Making progress with Swift but having rainout

[photogal]

I finally got over my post-op congestion which cause the BiPAP pressure to hurt my ears. For the first time, I was able to sleep 7 hours with my Swift Nasal Pillow system. Which I love, BTW. The next night without therapy. The reason for that is I had so much rainout that water collected everywhere, and when I turned the machine on, it cause a very loud, continuous popping noise that sounded like it was from the barrel under my nose. I had to take it off. It dried out during the day. I slept with it again last night and woke up coughing from water running down my throat into my bronchial tubes after 3 hours and had to remove it. Everything is full of water again and I have it apart to dry. I have the heated Hum. set on 3.
This got so bad after it got hot here (97,98 & 99) and I had to crank the A/C down. Last night, after a cool front, it still was just as bad.
I need to sleep cold and also use a ceiling fan. I have a feeling I'll be getting therapy every other night until I insulate the hose or whatever. What is the best way to do that?
Betty

[Stephen P]

photogal,
I'm in the same boat as you. I like the room cold, but my airway warm and moist. My humidifier is set at 2 but many nights with the swift I awake to showers in the nose Many recommend the aussie heated hose which needs to be ordered $100 us, and requires an electrical adapter to be used here in the states. Seems to be the most effective cure. Cpap.com sells insulating fleece covers to put around the hose. I am thinking of using some left over Polarfleece from the greyhounds winter coats and making my own with no sew adhesive and velcro.
Hopefully this will end my spring showers in the swift.
Cheers,
Stephen

[rested gal]

Rainout.....

This is what I use with (not instead of) my heated humidifier - the Aussie heated hose ("heated cpap tube".) Stops rainout amazingly well. Far more effective than hose covers if rainout is a big problem. Comes with its own fleece cover. It's not sold in the U.S. but a lot of cpap users have ordered it online from the people in Australia that invented it. Very nice people to deal with:

sleepzone.com.au

When you see a price of more than $100 on that website, that's the price in Australian dollars. The price is much lower in American dollars. The most recent price I noticed there in American dollars was $89 which includes shipping from Australia to the U.S...to your door.

Radio Shack has a 12 volt 1 amp DC converter (Radio Shack part# 273-1776) and an "M" adapter plug, which will let you plug the heated hose into American electrical outlets. The converter with "M" adapter is about $20 at Radio Shack.

[photogal]

Okay, so it is from Australia and I have to have an adapter to plug into the wall. My hose goes from my BiPAP to my mask, the hose doesn't plug into the wall. So I'm not quite getting it. <scratching head, feeling dumb>
Thanks for the input, when I get a chance I'll go to that website and check it out. Will the Aussie thing work with the Swift interface and BiPAP?
Betty

[th]

[quote="photogal"]Okay, so it is from Australia and I have to have an adapter to plug into the wall. My hose goes from my BiPAP to my mask, the hose doesn't plug into the wall. So I'm not quite getting it. <scratching head, feeling dumb>
Thanks for the input, when I get a chance I'll go to that website and check it out. Will the Aussie thing work with the Swift interface and BiPAP?
Betty

[wading thru the muck!]

Photogal,

The heated hose is the same as a regular hose except it has a wire in the coil of the hose. This wire plugs into the low voltage power supply that you buy at Radio Shack and heats the hose slightly so that the air insde stays warm enough to stop condensation. It works very well. The only other alternative is to keep your bedroom warm enough to stop the rainout.

[IWannaSleep]

I have experimented with covers on the hose, and have been successful eliminating rainout within the main hose, but the part of the swift that attaches to the hose is difficult to cover, and I still get a lot of rainout from where it connects to the main hose out to the naisal pillows. It sounds like the only solution is the Aussie heated hose since it would keep the air warm enough to prevent rainout from happening the last foot or so to your nose.

I wake up now and then from water spraying out of the exhaust ports.


Ron

[Guest]

I am another testimonial for the Aussie hose! I have tried covers (purchased and homemade) and there is absolutely no question about it -
nothing stops rainout like the heated hose! Think about it....what good is falling asleep on pap therapy if you're going to get startled awake by water up your nose! I can't understand why ALL pap suppliers don't carry such a product?!?!

[gailzee]

Can you lower the htd humidifier? I have mine now between 1-2, closer to the 1 1/2 side. This is low. Higher than that, I'd get the drops also. I find this setting to be ok, if I get too dry, I get bloody noses, but since I upped it a bit, no problem. Sleeping 7 hrs is very very good. I get to the 5-6 hr. mark, and off that swifty goes.
let me know if lowering the htd hum. # helps?

Sounds like you are in a hot climate?
Do you have a humidistat on your a/c/heat pump? We had a home in FLa. (HUMID CAPITAL OF THE PLANET) and the humidistat actually was better because we could tweak the % of humidity we wanted in the house. At least I thought it helped.

?

[quote="photogal"]I finally got over my post-op congestion which cause the BiPAP pressure to hurt my ears. For the first time, I was able to sleep 7 hours with my Swift Nasal Pillow system. Which I love, BTW. The next night without therapy. The reason for that is I had so much rainout that water collected everywhere, and when I turned the machine on, it cause a very loud, continuous popping noise that sounded like it was from the barrel under my nose. I had to take it off. It dried out during the day. I slept with it again last night and woke up coughing from water running down my throat into my bronchial tubes after 3 hours and had to remove it. Everything is full of water again and I have it apart to dry. I have the heated Hum. set on 3.
This got so bad after it got hot here (97,98 & 99) and I had to crank the A/C down. Last night, after a cool front, it still was just as bad.
I need to sleep cold and also use a ceiling fan. I have a feeling I'll be getting therapy every other night until I insulate the hose or whatever. What is the best way to do that?
Betty

[snork1]

Yup, the Aussie heated hose is a MUST....for ANY interface.

I use the Swift and the Activa. Both need the heated hose and I actually add an EXTRA layer of insulation on the heated hose in the winter, here in the chilly and soggy Northwest, where even the double pane house windows have a rainout issue.

Every once in awhile I forget to plug in my heated hose at night and then definitely wake up with water sloshing around (both in Activa or Swift) even with the unplugged but covered heated hose.

We have a couple of weeks in the summer when its warm enough overnight to not use the heated hose.

[photogal]

Yes, I do live in a hot climate here in Oklahoma. Last summer's high was only 98, but we've already topped that...hit 99 a few days back. We can get as hot as 110 but usually not. We've not had rain in forever so we're dry, but today the showers came and you can cut the humidity with a knife.
Went out to feed the squirrel and had to use a machete to get off the patio.

I will try lowering my setting from 3 to 1 1/2 and see if that helps. I have company from Michigan now (daughter) and the other daughter's oldest is graduating Friday, so it may be a while before I can investigate the Aussie hose.
Thanks for all the tips. I'm pretty inflappable, but when I'm sucking water into my lungs and wake up choking and coughing, it doesn't take me long to fling that mask.
You guys rock.
~Betty~

[Janelle]

I had rainout with my swift but simply could not justify a heated hose living in Texas much less the cost and then buying an adapter, so ordered the polar fleece from an ebay store, plus their matching mini hose wrap for my swift, and now everything is nice and toasty. Did make a remarkable difference in air temp coming out of the hose. I took the covers off since it is quite warm right now and even with the ac on at night, I like the feel of the cooler air coming in from the hose when I can barely stand to sleep with so much as a sheet on top of me and the a/c cranked down to 68.

Do a search for CPAP Tube Wrap. They also have a website. And their prices are quite reasonable.

[photogal]

Thanks, I'll do that search. Gotta get the grandson's grad. ceremony over with first and see my daughter off to Michigan.

[ahujudybear]

Something nobody has mentioned is the position of your Bi-pap/Cpap and the humidifier. My RT said that if the units are higher than your head and you have condensation, that you'll have water trickling into your nose. She suggested placing both units LOWER than the bed to allow condensation to either collect in the hose or return to the himidifier.

I had my humidifier set at 2½, but was waking up in a sweat and kicking off the covers (...and then getting cold feet!! ), so for now I have the heater turned off.

- JB