Can You Backpack with Sleep Apnea?

If you have OSA or Obstructive Sleep Apnea, you know it kind of sucks…or blows depending on your perspective. Fortunately, we live in an age where medical science has really made it pretty easy to deal with when it comes to getting a good night sleep. Those of us that like to enjoy the great outdoors are faced with the challenge of suffering without our sleep therapy. Or we limit our destinations solely on whether or not there’s a power source for our CPAP device. If we car camp or RV are way into mother nature, the workarounds are fairly easy to manage.

What about those of us that like to strap to our backs the bare necessities for a 3-day trip and go way back into the wilderness? Well, we live with it the best way we know how, by suffering! Carrying your in-home CPAP would be the easy part, but finding an outlet in the backcountry is near impossible. And I don’t think they make a 10-mile-long extension cord and if they did, hiring enough sherpas to carry and lay out the cord, isn’t very cost effective. Luckily there’s a solution to this problem.

Travel compact CPAP devices do exist and are rather small and lightweight. Pair these with the wonder of the modern battery and you’ll get to enjoy that backcountry retreat you’ve been longing for. Batteries on the other had can be heavy and the good one’s aren’t cheap. Make a battery specially for a medical device and now we’re talking out of this world cost. Sadly, these medical grade batteries run $300 to $400 and they only give you a single night of therapy.

Several years ago, I was very excited when I discovered the possibility of owning a travel CPAP for my backpacking excursions. When I learned about the overly price ineffective medical grade batteries, I realized it just wasn’t a possibility. Suffering horribly in the backcountry was going to be my lot in life. Then I found the brilliant Scott Carrol DIY battery hack on YouTube.

He discovered a way to use more cost effective and efficient hobby LiPo batteries that could give you several nights sleep on the trail in a single charge. To make this work though, you needed to have a little bit of electrical soldering know-how and a willingness to build this special Backpacking CPAP kit. You’re really going to want this though because all said, I’m probably about $1,000 into building the best sleep kit I’ve ever had on the trail. Do I like the extra 3.5 to 6 lbs. I’m carrying on the trail? Not really, but it’s totally worth the weight.

A special thank you to, Scott Carroll ( https://youtu.be/HwurfTzRc9I ) ,for figuring out how to build this simple hack and publishing it on YouTube for the world. All credit goes to Scott. I’m really here to pass this information along to my audience and hopefully those who want to backpack, but hesitate doing so because of our annoying condition.
Save those pennies Apneites and get yourself back in the backwoods with the best sleep you’ll ever have while mother nature lulls you off to wonderland.

Items featured in the video.
Breas Z2 Auto - https://www.apriadirect.com/breas-z2-cpap-portable-travel-auto-cpap-machine
8,000 mAh Lipo Battery - https://hobbyking.com/en_us/zippy-compact-8000mah-4s1p-30c-w-xt90.html
Battery Charger - https://www.amazon.com/Charger-Battery-Balance-Discharger-Adapter
XT90 to XT60 Connector - https://a.co/d/1ji83M3
Battery Checker/Alarm - https://a.co/d/0ajb8mW
Barrel leads - https://a.co/d/eNbDwd3
Hillsound PackStack Pro Storage Cube - https://a.co/d/gZWcDPf

Scott Carroll DIY video - https://youtu.be/HwurfTzRc9I

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#backpackingcpap #sleepgood #sleepapnea #campingsleepapnea