disinfecting nasal pillows

Perhaps boil the pillows for 5 mins just before gong to bed.

Thanks for that info, though I'm afraid it's too technical to be of much use outside a hospital.

I think I may just have to resign myself to frequent pillow changes.

shaina wrote: ... too technical to be of much use outside a hospital.

I think I may just have to resign myself to frequent pillow changes.

Don't get bogged down in the minutiae of the full document I linked. If anything, pay more attention to the segment dealing with "high level thermal disinfection," it is that section that has the information with the greatest correlation between home and hospital usage. In that section, the recommended practice never brings the mask to the boiling point. At the highest, 194 F, the time at temperature is limited to 1 minute only. In addition, footnotes 4 and 8 establish further limitations in the process. Early on in my PAP experiences I noted some weakening of the interface between the silicone and any hard plastic part of the mask cushion if either boiled for a few minutes or soaked for an extended period in warm soapy water. Most recommendations from manufacturers I have found gave 5 minutes as the cut off point for soaking. I believe it is a softening of the adhesive joining the two dissimilar structures that ultimately contributes to failure of the joint.

Send me a private message.
I have a few Medium P10 nasal pillows I can send your way. Just need to know who and where to send it to.
These are brand new and never used by anyone.

JimW159 wrote:
Don't get bogged down in the minutiae of the full document I linked. If anything, pay more attention to the segment dealing with "high level thermal disinfection," it is that section that has the information with the greatest correlation between home and hospital usage. In that section, the recommended practice never brings the mask to the boiling point. At the highest, 194 F, the time at temperature is limited to 1 minute only. In addition, footnotes 4 and 8 establish further limitations in the process. Early on in my PAP experiences I noted some weakening of the interface between the silicone and any hard plastic part of the mask cushion if either boiled for a few minutes or soaked for an extended period in warm soapy water. Most recommendations from manufacturers I have found gave 5 minutes as the cut off point for soaking. I believe it is a softening of the adhesive joining the two dissimilar structures that ultimately contributes to failure of the joint.

I see' thank you.

Pillows: wash nightly before using (I use Original Dawn), rinse, shake excess water off, spray with 100% vinegar, let sit for about 3 mins, rinse well, let dry.

Hose: make sure you disinfect with a 50:50 white vinegar:water solution (soak, turning so all surface get soaked).

Humidifier tank: If I were you, I'd wash and soak like pillows every night. Use only distilled water OR talk to doc and see if sterile water might be better choice (if go with this, MUST do 15-20 min soak to loosen the mineral deposits, at least once/twice week).

Ask doc to test for vitamin D levels, if not in the optimal range 50-70, start taking 5000IU day of D3 packed with oil. Research taking Beta 1,3 Glucans (comes from oats) to stimulate your immune system, every other day. Good article on things that help with Staph infections: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/20021093/ . I take monolaurin (from coconut oil) whenever I discover I have infection with a pathogen that is lipid-enveloped (google " <bug> + lip-enveloped " to check).