dirty filter cause headaches?

[newname]

snoozie: when you say you feel out of it, do you mean spacey? I have days when I feel spacey and irritable and never associated it with the filter, on these days I can't think straight.

[PAPpaw]

too dry or too warm/wet could cause sinus issues leading to a headache. Dirty filter can cause drop in performance of pap unit--you may not be getting your set pressure--leading to headache or return of other symptoms.

[newname]

Maybe those of you who say you don't change your filters often are better housekeepers than me. I thought because medicare allows 2 white disposable filters each month we were supposed to change them every 2 weeks and wash the foam filter at the same time???

I think there should be cpap training as to hows and whys of using the equipment. I can't even get a proper mask fitting. I've tried to many!!


The last sleep study I had the technician said she had no previous training. The Sleep Center hired her and then trained her. This makes me very concerned. Shouldn't the people doing the sleep study be respiratory therapist?? I know in most hospitals the study is done by a respiratory therapist. Shouldn't there also be a person someplace, somewhere who knows how to fit people for masks??

I've been going through this for five years and have used 3 different DME's and still no luck.

[Snoozie]

snoozie: when you say you feel out of it, do you mean spacey? I have days when I feel spacey and irritable and never associated it with the filter, on these days I can't think straight.

Yes, I definitely feel spacey, with a weird type of headache and more tired than usual. Once the filter is changed I definitely feel better the next day. Very noticable. Also feel the same way if I have a mask leak or my tape comes loose and I mouth breathe, but I always know when that happens.

I have been doing this long enough to know if I have that "feeling" to check the filter and it us usually gray looking compared to a new one. I try and change once a month also, if not sometimes sooner. I am picky about it, but I do occasionally forget and pay the price.

[BlackSpinner]

BlackSpinner: I have reason to believe I am a mouth breather, but the sleep lab keeps saying I'm not. How do I get an accurate sleep study?

Ignore the sleep lab, they saw you for a few hours only. Start treating reality, take charge. Chin strap and or full face mask.
What happens too is that your mind accepts cpap therapy and you relax more deeply after time. This can happen over a few weeks time so the sleep lab never saw you fully relaxed and deeply asleep.

Maybe those of you who say you don't change your filters often are better housekeepers than me.

Where you live makes a difference too. Dry places are more dusty, so is a construction zone. And then there are pets. I swear that dog and cat should be bald by now!

[Guest]

TYVM you've solved all my poreblms

[Guest]

AFAIC that's the best anwesr so far!

[Geraldine]

If not for your writing this topic could be very convotlued and oblique.

[Humid headache]

Your cpap filter should be changed if it is dirty. It is not letting the proper amount of air in when it is dirty, and it is putting more particles in the air you are breathing because it is dirty and not filtering properly. A dirty filter will also put strain on the rest of the machine.

Your headaches are probably being cause by a combination on a dirty cpap filter and a dirty humidifier. Bacteria can collelct in abondance and be dispersed through the humidifier. My humidifier's instructions say to clean and change the filter once a month.

[DannyPh]

I Buy my white Filters off of E Bay. Cheapest I have found. an Get twelve filters for around $ 7.00

[RocketGirl]

One of the things about particulate filters of any kind is that if they get so clogged that air cannot go through them, then air will just go around them, unless they're mounted in a special airtight mounting to prevent that. The filters used in CPAPs aren't in such a mounting (I've only ever seen those mountings on the filters for laboratory clean rooms).

So having really dirty filters on your CPAP essentially means that you are breathing air that is bypassing your filter entirely. You are breathing completely unfiltered air, with all that that implies about dust, pet dander, and so forth.

[ywp]

The filter is to protect the machine not to provide you filtered air. You breath unfiltered air all day and all your life.Your body comes with it own filtering equipment. The machine has high speed moving parts close together. A hair or particle can drag on fan shrouds, shafts, bearings and wear seals. You car engine, dryer, etc. need filters. They are a "coarse" filter Sunlight will pass thu.

The pore size of these is too large to provide much "filtering". But if you make them ultra white it is easy to scare people and create a nice recurring income stream. I get 3 months or more out of mine and could get a lot more.

If you got down to the micron scale the filter would have to be 10 times larger and sealed with a bypass valve to prevent suffocation. Like an OSHA dust mask. And would never be approved on a medical device

[RocketGirl]

The filter is to protect the machine not to provide you filtered air. You breath unfiltered air all day and all your life.Your body comes with it own filtering equipment. The machine has high speed moving parts close together. A hair or particle can drag on fan shrouds, shafts, bearings and wear seals. You car engine, dryer, etc. need filters. They are a "coarse" filter Sunlight will pass thu.

Fair point that the main reason for filtering is to protect the machine - the manual for my Respironics cautions that dirty filters will lead to excessively high operating temperatures for the device.

However, if you filter crud out for the machine's sake, it is also crud that you are not breathing, crud that is not being delivered directly to your nose, sinuses, and lungs at pressures above normal atmospheric pressure. For those of us with allergies or other breathing issues, it matters.

I look forward to masking up at night because I know that within a few minutes, my daily congestion will clear and I'll breathe freely as long as I have the mask on. I keep my filters scrupulously clean for this reason - I really like breathing freely, and clean filters are a cheap way to accomplish that.

[archangle]

There's probably some immediate allergy benefit to the filter, sort of like a good air filter in the room, but better.

If you allowed crud to build up in the machine, even without problems for machine operation, it might provide a place for molds or other stuff to grow that would shed spores or other irritants into the air stream. Or it might simply stink.

[Guest...Riorican]

Maybe those of you who say you don't change your filters often are better housekeepers than me. I thought because medicare allows 2 white disposable filters each month we were supposed to change them every 2 weeks and wash the foam filter at the same time???

What foam filter? I only knew about the white one. Are there two different filters on my S9? Talk about needing to change a filter!