Though it is a highly effective treatment for people who suffer from sleep apnea, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) can be hard to tolerate for some. It is not uncommon to encounter difficulties, and if these aren’t overcome, the treatment may not be continued.
However, there is a tool you may not be aware of that can help both you and your doctor keep track of your compliance to the therapy, and this in turn may help you to be more successful with it.
Many recent CPAP models contain a memory chip that is able to monitor and record the pattern of use. If you bring in your machine, this information can be quickly downloaded at the doctor’s office to show a detailed assessment of how often you are using it. If you skip a night, or only use it for a few hours before taking it off, this will be recorded.
This may prompt some privacy concerns, and if this bothers you, be sure to ask if your machine is capable of this recording. Before feeling like you're being tattled on, consider another attitude: This is another tool to help you monitor your use. If you are struggling, it will be important to find out early, so that changes can be made to help you better tolerate CPAP. Studies have shown that early compliance is a strong predictor of long-term use, and treatment may prevent some deadly complications associated with sleep apnea.
