n00b Questions: Swallowing Air? Emptying Humidifer?

[motopolitico]

I just had my second night on CPAP and I think I swallowed a bunch of air last night [burp]. Anybody out there know how to combat this? I've read through the lengthy debate on whether or not to empty the humidifier, and have concluded that I want to empty mine every night. My question is not should I, but, How do I get the last bits of water out? I can get all but a tablespoon of water out of the thing. Anybody have any tricks with the Fisher and Paykel unit?

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): humidifier, fisher and paykel, CPAP

[Wulfman]

I just had my second night on CPAP and I think I swallowed a bunch of air last night [burp]. Anybody out there know how to combat this? I've read through the lengthy debate on whether or not to empty the humidifier, and have concluded that I want to empty mine every night. My question is not should I, but, How do I get the last bits of water out? I can get all but a tablespoon of water out of the thing. Anybody have any tricks with the Fisher and Paykel unit?

Do a "Search" (top of the page) on "aerophagia" and you'll have lots of reading. There are lots of options to getting rid of it and some things work for some folks and some don't.

As far as the emptying the humidifier......I can't help you. I very seldom dump mine.....just keep adding water. But, I think you're going to unnecessary extremes with it though. It WON'T hurt you.....it's distilled water. Nothing's growing in it and if it could, it can't get transported to your body from the humidifier anyway.

Den

[Goofproof]

As far as getting every drop of water out of a HH, are you afraid you are going to contaminate the distilled water, with distilled water? Jim

I drain mine every 4 days, flush it with tap water (chlorine), and drain and refill with distilled water, a few drops of clean water has never killed me, yet.

[motopolitico]

As far as getting every drop of water out of a HH, are you afraid you are going to contaminate the distilled water, with distilled water? Jim

One thing I mis-stated about wanting to change the water is that I wanted to empty it every night. Working 3rd shift will do that to you. What I meant to say is that I want to empty it every day and let it dry.

Look, I admit that most of you will find my point of view on this a bit quirky. I'll admit to being a germophobe. I am not sitting in judgement on you folks for the way you do the things you do. I want to do all I can to prevent mold or bacterial spores from finding a warm moist place to do their thing.

The filter on every CPAP I've seen is nowhere near fine enough to stop airborne spores, and nearly all of them have a significant amount of bypass in their designs, to allow flow. About all they're good for is catching dust. I acknowledge that Distilled water means that spores will have a tough time finding nutrients to "eat".

Out of a sense of prudence, not a sense of fear, I want to use more than one means to protect myself here, so by using distilled water (which is primarily for the purpose of preventing the buildup of scale) and emptying and drying it every day, and washing it in mild soap as necessary, I guess I am like the guy who uses his seatbelt even though his car has airbags.

Odds are strongly in favor of me not even having a collision each time I get in my car. I don't believe it is out of fear that I wear a seatbelt, but out of prudence. I don't look down on people who decide to take the calculated risk of not wearing a seat belt. I don't look down on people who decide to take the calculated risk of never washing their humidifier. I simply recognize that no matter how small, I do not wish to expose myself to that risk at this time.

Oh, and thanks for the advice on aerophagia.

[roster]

I have the same machine and integrated humidifier. I started out just like you - drying out the humidifier each morning and washing it and rinsing with distilled water every few days.

I got over this and now go for weeks without emptying the humidifier and months without washing it.

There is only one way that I know to get all the water out of the tank: dump all you can and shake it upside down and then place it back in the machine and let the machine and heat run for about ten minutes. That will dry it out completely, however, it may seriously reduce the life of your machine and tank because the machine is running at maximum air flow and the tank is overheating.

BTW, I wear seat belts.

[Wulfman]

As far as getting every drop of water out of a HH, are you afraid you are going to contaminate the distilled water, with distilled water? Jim

One thing I mis-stated about wanting to change the water is that I wanted to empty it every night. Working 3rd shift will do that to you. What I meant to say is that I want to empty it every day and let it dry.

Look, I admit that most of you will find my point of view on this a bit quirky. I'll admit to being a germophobe. I am not sitting in judgement on you folks for the way you do the things you do. I want to do all I can to prevent mold or bacterial spores from finding a warm moist place to do their thing.

The filter on every CPAP I've seen is nowhere near fine enough to stop airborne spores, and nearly all of them have a significant amount of bypass in their designs, to allow flow. About all they're good for is catching dust. I acknowledge that Distilled water means that spores will have a tough time finding nutrients to "eat".

Out of a sense of prudence, not a sense of fear, I want to use more than one means to protect myself here, so by using distilled water (which is primarily for the purpose of preventing the buildup of scale) and emptying and drying it every day, and washing it in mild soap as necessary, I guess I am like the guy who uses his seatbelt even though his car has airbags.

Odds are strongly in favor of me not even having a collision each time I get in my car. I don't believe it is out of fear that I wear a seatbelt, but out of prudence. I don't look down on people who decide to take the calculated risk of not wearing a seat belt. I don't look down on people who decide to take the calculated risk of never washing their humidifier. I simply recognize that no matter how small, I do not wish to expose myself to that risk at this time.

Oh, and thanks for the advice on aerophagia.

What/how do you breathe when you're not sleeping? Do you wear a dust mask/filter all day long?
I'd be more concerned about the air I breathe when I'm NOT hooked up the the CPAP.

Whatever......

Den

[JeffH]

I've been on CPAP for seven years. In that time I have had less respiratory problems than I ever have in my life. I think you are WAY over worrying this.

[blarg]

To answer your question, if you want to empty it, remove it from the machine, dump it out, and then turn your machine on when you get it back in to blow dry it.

Your machine doesn't record leak stats anyway, so that's not an issue.

If you want answers to your question about swallowing air, click here for a google search of topics on this board discussing aerophagia.

[Goofproof]

I'm afraid you have me Nailed! I don't have air bags, I don't wear seat belts, I've been two wrecks where both cars were totaled, not my fault, never got more than a bruse.

Sometimes living by your wits pays off. My Remstar provides cleaner air than I get without it, it even cuts out some alergies. I change my HH every 4 days wheather it needs it or not, and use it unheated, heat causes the bugs to grow... Jim

[goober]

The filter on every CPAP I've seen is nowhere near fine enough to stop airborne spores, and nearly all of them have a significant amount of bypass in their designs, to allow flow.

I don't think that this is true. At least for my Remstar M series, the manufacturer claims that the white ultrafine filter is a HEPA filter. A HEPA filter by definition is supposed to filter 99.97% of all particles down to 0.3 microns. That would certainly be small enough to filter out spores. 0.3 micron filtration will filter out bacteria.