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[Treatment] May be Too Late for Me Too
#81
RE: May be Too Late for Me Too
I'd be wondering about metal reactions (circuits) with the ozone.
                                                                                                                          
Note: I'm an epidemiologist, not a medical provider. 
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#82
RE: May be Too Late for Me Too
Good to hear from you again, glad you are still hanging in there.
I would doubt that you will get a positive result from contacting the manufacturer. Perhaps they have studied it, but I would doubt that. I they have not studied it, I doubt that they would tell you to go ahead and use it. Product liability issues. Unless they are 100% sure AND want to stand behind it, they will say no.

Pretty sure the SoClean uses ozone (activated oxygen, O3), if so I would trust that they know if it would damage the machine. If you are interested in using a SoClean IMHO they have been around long enough that I would trust them to not damage my machine.. Then again I would not use their product unless I had an unusual situation and needed to be extra, extra careful about lung infections. IMHO general cleaning of the equipment is good enough (again many years of use by so many people would have shown if there was a problem, in general)

The only metal reaction might be the motor shaft and that should be stainless. Pretty sure that some plastics break down in ozone.
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#83
RE: May be Too Late for Me Too
Hey Tubaman, good to see you back. You will have to sit down and let us know what ended up working for you, and hopefully that will benefit someone else in the future. With regard to ozone cleaners, most of the comments simply relate to a relatively high cost and lack of discernible benefit. If you want to use one, there is certainly no problem with that. The people who buy these things tend to justify their use and expense. That results in some defensive discussion when they try to persuade us non-believers in the benefits of a $300 machine whose function is better performed by simple cleaning. Good luck.
Sleeprider
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#84
RE: May be Too Late for Me Too
I also am glad to here you are doing better and have taken more control with improvement. The bodies healing takes time and needs that oxygen. I have a question for you, can I PM a note to you ?

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#85
RE: May be Too Late for Me Too
Do look for the SoClean threads here on the forum. There are strong opinions that "it's hokum" and others that "it seems worthwhile to me". Reviews I read when contemplating the device (perhaps on Amazon), also worried that the ozone would or did damage things internal to the machine. Soft plastifcs in there? I forget. But keep researching, and check for that brand name too.

PS Yes, I'm glad to hear that you are seeing improvement!! Yay!
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#86
RE: May be Too Late for Me Too
Hello,
AHI and %SpO2 Improvements:
I will try to answer the request that I describe the method(s) I used to try to determine the optimum settings for my APAP & Oxygen assist system. Actually there is no real method to it, more like trial and error, I think. I’m sorry it has taken me so long to answer this request but I didn’t know how to describe what I tried to do – and somehow got lucky (I think) with obtaining somewhat consistent improvements in my AHI and %SpO2 levels that have survived for a while.

I was having trouble getting acceptable results with my AHI and %SpO2 measurements. It seemed as if I would modify either the APAP pressures or the oxygen flow rate (each separately), I might get a slight improvement in the one I modified but no improvement (sometimes worse) in the other. After several attempts to adjust one or the other (or both at the same time), I finally sat down and started studying the results I was getting. I had been making these adjustments since last August so the data was in SH along with a record of what and when I made any adjustment to the APAP settings. I had also (usually) tried to enter any changes to the oxygen flow rate in the SH notes section. I noted when one adjustment seemed to improve one of the results (AHI or %SpO2 levels) even slightly. I kept going over and over the data until I noticed a trend, no matter how slight, for any adjustment I made (not the kind of “trending” being shown on TV for various new products, dances, etc., which I think may be a misuse of the word “trend”). I recorded information about these occurrences, and there were not many, when I thought they happened. In the end I tried to make combined adjustments based on the setting adjustments for each system (CPAP and oxygen) that seemed to indicate positive results in AHI & %SpO2 levels. From that I tweaked each setting a tiny bit to see if I could improve results without negatively affecting either AHI or %SpO2 results – I was successful but it took several attempts while closely watching SH data and %SpO2 data for each sleep session.

It took lots of time and patience as frequently something didn’t work or actually made things worse. I don’t think I can give a step-by-step procedure because when it came down to it, it was mostly trial and error with lots of constant data observation and review of old data. Also, I tried to keep in mind the excellent information I had learned from the many postings in this forum about settings that had worked for some folks. I tried to apply the experience of others to my adjustments so I, at least, made semi-intelligent ‘guesses’ instead of completely ignorant guesses. I do not know if I can call what I did any kind of a method because it seemed to be mostly a random procedure and trying to identify what might work and what might not work. I wish I had something better to offer but I don’t.

SoClean Ozone (“activated oxygen”) Sterilizer (maybe):
After reading over a large number of comments, some quite detailed, I found on the web site of one large retailer of this system, I went ahead and purchased a SoClean unit. I have started using it but I have qualms about whether it actually does anything. So far, it has not hurt anything (I hope) and is OK as far as odors (some folks complained about residual odors). Since I’ve had a lot of difficulty getting my %SpO2 levels up, probably due to my having had pneumonia 3 times in my life (which I understand only one episode can damage lungs), I don’t wish to take any chances on getting any further infections of any type. I’m hoping the SoClean ozone sterilization will help. I feel the proper precautions should keep it from doing anything bad (I hope I’m right).

A few comments about the SoClean system: It does not clean anything. It can be set for any time between 5 min. to 12 min. All it does (assuming it does) is kill organisms (virus, bacteria, etc.). Any residue (A.K.A. crud) in your CPAP/APAP system will not be removed. What might happen is that the ozone will react with some of the crud and possibly produce some toxic crud that is actually more harmful that what was already there. This is why it’s necessary to clean (soap & water, vinegar, etc.) all the surfaces that the ozone may come in contact with before using the system (SoClean supplies a bottle of cleaner). That way the only contaminants should be the living organisms which the ozone should kill.

Another concern is that the ozone may eventually harm internal components of the CPAP/APAP machine if allowed to get inside the machine each time the SoClean (or other system) is run. In this case I found suggestions for plugging the port in the humidifier reservoir (or the CPAP/APAP’s exit port) to keep the ozone from entering the machine. Some of the folks were using some kind of modified corks, rubber plugs, etc., to achieve the plugging necessary. Some others had spare reservoirs that they used to pipe the ozone through the hose and mask without exposing the CPAP/APAP machine at all. This depends on the configuration of the machine, however (some, like my machine) might not work because of the reservoir configuration. I am using a plug that I think is keeping the ozone out of my machine.

Some folks have developed irritation in their throats / lungs after using the machine for a few months. I have a lot of concern about this since I’ve only used it for a few days (no ill effects so far). If something does start bothering me, I will certainly post a description on this forum. I am trying to assure no ozone remains in my APAP system by allowing the mask to thoroughly air out after the ozone cycle and running my APAP in the ‘Mask Fit’ setting for several seconds to blow out any residual ozone in my hose.

Another topic that I could not find addressed in any comments, reviews, etc., was what to do to keep the oxygen concentrator from getting ozone inside. When I run the SoClean ozone generator I have been placing a clamp on the soft clear oxygen tubing feeding into my APAP’s hose which should be adequate. Also, this tubing is quite long so any ozone getting by the clamp probably would be very little and have a long way to go before reaching the oxygen concentrator.

I cannot think of anything more to add so I shall end this posting. Once again, Thank You (all of you) for all the help you have given me this past 6 months!

Tubaman (Carl)
"We run as fast as we can.  To get as far as we can.  So that when we finally get there we have that much further to run to get back to where we should have been."
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#87
RE: May be Too Late for Me Too
How are you ? What are the improvements that have taken place with your efforts. Thanks for your information you have changed from asking to giving. like That is how we all learn, from each other.

Sleep-well

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#88
RE: May be Too Late for Me Too
Mr. kwhenrykerr:
You asked what improvements I've had since I started major tweaking of my APAP machine and my oxygen concentrator. I am now holding my %SpO2 average to be around 91.5% to 93% and my AHI hasn't exceeded 3 in a long time. For me, that is OK considering how bad they were when I first started with APAP therapy last June. I'm sorry I missed your question, I guess I'm not very observant at times.

I do have a question:
I am able to upload my oximeter data to SH (the upgraded version that installed itself today), however, the oximeter chart(s) always get inserted into the previous day's data. This also happened with the previous SH revision. After much thought, I think this is due to SH being unable to deal with my sleep times (usually from around 0300 to 1100). Most people go to bed before midnight one day and get up in the morning the next day. SH inserts the data in the previous day's start-up and with the 'normal' sleep times, it winds up in the proper SH data. Since all my sleep happens in one day, my oximeter data winds up in my previous day's data which is incorrect.

I think SH defines the oximetry syncing process (as it affects the above problem) in one statement in the SH help -> oximetry page:

"The serial import process takes the starting time from last nights first CPAP session." In my case it should allow taking the starting time and end time from the same night's first CPAP session (because my CPAP data all occurs during the same date).

Does anybody have any thoughts? I hope my explanation makes sense. If not, please let me know and I will try to explain it again, somehow.

Thank you!
Tubaman
"We run as fast as we can.  To get as far as we can.  So that when we finally get there we have that much further to run to get back to where we should have been."
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#89
RE: May be Too Late for Me Too
I think you have it figured out correctly re sleep time and import offset. I know you can "shift" the oximeter data to align it, I just don't know how far you can offset it by.

so good to hear that you are doing so much better!
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#90
RE: May be Too Late for Me Too
Hello PoolQ!
Thank you. I only hope I am getting better since I have much, much more to learn about sleep apnea and PAP therapy (& oxygen assist in my case).

Question:
SH has one apnea event definition listed as "Clear Airway". ResScan and others refer to a "Central Apnea". I've compared a few of my SH and ResScan reports and "Clear Airway" & "Central Apnea frequently are close in value.

Can somebody tell me if the two (above) terms mean the same thing (or are closely related)?

I sometimes have SH "Clear Airway" values of around .1 to .5. Is this something I should be concerned about (since "Central Apnea" is considered serious)?

Thank you!
Tubaman
"We run as fast as we can.  To get as far as we can.  So that when we finally get there we have that much further to run to get back to where we should have been."
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