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I keep getting sick
#1
I keep getting sick
For the last 3 months, i've had a cold.  It is not alergies, so please don't suggest that as an answer.  

I typically don't use my ASV when i have a cold.  I have a full face mask and coughing into the mask keeps me awake.  I keep getting over the cold, start using the machine again and i'm sick again.  The last time i got better, i replaced everything, water tank, mask, tube and filters.  ANd the next morning i had a soar throat/post nasal drip again and now i have a cold again.  Is there something i can do the sanitize the machine?  Is there anything i can put in the water tank and turn the machine on to kill germs?  I'm not looking to spend 200 on a SoClean, which i know has lead to some heated debates here, so i'm looking for other solutions.  Like vinigar in the tank or something like that.  I'm open to any ideas.  I want to get back on my machine, but i'm sick of being sick.  HELP!
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#2
RE: I keep getting sick
Of course you can clean your humidifier tank. I use Dawn dish soap, rinse well, then let sit awhile with hot water and vinegar. Wash again, rinse. Never had an issue.
You should clean this at least monthly, change machine filter monthly, also clean or replace the tank and hoses every 6 months to a year.

Why do you feel it's your machine/humidifier making you sick? Have you seen your doctor about your persistent colds, post nasal drip and sore throat?

Just to add, your environment can have an affect on health too. Change the filter on your house furnace, also use an air cleaner if you have one.
OpalRose
Apnea Board Administrator
www.apneaboard.com

_______________________
OSCAR Chart Organization
How to Attach Images and Files.
OSCAR - The Guide
Soft Cervical Collar
Optimizing therapy
OSCAR supported machines
Mask Primer



INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE.  ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA.  INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
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#3
RE: I keep getting sick
I've had this for months. it's like I'm on the verge of a cold with high mucous production, runny or stuffed nose, post nasal drip, coughing, sneezing. but unlike for you, perhaps, it never really turns into a cold, so I assume it has something to do with all that air directed up my nose, hose temp & humidification. except, needs vary through the year & I haven't really figured out best settings. sometimes active humidification seems to help, other times worse with no obvious pattern to follow. so I typically use passive humidification & 76F hose temp. speaking as someone that hasn't solved this problem, all I know to do, maybe you too, is to keep experimenting with humidity & hose temp to see if it helps.
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#4
RE: I keep getting sick
I was wondering if there was anything besides the stuff i can remove, that may need cleaning/sanitizing. If i put vinegar in the water tank and ran the machine, would it damage anything? And would that potentially kill any germs that are in the machine parts i can't remove to clean. That's what i'm wondering about. Not the stuff i can remove and clean, but the rest of the machine.

It's possible that the issue isn't germs in the machine, but i'm starting there. I have 2 young kids, so i get germs from them a lot, but no one but me has been sick in the house for the last few months, so i don't think it's something from them.

The only reason i think it's related to the machine is because i stop using it, get better, start using it again and get sick again. It's happened 3 times now.

If it's not germs, is it possible something else is happening? Like Sheepless mentioned, maybe something to do with the air. But i didn't have this happen for the first year of use. So i didn't think it was just the machine. But who knows.

As for going to the doctor, my wife is one. She said it appears i just have a common cold. But since i keep getting it, after using the machine, i thought there may be germs on the machine that i'm not killing. That was why i put all new stuff on it a few days ago. But then i got sick again.

I just don't know what to do.
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#5
RE: I keep getting sick
I've done cpap a long time. 30+ years. Confession: I'm not good at doing regular cleaning. I'm doing better now with the help of other members here.
I operate my humidifier trying to increase the temperature and humidity as high as I can. I have a heated hose.

My take is that with all that air flowing, I'm better off with the highest humidity I can get. I want the air temperature to be close to body temperature. My thought--just mine--is that my heated hose makes cpap treatment more comfortable and improves my sleep quality. I'm not a doc!

I've used a humidifier with all of my machines. I fill it each night. During the winter I used to run out of water sometime during the night, so I added a humidifier to my central furnace.

I change my furnace air filter roughly every month or two. They're expensive! So I'm inclined to extend the interval. I have a 4" filter on my furnace return. It works well.

I wish you good health! and excellent treatment...I believe that cpap treatment will be improved when there is more attention given to sleep quality by the sleep docs we have. (My new sleep doc actually looked at test results; he increased my pressure stating that I would have more time in deep sleep, and that I need that to restore my old body.)

I use OSCAR--do you? It really helps me! The people here are so helpful!

I've been compliant for 30+ years. My health started to improve when I asked for advice about cpap from the members here.
DaveL
compliant for 35 years /// Still trying!

I'm just a cpap user like you. I don't give medical advice. Seek the advice of a physician before seeking treatment for medical conditions including sleep apnea. Sleep-well

http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php..._The_Guide

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#6
RE: I keep getting sick
(10-16-2019, 11:34 AM)jteetie Wrote: I was wondering if there was anything besides the stuff i can remove, that may need cleaning/sanitizing.  If i put vinegar in the water tank and ran the machine, would it damage anything?  And would that potentially kill any germs that are in the machine parts i can't remove to clean.  That's what i'm wondering about.  Not the stuff i can remove and clean, but the rest of the machine.  

If you put vinegar in the tank and ran the machine, it’s not likely to damage anything, but not likely to clean any better than your own washing routine.

The air only runs one way. In other words, air is filtered from your room through the machines filter into the machine and out through the humidifier into your hose. So putting vinegar in your humidifier and running the machine isn’t going to clean the internal parts of the machine.

Was your machine new when you purchased it? Has it been exposed to any air pollution like smoke or dog or cat hair?
OpalRose
Apnea Board Administrator
www.apneaboard.com

_______________________
OSCAR Chart Organization
How to Attach Images and Files.
OSCAR - The Guide
Soft Cervical Collar
Optimizing therapy
OSCAR supported machines
Mask Primer



INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE.  ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA.  INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
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#7
RE: I keep getting sick
(10-16-2019, 11:34 AM)jteetie Wrote: ...  If i put vinegar in the water tank and ran the machine, would it damage anything? ...

The vinegar won't do what you hope it would do unless you soak most everything in it for a period of time and then rinse thoroughly.  


If you have contaminated surfaces, and I suppose anything is possible (it's plausible, but highly unlikely), the way to disinfect is to clean first, and then disinfect.  Cleaning is done by warm sudsy water, sudsy ammonia, or TSP, and then soak for a brief period with a disinfectant.  I think the cheapest method, that I use, is to use sodium or potassium metabisulphite.  It's a white powder you purchase for pennies at U-Brew places or retailers that sell wine-making kits and paraphernalia.  You slosh and swish the solution in tubes, in the water reservoir, and over and in the mask.  Let sit for 30 seconds, plenty long enough for its lethality to work on viruses, molds, and bacteria.  Then rinse thoroughly.

I don't think your experience has anything to do with molds, viruses, or bacteria.  It's something else, maybe the filter, or some other contaminant, and I do think you're having what amounts to an allergenic response.
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#8
RE: I keep getting sick
Sorry to hear of the challenging time.

Once you have cleaned the machine, hoses, masks well and cleaned and dried or replaced the filters in that machine it really is clean.

1) Air you breath all day can then impact your sleep. Might open windows and turn on fans all day to flush the whole house with fresh air and see if that makes a difference. Run the fan for your HVAC all day then close the windows, turn off the fans and put in new air filters.

2) One fast way to validate the location and cleaning area and air in the room not the problem is to move to another room on the far side of the house for 3 nights and use a different location to clean the machine. And make sure any pets, blankets, pillow cases, etc, EVERYTHING but you and the pap machine are left behind.

If you slept much better in this other room then Yea! It is a location driven problem and now you can find the problem and fix it.

If you slept for three nights after airing the whole house and moving to a completely different room and you still had the same sleeping experience then you have ruled out many, many things it can not be.

WillSleep

INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
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#9
RE: I keep getting sick
Sorry to hear about you being sick. Unless there is an issue that you are not fully aware of, and your CPAP equipment is getting contaminated somehow, I really doubt your illness is due to the CPAP equipment. 

When I first started SA Therapy, I was a stickler for keeping everything clean and sanitary. As the months rolled by, I eased up some. 

My water reservoir gets emptied and dried out each & every morning. My face mask and cushion gets cleaned every other day. I use Clorox anti-bacterial wipes on them. Once a week, the air hose, quiet elbow, and headgear straps get a good soaking and cleaning in hot water and Dawn dish soap. The whole face mask gets a good soaking on Mondays as well. 

I then rinse everything well in hot water. All the parts are then left out all day to air dry. I'm well convinced that I'm keeping my CPAP equipment clean and sanitary. 

I have a dedicated 4-drawer file cabinet on the side of my bed that my CPAP machine rests on. I keep the top of the file cabinet clean and dust free. It does not get cluttered up. And, I don't use a towel or any kind of fabric to place under my machine. Fabric is a dust collector. I do use a drawer liner material that prevents my machine from moving around. It's kind of a gripper material and is easily rinsed with water to clean it. 

I do hope that you get your health issue figured out soon. Best of luck to you!  Smile
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#10
RE: I keep getting sick
You might simply have a chronic sinus infection. These can be incredibly difficult to dislodge because the sinuses include plenty of dark, dank places where germs can form 'reservoirs' of infection. As far as I know, only the right antibiotics taken over a suitably lengthy period, combined with various other 'housekeeping' chores such as (for some people) saline irrigation or decongestants will work.

What does your GP have to say?

If that is indeed the case, you're doing the right thing keeping the machine, hose, mask etc nice and clean. Ensuring the humidification is working properly also helps, because dry nasal passages also increases the chance of infection and reduces the flushing action that mucus normally performs.

On it's own though, if the 'bug reservoir' is in your sinuses, keeping your machine clean won't fix the problem.
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