At the start of this season I finally gave in to my wife’s complaints of my snoring, and went on CPAP(auto). Although I had no complaints, my sleep study diagnosed me with mild to moderate Obstructive Sleep Apnea, so I agreed to a six month trail with the Phillips Dream Station.
We live in the Phoenix valley at 1000 ft, but go up to the Flagstaff mountains at 7,500 ft every weekend to ski. I never considered actual altitude sickness to be an issue, but did notice that I would have mild headaches and restless sleep whilst in Flagstaff. The Snowbowl ski resort base is even higher at 9,500 ft, but apart from a little fatigue and mild dyspnea, I could ski all day without issue.
Once on CPAP, I did start to feel that I was getting very poor sleep on In Flagstaff and noticed that my AHI index (apnea events per hour) had jumped from a reasonable 5 to a dramatically high 70. Not only was there a jump in my apnic events at altitude, but they had also switched from obstructive in nature, to central. Which basically means that my brain was now failing to urge me to breath, as opposed to a simple airway blockage.
The sleep study center told me that this is not an unusual phenomenon, and advised me not to use my CPAP machine at altitude again. It’s a little disappointing that I was not warned of this effect before, but, that’s medicine.
Please note that I’m not giving advice, or medical recommendations. I’m just sharing my personal experience and wondering if other CPAP users have encountered similar problems at altitude?
We live in the Phoenix valley at 1000 ft, but go up to the Flagstaff mountains at 7,500 ft every weekend to ski. I never considered actual altitude sickness to be an issue, but did notice that I would have mild headaches and restless sleep whilst in Flagstaff. The Snowbowl ski resort base is even higher at 9,500 ft, but apart from a little fatigue and mild dyspnea, I could ski all day without issue.
Once on CPAP, I did start to feel that I was getting very poor sleep on In Flagstaff and noticed that my AHI index (apnea events per hour) had jumped from a reasonable 5 to a dramatically high 70. Not only was there a jump in my apnic events at altitude, but they had also switched from obstructive in nature, to central. Which basically means that my brain was now failing to urge me to breath, as opposed to a simple airway blockage.
The sleep study center told me that this is not an unusual phenomenon, and advised me not to use my CPAP machine at altitude again. It’s a little disappointing that I was not warned of this effect before, but, that’s medicine.
Please note that I’m not giving advice, or medical recommendations. I’m just sharing my personal experience and wondering if other CPAP users have encountered similar problems at altitude?
