There are a number of excuses that CPAP users have for not remaining compliant to CPAP therapy while traveling, but by informing patients about new devices and relating a handful of useful tips, sleep clinicians can help CPAP patients enjoy a compliant and hassle-free vacation.

Holly Larkin, RPSGT, senior director of marketing and clinical affairs, AEIOMed, Minneapolis, and a CPAP user since 1989, has got traveling with CPAP down to a science. Larkin admits that she was not always compliant when CPAP units were large and cumbersome. "When you went on vacation, you took a CPAP vacation." But times have changed and CPAP has evolved. "CPAP has come so far now that it [travel] has become a different story," she said.

Larkin suggested that sleep clinicians offer the following tips to help CPAP users increase compliance while traveling:

• Inform the airline about using CPAP therapy while onboard.
  It is important to get approval to use the device onboard before arriving at the airport. Many airlines have strict policies regarding using CPAP therapy while in flight, but by calling beforehand, CPAP users can minimize the hassle that is sometimes involved with using a CPAP device while flying.
• Use a battery-powered CPAP device.
  Battery-powered CPAP devices are recommended by Larkin because these devices offer CPAP users access to therapy when power is not readily available. One such system is the AEIOMed Everest® integrated CPAP, a light-weight battery-powered unit. She describes the AEIOMed device as a very small unit developed from the ground up with the thought of using a battery. "It is integrated—the humidifier is placed directly underneath the CPAP, which slides on top of the battery," she said. "It has the ability to be used with a mobile power adapter, and it also has automatic altitude adjustment."
• Bring an extension cord.
  If users don't have access to a battery-powered CPAP device, they may want to bring an extension cord in case the nearest outlet to the bed is out of reach of the cord for the CPAP unit. 
• Travel with extra filters.
  CPAP filters can get dirty, especially in places with poor air quality.
• Simplify CPAP-equipment cleaning.
  Larkin said that it is a good idea for patients to come prepared to clean CPAP equipment. She recommends that CPAP users bring a hanger with a clip on it to help in drying the equipment. "I take a hanger with a clip on it," Larkin said. "I take one of those with me because when you rinse out your hose or your mask, you can clip it to that and put it over the shower bar and let it dry."
• Pack distilled water for humidifiers.
  Keeping a small bottle of distilled water in a container is an easy way for CPAP users to carry along the water needed for humidifiers, Larkin said.

As CPAP therapy advances, and as education of sleep disorders increases, CPAP use while traveling will become easier. Companies like AEIOMed are working to make traveling with CPAP hassle-free. "We really believe that it [skipping CPAP therapy while on vacation] is not an option," Larkin said. "If you are traveling, wherever you are, you really need to be compliant with your therapy. That is why we have designed our product the way we have, and that is why we are being very aggressive in talking with the airlines and talking with the trucking companies and trying to get them to understand that they need to make this [CPAP] as usable and acceptable as possible and not keep [CPAP users] from flying or traveling."