to work well based on reviews but some are very expensive (the ResMed AirMini is around $900) and some are not particularly quiet. For now, we are lucky enough to have older CPAPs that we can bring on our travels. We were very excited about the ResMed AirMini, but the price and reviews complaining about noise scared us away.
What to Do When You Forget CPAP Items
Dwarf Dad had the experience once of travelling cross-country without CPAP tubing — a new mask was placed into the travel bag but the new tubing was forgotten. When cases like this happen, or if your tubing is damaged, Amazon has CPAP tubing available through Prime without a prescription.
Universal fit, available on Amazon Prime — no prescription required. Before new tubing could arrive, Dwarf Dad had to jury rig a connection from the ResMed Airfit P10 short-tube adapter to the CPAP blower port using duct tape. It wasn’t perfect, but it did the job for a night. Don’t end up in that situation — order tubing the moment you realize it’s missing. Another emergency option: Craigslist or a local DME supplier for same-day pickup.
Do you have a CPAP travel tip or an accessory that’s made a difference for your LP family? Share it in the comments — and if your LP child is on CPAP therapy, we’d love to hear what mask and chin strap combination has worked best for your child’s face shape.
My child with acondroplisia & has sleep apnia is on a cpap but haven’t yet found a chin strap (to prevent leakage) that will not move or slip off due to the shape head (and movement while she sleeps) also the size of the nose piece on the mask is still to big. Any ideas how to get me through this? Would be immensly appriciated
A couple of friends have said that they use a sports headband like this one or wider to use as a chin strap. Hope this helps!