CPAP Facts

What is Sleep Apnea?

Did you know that sleep apnea affects more than 18 mil­lion Amer­i­cans? It is just as com­mon as type 2 dia­betes. Apnea is the med­ical term for ​“to stop breath­ing.” Sleep apnea is an invol­un­tary stop­ping of breath­ing while you are asleep. Untreat­ed sleep apnea can cause you to stop breath­ing mul­ti­ple times through­out the night. You are unlike­ly to be aware that this hap­pen­ing but may expe­ri­ence headaches, tired­ness dur­ing the day and dry mouth when wak­ing up. In addi­tion, untreat­ed sleep apnea can increase the risk of stroke, heart arrhyth­mias and heart attack.

What is CPAP?

A CPAP (Con­tin­u­ous Pos­i­tive Air­way Pres­sure) machine is a device used to treat peo­ple who are suf­fer­ing from sleep apnea. There are a few ways to treat sleep apnea, but the most suc­cess­ful and wide­ly used is a CPAP machine.

How Does a CPAP work?

A CPAP machine is a small air com­pres­sor that is worn dur­ing sleep; either through a face or nasal mask. This machine pro­vides a con­tin­u­ous flow of air pres­sure that sup­ports the air­way open to pre­vent you from hav­ing apneas dur­ing sleep. Talk to your doc­tor today if you think you have sleep apnea and might ben­e­fit from a CPAP machine.

Who should get a CPAP?

Peo­ple who have been diag­nosed with sleep apnea should con­sid­er the use of a CPAP machine.

Why get a CPAP?

Most peo­ple who use a CPAP machine report a rapid relief in symp­toms, how­ev­er it can take 2 ‑12 weeks for you to adjust to the machine. Once adjust­ed to the CPAP machine, you should notice that your symp­toms of sleep apnea are dis­ap­pear­ing, that you have more ener­gy, and that you have increased men­tal sharp­ness dur­ing the day. Also, with reg­u­lar use of a CPAP machine risks of car­dio­vas­cu­lar com­pli­ca­tions can be decreased.

How do I get a CPAP?

A CPAP can only be obtained through by a physi­cian’s order. Once you have received an order for one you can pur­chase through Pre­mier Med­ical Equip­ment. Many insur­ance com­pa­nies will cov­er the cost of a CPAP machine, so be sure to con­tact your insur­ance provider to find out if CPAP is cov­ered under your ben­e­fit plan. 

What are oth­er types of breath­ing machines?

There are 3 types of PAP machines: CPAP, BiPAP, and VPAP. Your doc­tor will help deter­mine which one will be the most effec­tive in treat­ing your sleep apnea.