Pain/Infected Submandibular Gland - Not Dumping Out Water

[agrimir]

Hello all!

I've been a CPAP user for the past 12 months. Before my Apnea's were about 100/hr (scary I know), and now with CPAP they are down to 1-2/hr (amazing).

However, I have had a very painful swollen gland on my left side of my neck for the past 8 months, causing me much discomfort and stress. I have seen many Dr's, Dentists (TMJ) and Specialists (ENT) who cannot provide a reason for this.

Today I was reading over my CPAP manual as I was about to clean it and figured I would see if I missed anything by some random chance. Well it turns out I've been doing something very wrong ever since I started.

I fill my machine with distilled water every night, and then the following night when I check it's down to about 1/3 full or so. I have just been pouring new water into the chamber to "top it up", never pouring out the old water from yesterday. The only time I would ever fully dump out the water and clean my reservoir/chamber was once every 2 weeks or so when I would clean my filter, hose and water chamber.

I know now I should be not only cleaning my machine and filter weekly, or sooner, but also to clean my reservoir every single day. Dump out all the water, clean (i'm using Johnson's Baby shampoo), let it dry, and then fill it before bed with fresh distilled water.

I am trying a new round of antibiotics today also to try to tackle this suspected infection, but I wanted to get opinions on how dumb I am for not doing this properly, or being so negligent as to miss this. I have always had a problem with hygiene in general, since I was a little boy ( I am 31 now).

Does this sound like something that could be causing or contributing to my submandibular gland/salivary gland pain/infection? How big of a deal is this revelation I've had?

All thoughts and opinions would be most appreciated as I'm trying to figure out how to get myself out of pain and solve this once and for all.

Thanks for reading!

[kteague]

LOL, you've just opened Pandora's Box. If you search the forum for the word cleaning you'll find out you'll get a spectrum of viewpoints. I'm somewhere in the middle. I tend to give my humidifier the sniff test between changes and cleaning. If I gets the least bit of a moldy smell or if it looks cloudy I'll take care of it. If not, I just top it off. These days I'm needing to change and clean it about every 4-5 days. I start sniffing on the 3rd night. I've had different experiences with 4 different humidifiers tanks over the years. Since no one can really say for sure about your infection in your glands, there's no harm in erring on the side of caution for a while and seeing if your condition changes. Let us know how it goes.

[agrimir]

LOL, you've just opened Pandora's Box. If you search the forum for the word cleaning you'll find out you'll get a spectrum of viewpoints. I'm somewhere in the middle. I tend to give my humidifier the sniff test between changes and cleaning. If I gets the least bit of a moldy smell or if it looks cloudy I'll take care of it. If not, I just top it off. These days I'm needing to change and clean it about every 4-5 days. I start sniffing on the 3rd night. I've had different experiences with 4 different humidifiers tanks over the years. Since no one can really say for sure about your infection in your glands, there's no harm in erring on the side of caution for a while and seeing if your condition changes. Let us know how it goes.

Thank you so much for the reply! I will start being extremely diligent with it and cleaning it every day and hopefully I can notice a difference over the next few weeks, I'll post if I get any updates. This forum is great!

[ChicagoGranny]

submandibular gland/salivary gland pain/infection

Posters here usually get better answers if we can see what equipment you are using, particularly in your case, what mask you are using. Go to the User Control Panel and fill out your equipment profile.

I don't suspect your machine or humidifier cleanliness, or lack of cleanliness, has caused your problem. More than likely it is the pressure of your mask on the area of the gland. This could be caused by sleeping on your side causing the mask to press in on the gland. Or, it could be you have the mask adjusted too tightly.

Of course, it would help if we knew what mask you are using.

[kteague]

submandibular gland/salivary gland pain/infection

Posters here usually get better answers if we can see what equipment you are using, particularly in your case, what mask you are using. Go to the User Control Panel and fill out your equipment profile.

I don't suspect your machine or humidifier cleanliness, or lack of cleanliness, has caused your problem. More than likely it is the pressure of your mask on the area of the gland. This could be caused by sleeping on your side causing the mask to press in on the gland. Or, it could be you have the mask adjusted too tightly.

Of course, it would help if we knew what mask you are using.

Good catch Granny. Wish I'd thought of that.

[agrimir]

I have updated my equipment in my profile, however I did change my mask about 6 months ago. I was wearing a full face mask that had straps going right round where I was having pain. So I switched to a new nose-only mask that doesn't have any straps near my lower face or painful area. Tonight I will try to loosen it up a little and see if I can get away with wearing a looser mask while minimizing leakage. I think I am still at a relatively high pressure, so a tighter mask might be necessary for the short-term (I am on a weight-loss program).

Thanks for the help!

Here is a photo of me wearing the mask, and pointing to where my pain is located.





Edit: For some reason it's not displaying my Machine Info, just my mask + humidifier, so the name of my machine is: REMstar Auto C-Flex CPAP Machine

[chunkyfrog]

I would venture the mask has no connection to the pain/infection.
If you are diabetic, get that under control, whatever it takes.
Ask for tests, referrals, etc, circulation could be a problem.
Doctors are there to HELP you, keep nagging until they do.

[Julie]

I had a couple of short term go-rounds with that in the past, but they cleared up right away with antibiotics (can't remember which now).

[ChicagoGranny]

I would venture the mask has no connection to the pain/infection.

Agreed. Now that we can see the mask does not press in the area of the pain, the mask is not at all likely to be the problem.

Good luck working with the doctor to take care of the problem.

[agrimir]

Thanks for all the replies. I am on day 2 of a 10 day cycle of Ciprofloxacin, so I'm hoping that will help. My Dr. has been very helpful through this whole ordeal, but sometimes things just take longer to get resolved I suppose.

I also have an appointment with a very highly rated ENT in 2 weeks, and my Dr. has ordered a Nuclear Scan in that area which is going to check for any abnormalities.

I had an ultrasound 2 weeks ago that showed some enlarged lymph nodes which he called "abnormal" but nothing that would indicate any lesions/tumors.

My blood work was all perfect (glucose, thyroid, etc) , but my CRP levels were high (excess inflammation in the body).

I have started really only eating clean foods, no more sugars or processed foods (for the most part) and eating lots of fresh vegetables, and staying hydrated. Foods that are good for detoxifying the body and lowering inflammation rates.

I weigh 340 lbs right now, down from my high of 360, and I hope to be under 300 early next year. A long way to go to my goal of 180 but I'm taking it a day at a time.

Hopefully with all these things i'll be doing I'll get to the bottom of this, but as I keep reminding myself, that these are changes that need to be made regardless of my pain situation, these are lifestyles changes and habits that will be the best thing I've ever done for myself.

I lost my Dad to colon cancer at 2 years ago this month and every day I think about how precious life can be.

Best wishes to you all, and if you have any insight into what I could be doing to better my situation, even outside of my sleep condition, that would be most welcome.

Thanks everyone!

- Jimmy

[Dsegraves]

Hi! 6 years later and I’m having a similar issue, how did this work out?

[Julie]

I think that poster's long gone ('15).

[chunkyfrog]

It would have been nice if he had come back to fill us in on the outcome.
Unless he could not . . .