Apnea routines

Sleepdeprived · Post by **Sleepdeprived** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 1:34 pm

Reading through various posts I notice many us have an established routine we go through to effectively deal with our osa.

Here mine

I flush my sinuses from either 1 or twice a week to 7 times a week depending on how my nose feels
I wash my cannula daily in castile soap
I soak my whole interface once a week in vinegar
A couple of hours before going to bed if my nose feels stuffy I take
a couple of tynlenol sinus tablets
An hour before bedtime I take a melatonin, wash face and use a breathrite nasal strip
I put the pur sleep in the difuser and set next to cpap machine
before going to bed I use poligrip nasal strips to stop mouth leaks
They work wonderfully
And then I put on my Nasal aire II and sleep
Every morning I download the smartcard data to a computer I have setup only for this purpose
With software help I analyze Ahi's, leaks, apnea duration and total time in apnea

Whats yours ?

Sleepdeprived

TXKajun · Post by **TXKajun** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 3:10 pm

Hmm, I'm a downright minimalist compared to you, Sleepdeprived!

I put water into my humidifier, lay down, read for a few minutes, put PurSleep scent onto the pad, set the alarm clock, put on mask, turn on machine, turn off light and go to sleep. Once in a while, I'll take a melatonin or maybe even one Tylenol PM, but that's about it.

Kajun

drummergirl410 · Post by **drummergirl410** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 4:24 pm

OK, here's mine.

Before Bed routine...

Shower
Meds
Set out what to wear and other needed items for the next day
Read a few minutes
Put water in the humidifier tank
Turn on some music. turn the machine on and the light off, and sleep

In the mornings...
Wake up
Rinse off mask cushion and empty the humidifier tank
Check the date on the LCD screen from that night
Proceed to get ready for work as usual

On Saturdays...
Make up water/vinegar mixture and pour in humidifier to soak
Take apart mask
Wash mask parts in water/baby shampoo in a plastic container
Let soak about 15 minutes
Rinse mask parts off, rinse and dry the plastic container, put towel in it and lay mask parts in the container to dry on the towel
Empty vinegar/water mixture from humidifier tank
Rinse humidifier tank thoroughly with just water
Put mask parts and humidifier tank away to dry
Before bed on Saturday, reassemibe the mask

That's pretty much it.

Sleepdeprived · Post by **Sleepdeprived** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 4:27 pm

[quote="TXKajun"]Hmm, I'm a downright minimalist compared to you, Sleepdeprived!

I put water into my humidifier, lay down, read for a few minutes, put PurSleep scent onto the pad, set the alarm clock, put on mask, turn on machine, turn off light and go to sleep. Once in a while, I'll take a melatonin or maybe even one Tylenol PM, but that's about it.

Kajun

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 4:33 pm

SleepDeprived... That list is such a turn on, I can barely contain myself.

Sorry... It's just funny to me.

I'm pretty lazy about it all. My routine is to go swallow my handful of vitamins and pain killers, pop two Benadryl, contemplate washing my face (sometimes I actually do), strip down, put on the minky bedjacket (OO! Silky!), check to make sure there's water in the HH, put out the PurSleep, and mask up. I then lay in bed and read until my eyes start closing. Then I take off the bedjacket, turn out the light, and roll over and hit the zzzzz's.

I only wash my cannula once a week. I wash my HH and tubes whenever it feels like I ought to. Right now that's about once every two weeks. In the colder season, daily washing of the cannula is impractical, since it won't dry by bedtime. And I've found I don't need to wash it more than once a week for my comfort and sealing.

I wash the big hose whenever I feel like it. I think the last time was a month ago. Probably once a month is good for me.

Cheers,
Babs

Sleepdeprived · Post by **Sleepdeprived** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 4:39 pm

[quote="Anonymous"]SleepDeprived... That list is such a turn on, I can barely contain myself.

Sorry... It's just funny to me.

I'm pretty lazy about it all. My routine is to go swallow my handful of vitamins and pain killers, pop two Benadryl, contemplate washing my face (sometimes I actually do), strip down, put on the minky bedjacket (OO! Silky!), check to make sure there's water in the HH, put out the PurSleep, and mask up. I then lay in bed and read until my eyes start closing. Then I take off the bedjacket, turn out the light, and roll over and hit the zzzzz's.

I only wash my cannula once a week. I wash my HH and tubes whenever it feels like I ought to. Right now that's about once every two weeks. In the colder season, daily washing of the cannula is impractical, since it won't dry by bedtime. And I've found I don't need to wash it more than once a week for my comfort and sealing.

I wash the big hose whenever I feel like it. I think the last time was a month ago. Probably once a month is good for me.

Cheers,
Babs

SleepingBeauty · Post by **SleepingBeauty** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 6:38 pm

At night, I typically wash my face, put some conditioner on the ends of my hair and wrap it up into a top knot. I take my night-time pills, I put my Pur Sleep on the pad, fill the humidifier, and go to sleep.

In the morning, I remove the humidifier and empty it, setting it on a towel to dry. I take the nasal part of the mask into the shower with me to clean it and set it on the towel next to the humidifier.

I have only been doing a vinegar cleaning on my hose/mask once a week.

Now, as of yesterday, I have my first illness since beginning CPAP. I have a nasty sore throat and have been coughing up a storm. I don't know what the best form of degerming my equipment should be. I don't want to make this illness linger any longer than usual by poor mask hygine.

Should I be doing a vinegar treatment daily while I'm sick? Can cold cooties get into the hose and live in the moisture? I wash the nasal interface every day in soap - that should kill any germs, shouldn't it?

Babette · Post by **Babette** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 7:09 pm

Hey, I'm no expert. Wash everything daily, do a vinegar soak. Can't hurt.

ColdEeze, echinacea, and Airborne. And lots of hot buttered rum and a good dirty novel.

Works for me!!!

Hugs,
Babs

drummergirl410 · Post by **drummergirl410** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 9:02 pm

I had a cold this time last week. I ended up taking the lazy way for cleaning. I waited until I though I had turned the corner and was getting better and then cleaned everything really well. It's been a week today and I'm viirtually back to normal. And I'm due for the weekly cleaning tomorrow.

Haven't cleaned the hose yet. Probably should pretty soon.. The cleaning schedule from my DME said to clean it "as needed". I examine it regularly to be sure all is well and so far it has. But it couldn't hurt to clean it.

kteague · Post by **kteague** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 10:48 pm

Nightly:
Step 1) Top off humidifier.
Step 2) Turn off TV
Step 3) Prepare Pur_Sleep
Step 4) Sit on edge of bed and mask up
Step 5) Lay down and be asleep in about a minute
Step 6) Repeat Steps 4 and 5 every hour or so till giving up for the night

Weekly:
Clean humidifier and allow to dry, unless there's no visible floaties, in which case it may be moved to biweekly.

Monthly:
Clean hose (maybe, maybe not)

I was diligent about cleaning after a cold though.

Kathy

lilsheba · Post by **lilsheba** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 11:27 pm

Ok here we go:

Mornings: Wash the mask and the routine depends on which mask I'm washing, I have 3 I can rotate around now. Take hose off machine, hang to dry. Take humidifier out and dump water, let air dry. Unplug machine. Do a sinus rinse.

Nights: Do a sinus rinse. Wash face, brush teeth so I can live with my own breath LOL. Make sure I have enough distilled water in my jug I keep in the bedroom. Put water in the humidifier, put back in machine. Plug hose back in, get mask together and put on hose as well. Plug in machine. Put pur-sleep together and set behind machine. If I'm using the Mirage Swift II I put on the nasal gel and tape on my mouth, mask up, turn on tv, make sure morning alarms are on, and doze in in less than 10 minutes. If I'm using the Comfort Select I skip the gel but still use the tape. If I'm using the Comfort Full 2 I skip the gel and tape. Wake up between 3:30 and 4:30

Weekends: I wash the hose, wash the humidifier and mask and set them all out to dry. I wash the headgear and pad a cheeks about once a month. Every week I change out the course filter and wash that. I change out the fine filter monthly.

Mind you this is all stuff I didn't have to do 3 months ago. Funny how life changes.

msheda · Post by **msheda** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 8:07 pm

Wow, I feel lazy.

Night: Fill HH, put on mask, sleep. (occasionally drop some Pur Sleep when I feel like it)

Morning: Wipe mask with Citrus Wipes
http://www.citrusmagic.com/cgi-bin/cate ... =635871639

Once a month wash the Headgear.

Every 2 weeks or so Change Filters.

lilsheba · Post by **lilsheba** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 8:18 pm

msheda wrote:Wow, I feel lazy.

Night: Fill HH, put on mask, sleep. (occasionally drop some Pur Sleep when I feel like it)

Morning: Wipe mask with Citrus Wipes
http://www.citrusmagic.com/cgi-bin/cate ... =635871639

Once a month wash the Headgear.

Every 2 weeks or so Change Filters.

As well you should!! HEhehehe just kidding

TXKajun · Post by **TXKajun** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 9:01 pm

[quote SleepDeprived]

HMMM,

Well I see you have the software so I'll bet you have been sneaking glances at your Ahi's and leaks

Sleepdeprived
[/quote]

Busted!!

But, I gotta confess, the software and my little PB 420e/UMFF combo have gotten me from an AHI of 105 2 1/2 years ago (untreated) to a current AHI of <2.0 routinely with lots of AI=0 nights. So I ain't gonna complain!

Kajun

Francis · Post by **Francis** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 10:23 pm

I clean the hose and mask weekly:

I soak the hose with diluted Clorox (about 1 part Clorox with 50 to 100 parts of water) for about 20 to 30 minutes then rinse it with tap water then hang it to dry.

For the mask, I hand wash it with dish detergent first then soak it with diluted Clorox for 20 to 30 minutes. After that, I rinse it with tap water and put it on the counter to air dry it.

P.S. I soak the hose and mask seperately with clean diluted Colorx.

Mask

Additional Comments: Also using: 1. Pad A Cheek head gear covers. 2. Respironics comfort select nasal mask. 3. Pur-Sleep aromatherapy. Pressure 16 straight CPAP.

Apnea routines

Apnea routines

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