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CPAP use for Coronavirus mitigation & severe pneumonia
RE: CPAP use for Coronavirus mitigation & severe pneumonia
So I have been brainstorming about this very thing for two days now, and I am setting up a few things.
1. Telemedicine with my provider so I can have them increase the pressure remotely if it’s needed ——and it probably will and I cannot do that myself on either my Resmed nor my Phillips.
2. Currently it is at about max ppv of 11 but can go higher.
3. Since I’ve heard that my machine can aerosolize the highly contagious virus I plan to isolate in a separate room possibly even within that room in a small tent so as to reduce exposing others.  Would a fan to the outside or a vacuum cleaner help but if so they are loud and the motors run hot.
WISH vacuum manufacturers could sell us machines where we adjust the pressure to very low.
4. Lastly I’m cleaning my machine more often —yeah I am guilty of not doing enough.    And trying to stock up on distilled water —-this is a problem I wanted to solve ASAP .
We will be using our CPAP machines so let’s optimize how best to do it.  Dying is less likely when we all brainstorm a solution so let’s go forward with that CAN DO spirit!   Let’s fight to win this battle!
RE: CPAP use for Coronavirus mitigation & severe pneumonia
I also recently purchased a pulse oximeter to monitor O2 levels.
RE: CPAP use for Coronavirus mitigation & severe pneumonia
Hi Zigiapnea, a few questions / comments if you don't mind.

1. You say you can't adjust the pressure on your machines. Do you mean you can't do that now (it's easy) or are you looking a a hypothetical situation where you might be incapacitated?

4. Distilled water - you know that ordinary tap water is fine for your machine? Despite the manufacturers' instructions, many of our members have quite happily been using tap water for years. If you get a mineral buildup it's easily removed with vinegar, but you probably won't be worrying too much about that in the worst case scenario.
RE: CPAP use for Coronavirus mitigation & severe pneumonia
Seems to me my doc has to adjust the settings for pressure on my Phillips Dreamstation.
RE: CPAP use for Coronavirus mitigation & severe pneumonia
yep, that is the way it is, but mine work just fine for me.

I would not do that if your supplied by the VA, they will discontinue you if they find out, they warned me about it.
RE: CPAP use for Coronavirus mitigation & severe pneumonia
(03-24-2020, 06:42 AM)andyed671 Wrote: Thank you for this thread. You're providing guidance I can't seem to find anywhere else. You are very close to answering the questions I most want answered, but we're not quite there, so here goes... 

Given the following scenario:
-- I'm quarantined in my house with my wife—just the two of us
-- Hospitals are overwhelmed and ventilators are out of the question
-- Either my wife or I (or both) contract the virus and are in respiratory distress

Under such circumstances here are the big questions:

-- Will using a CPAP machine help someone in respiratory distress, including my wife, a non-user of CPAP? (I'm hearing YES, It's better than nothing. Correct?)

-- Will using a CPAP machine increase the danger to the other person in the house, due to aerosolization of the virus? If so, can anything be done about this? (Staying in different rooms or on different floors? Adapting a SoClean to reduce aerosolization? Using a fan? )

I'm not looking for medical advice or sure things, just some practical ways to stay alive in dire circumstances.
RE: CPAP use for Coronavirus mitigation & severe pneumonia

.docx   Cpap virus thread 032520.docx (Size: 17.75 KB / Downloads: 14)

I'm encouraged by the info I'm getting here, but I'm trying to get it verified by the medical community. I've messaged the relevant parts of yesterday's thread to my pulmonologist's mailbox, but no reply thus far. It would be great to get a stay-at-home protocol for CPAP users who can't get into a hospital.

I'm attaching a thread recap (Word doc) here in case anyone can send to a doctor for an opinion and/or guidance.
RE: CPAP use for Coronavirus mitigation & severe pneumonia
Just an observation:
Last year my son was hospitalized with (among other things) pneumonia.

He was ventilated for a number of days, and this was followed by a number of days on low level oxygen.

They felt his normal use of his cpap should be continued so they modified the tubing to allow the oxygen to flow through his cpap machine.
RE: CPAP use for Coronavirus mitigation & severe pneumonia
(03-23-2020, 04:52 AM)Nito Wrote: Supersleeper and everybody please have a look at this from the north of Spain:

https://www.diariovasco.com/sociedad/res...e=M3Vib3o0

Attached is a translation of the Spanish document.  Translator was Miscosoft Word so it is not professional. 
Not terribly revealing as the methodology has been discussed in this thread.  Just provided for full disclosure.
Thinking-about
.docx   Spanish trans.docx (Size: 161.72 KB / Downloads: 8)
RE: CPAP use for Coronavirus mitigation & severe pneumonia
I have found that the insurance, DME, and doc do not care if I adjust my machine myself. I've read of others here on AB working with the VA that do their own adjustments with no issues.

To prove to them I have reasons to do these adjustments, I use OSCAR to chart what my therapy looks like. I can point to OSCAR and say "doc this is why I adjusted EPAP, PS, IPAP, etc. My chart showed this event and/or I had a symptom of ABC, and when I adjusted XYZ, here's the results, this event went down, I felt better..." Something like that anyway.

The problem with relying on someone else to adjust the machine settings is twofold. One they may not be available to adjust for you in an emergency/dire need situation. Second is time based. If you need an adjustment, you can ask the remote party to do it, sending a request to doc, who has to write a new script to allow the adjustment, which may take days or weeks to accomplish. OR you can access the clinical mode and make the adjustment in about 10 seconds.
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEBSITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.


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