There is a lot of information about sleep apnea.. dealing with your CPAP.. powering your CPAP in the truck.. whether or not you need to use heat/humidification etc.

For more informaiton about sleep apnea you can check the American Sleep Apnea Association web site. they have forums like this but all about sleep apnea.

just remember the answers may not deal with the additional problems we truckers with sleep apnea face.

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Just a truck driver
With Sleep apnea

you can google a search for "portable cpap machines" to find a wide variety of such machines.

I have a cpap machine and it has made a world of difference. I had two studies done, one without a machine and one with the machine. It was a shocking difference between the two studies. In the first study it took me nearly 160 minutes to truly fall asleep and I suffered about 21 apnea episodes per hour. In the second study with the cpap machine, it took 20 minutes to fall asleep and I average only 0.7 apnea episodes per hour. The only thing I didn't like was this sleep center made me take two studies and I have heard many drivers get all of this done in one night. In their cases they were able to determine the driver had sleep apnea and halfway thru put them on the machine. I guess my place does it differently, not sure, but it was a little aggravating to have to go thru two studies.

Looney tune.. what you are talking about is a diagnostic versus a split study (all in one night) versus a titrating study..

There are specific medical parameters on when a split study can be done. Basically they only do the whole thing in one night when the patient has sleep apnea REALLY bad. and they can diagnose it right away.

What you got is actually better for you medically. Now they REALLY know you have sleep apnea.. and they have a whole night to make sure they are using the right pressure. Getting the pressure wrong causes a whole bunch of problems...

Stage0
But.. are the portable battery machine data capable.

FMCSA requires a use compliance data capable machine to keep track of "time on pressure". CMV operators need to average 4 hours a night "on pressure" to be "under current and effective treatment". No current and effective treatment letter from your sleep doc.. no DOT medical card .. no data download from your CPAP no letter...

This thread shows some of the many complexities of dealing with sleep apnea as a commercial motor vehicle operator.

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Just a truck driver
With Sleep apnea

Thanks for posting that, now I understand why they did two studies on me. Makes sense now. Yes the DOT doctor told me minimum of 4 hours per night plus no less than 80 percent usage during the calendar year, which means yeah you can skip a few nights not using the machine but don't make a habit of it. My machine runs off an inverter and it has a downloadable data card. Already sent one printout to the DOT doctor, hence finally getting my physical extended out to a normal 2 year expiration.

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most of the new standard machines will work off 12 volts (lighter plug) and have the data card readers

most of the heated humidifers will not work off 12 volt however

you can get a "passover" humidifier that requires no electricity however but they are not heated