CPAP hose plugs/caps for cleaning purposes

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
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Gryphon
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Re: CPAP hose plugs/caps for cleaning purposes

Post by Gryphon » Tue Apr 24, 2018 9:59 pm

The 3 times with pneumonia was over a 10 year period and only during a bad allergy/sinus infection event. I've also had maybe 2 cases of bronchitis last one being last year.

The "Doctors have my number now" as in I walk in and they look at my file and they usually help me get rid of my sinus infections quickly now instead of letting them progress and resolve on their own. If I don't tackle the sinus infections but let them progress I'll sometimes wind up aspirating some of it and as I said it's no fun. I don't normally get "Sick sick" the times I've had pneumonia were very sudden onset with no previous lower respiratory symptoms just upper. When I got pneumonia it always presented with heavy persistent coughing in the morning with a feeling like water went down the wrong way and then a fever a few days later. The doctors agreed that with the symptoms happening so quickly the only explanation that fit was something inhaled into the lung that caused the infection.

The only thing that fit for me was my CPAP as I never ever stop using it no mater how mucked up my sinuses get. I have a FF Mask so if I can't get air to move through my nose my mouth works just fine.

I've talked with the doctors about my concerns and they don't appear to be too worried about it other then being more aggressive with treating my upper respiratory infections then the average person that walks in the door. I usually get a few each year. Allergies.

Hope that doesn't muddy the waters any. I was just trying to explain that my getting sick was less about any germs that might have been on or in my machine then just the simple fact that the extra pressure appears to change the way I deal with coughing. It may not be an issue with others. It's just my experience.

Ya'll have fun!

Gryphon

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Goofproof
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Re: CPAP hose plugs/caps for cleaning purposes

Post by Goofproof » Tue Apr 24, 2018 10:15 pm

LSAT wrote:
Sun May 21, 2017 8:14 pm
Some people are just looking for something to entertain themselves. First they look for a something to wash the hose with, then something to hold the water in, then some way to dry the hose.......KISS
It would be more productive for them to clean and de-germ their phones and door knobs. Jim
Use data to optimize your xPAP treatment!

"The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease." Voltaire

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Gryphon
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Re: CPAP hose plugs/caps for cleaning purposes

Post by Gryphon » Wed Apr 25, 2018 10:57 am

Sigh.... I really need to get more sleep. I just now noticed the typo that Palerider bolded when he said I should get that treated.... :roll: :roll: :roll:

Hardy har har... :P

Glares at my phone's auto correct. You anoying little pest!!!!

I posted my follow up thinking you were telling me I should talk to a doctor about my cases of pneumonia...

I went back and edited my post to change clap to CPAP and deleted a repeat word.


Hope everyone is doing well.

Gryphon

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palerider
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Re: CPAP hose plugs/caps for cleaning purposes

Post by palerider » Wed Apr 25, 2018 11:26 am

Gryphon wrote:
Wed Apr 25, 2018 10:57 am
Sigh.... I really need to get more sleep. I just now noticed the typo that Palerider bolded when he said I should get that treated.... :roll: :roll: :roll:

Hardy har har... :P

Glares at my phone's auto correct. You anoying little pest!!!!

I posted my follow up thinking you were telling me I should talk to a doctor about my cases of pneumonia...
Well, in all seriousness, there probably should be medical intervention... something beyond just treating the illnesses when they crop up. it's not normal to be getting pneumonia, or even respiratory issues from cpap, otherwise we'd all be coming down sick all the time, especially those of us who gave up rigorous cleaning years ago.

I bought a 10 foot hose about 4 years ago, I haven't changed it., I haven't even moved it since I snaked it into position behind the headboard.

I wipe down my mask cushion to get rid of facial oils, and was the frame now and then, whenever it looks like it needs it due to an unwarranted sneeze or something.

I get sick less often now than I'm on cpap than I did before I started... I think because the filtered air has less allergens and gives my sinuses a rest at night. (I do use an AB filter on the unit, to cut down on stuff that bothers my allergies... maybe that helps).

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Gryphon
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Re: CPAP hose plugs/caps for cleaning purposes

Post by Gryphon » Wed Apr 25, 2018 12:26 pm

I miss my bacteria filter... sigh. When I had my old cpap with out the heated hose I used a separate fisherpical heated humidifier, that thing that sets on the overpriced hotplate. I would leave the built in humidifier on my machine empty and add the AB filter and then run the line through the external humidifier... was awesome. With my current setup I love my heated hose but miss my wet swamp air I got from the Fisher unit. I have this idea for a remote extension or bypass for the heated hose that would extend the electrical contacts to a plane hose coupler so I could go back to using my AB filter and external humidifier. But haven't gotten around to it yet.

What would be really nice would be to modify to air intake to something larger that could accept a hepa cartridge or something better like the AB filter but for now I have to work with what I got.

The idea of using the AB filter further down the line with the humidifier running sounds like a bad idea so I stopped using the AB filters once I upgraded to the ResMed machines...

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esel
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Re: CPAP hose plugs/caps for cleaning purposes

Post by esel » Thu Apr 26, 2018 5:35 am

Gryphon wrote:
Tue Apr 24, 2018 3:45 pm
... I had to clean regularly or my hose and mask would start to look like a petri dish with black mildew growing everywhere ...
Never seen black mildew ! And you can grow it in your CPAP hose ??? Wauuu, if you got downy mildew you should publish right away. Even Nature will accept it !!! I failed badly on that one... Downy mildew it is closer related to algae than to mold. It needs a host and water to reproduce and spread. Zoospores are only released from Sporangia in water. It has two flagella and swims in a thin film of water on the surface of plant leaves.
zoospore.png
Zoospores only attaches near stomates (breathing opening of plants) and on their specific host, germinate and enters through that opening.
zoo-stomate.png
Only after 6 to 8 days the mildew reemerges through the stomates and form a white fluffy cover of sporangiophores.
7dpi.png
If you now keep your hose dry enough for a couple of days AND nights the poor downy mildew will be dead ! It absolutely needs a tiny amount of water to release the zoospores. And even so you may have the water in your lungs, you have not developed stomates. Mildew still has a long way to go to compare it to the bird flu and able to switch host.

On the other hand I do not recommend inhaling it. Some peoples have shown allergic reactions to it.

Well, basically, to make it short :lol: :lol: :lol: I would not submit a proposal with the attempt to grow that mildew in my CPAP hoses.

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Gryphon
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Re: CPAP hose plugs/caps for cleaning purposes

Post by Gryphon » Thu Apr 26, 2018 7:27 am

Was black stuff...

like you see on the shower grout sometimes. It would collect and grow in the lining of my mask and in the covered o2 inputs of my mask. The inside of the hose would develop a dingy film or I could see black stuff forming on the coils in between the translucent plastic on the hose...

I'm as much of a nit pickier as the next scientifically minded person so if it is impossible for what was growing in my mask to be "mildew" then it was most likely mold... what ever it was, it was gross and would turn the ends of the q-tips I used to clean the mask black.

I'm only mentioning my experience. I used the term mildew because that was visually what it looked like. It wasn't furry like actively growing black mold but it looked more like mildew you'd see it a wet shower or bathroom.

If I missed out on discovering a new species of critter. I'm sure I can go back to that house and collect samples and become famos.... :P :P :P

Above the window of my bedroom at that house we had a manmade slate roof that had black stuff and moss growing on it. It was a mansard roof so there was a lot of vertical surface covered in actively growing "nature" that could have been getting sucked into my CPAP machine at night. The house also had crappy windows that didn't seal very well. So there you go.

Also. Thanks for the cool pictures and info. If mildew is always white then it must have been mold... I just grew up thinking of mildew as the blackstuff you always have to clean off the tile in the bathroom... maybe it's always been mold.