Since I've been on this forum I've seen a number of posts about people taking their xPAP machines for a hospital stay and needing to educate hospital personnel ahead of time.

I was just in the hospital for gastric bypass and they are very tuned in to the whole issue. Severe sleep apnea is one of the indications for gastric bypass and they said a very high percentage of people who are overweight have sleep apnea. I was told to *bring my CPAP machine to the hospital*. They had their engineering department check it to approve for use and then they set it up for me. Is this uncommon or is this becomming more common?

btw, since I've already dropped weight since last week's surgery, I noticed my AHI has dropped too. Previously on my Sandman Auto my AHI was around 0.5 and on my Respironics M-Series Auto it was 2-4 and I couldn't get it any lower. It's now consistently less than 1 on the Respironics.

Mindy

There have to be a consultant or engineer to set up the cpap for your body according to the prescription.It's common to be asked to the hospital and adjust your date of the cpap,cause you said you are lossing weight,that means your physical situation is getting better,i can see your determination and wish you could get rid of cpap someday,of course,follow the dr.'s instruction

Not sure I like the idea of a hospital engineer checking my machine to approve it for use. I am particular, and don't like anyone touching my machine. If they had to approve it I would ask them to provide one for my stay. I just had surgery and decided with my mild apnea only to have my person set it up in my room after I came out of recovery.

snoregirl wrote:Not sure I like the idea of a hospital engineer checking my machine to approve it for use. I am particular, and don't like anyone touching my machine. If they had to approve it I would ask them to provide one for my stay. I just had surgery and decided with my mild apnea only to have my person set it up in my room after I came out of recovery.

They just make sure the electrical connections are good .. I was right there when they checked it and was reassured that my machine is still electrically safe after 2 years. Not that I'd want surgery in order to find that out

Although I wouldn't mind getting off CPAP, I'm so used to it that for me it's not a big deal if I can't. They said my neck size is very small and so I may still need it. I should, however, be able to use lower pressures.

Mindy

I work in a hospital and when engineering looks at the machine it's just to check that it is not a fire hazard, they don't check setting or anything like that. It's not uncommon that patients bring their PAP's with them. Occasionally they are prescribed for patients even before their sleep study, not sure how the doctor's determine the pressure to set at. Maybe they are APAP machines but they are bigger than ones I see for sale on CPAP.com and look like a industrial machine.

Slinky wrote:It is in Recovery when you MOST NEED your xPAP whilst you are still "recovering" from all the sedation and anesthetic enough to be sent to your room - or released if it was an outpatient day surgery.

Agreed Slinky! They told me that too at the hospital. The one glitch I ran into with recovery is that I use a CL2 mask and they are used to FFM's and aren't used to chinstraps. I was too groggy to figure out how to get it on! If I had to do it again, I would have brought my FFM. Luckily the oxygen they were giving me was enough to keep my o2sats up.

Mindy

I never thought of this until reading this thread, but before I was diagnosed with sleep apnea I went into the hospital for surgery on my ankle. After the surgery they had a problem with my 02 levels, were concerned with my recovery, and kept me an extra three days in order to get the level up enough to let me go home. That was in 1982 when not many even in the medical profession knew about OSA. After being diagnosed I went in for something else, used my Cpap and had no problems at all. As far as a technician looking at it that is for insurance purposes as anything electrical must be approved before it is used in the hospital.

Sleepy Taz wrote:... As far as a technician looking at it that is for insurance purposes as anything electrical must be approved before it is used in the hospital.

Interesting -- a little tidbit I hadn't thought about! I'm glad you got diagnosed and treated ... that first experience would have scared me.

Mindy

I have an appointment set up for an anesthetic consult the day before my surgery at the end of the month. I'll let you know what happens then. My family doc set it up. He said they do consults now with apnea patients as they change the anesthesia formulations a little bit. There will be written orders to have my cpap put on me in recovery.

My understanding of the reason that biomedical engineering checks outside equipment being brought into the hospital (and I think they do that with everything that comes into patient contact) is that they're looking for good grounding and/or double insulation. Your skin is actually a pretty good electrical insulator, but if you've got an IV running, you've potentially got a direct connection through the skin, so they want to be sure your equipment isn't going to accidently shock you. A tiny current at the wrong time and place could be very harmful. When I was doing AV for a big teaching hospital, we had to take special pains to isolate consumer-grade TVs and videocassette machines that we had installed on carts to roll around for teaching purposes.

There's almost no chance that the biomedical engineer will even care what your settings are. That would be the province of the respiratory therapist.

Panhandler wrote:There's almost no chance that the biomedical engineer will even care what your settings are. That would be the province of the respiratory therapist.

Agreed! He never turned on my machine - only inspected the electrical cord.

Mindy

After my gallbladder surgery in 2007, pre-apnea diagnosis, I totally spazzed out because I couldn't breathe and had a panic attack.

They kept saying, "Breathe, Kenny, breathe."

"I can't!"

I suspect the sedation was closing my airway even while half-awake. Stupid thing is, no one ever suspected apnea or even mentioned it to me. I diagnosed myself this year, which prompted the sleep study.

My big worry would be spilling of humidifier juice. I guess if you do have to take in your machine, it would be best to leave the humidifier at home so as not to confuse them?????

I'm scheduled for a colonoscopy for next week. Should I take my machine?? It's at a clinic type setting. but they do put you under from what I hear. I told them when I scheduled it that I had SA and had a CPAP machine. They told me that the center down stairs would probably be calling me on that?? I hope I'm not causing a problem for them having SA but I know what happens to my body when given pain meds and sedation --it doesn't like it. apparently i don't breathe