Shortness of breath

KyGolfer · Post by **KyGolfer** » Tue Mar 17, 2015 4:40 pm

This may sound weird or stupid, but could my humidifier be causing my shortness of breath? I never really had an issue with this until after I started using the machine back in July of last year. I have talked to my Cardiologist about maybe medications being the cause. He has no remedies yet. Just spit balling!

BlackSpinner · Post by **BlackSpinner** » Tue Mar 17, 2015 4:45 pm

You need to talk to a pulmonologist. It could be something like asthma.

amenite · Post by **amenite** » Tue Mar 17, 2015 7:03 pm

Just wondering - did this symptom start early on or is it recent? I'm only asking because I wonder if you've replaced the humidifier reservoir. They seem to recommend 6 months interval for replacing the reservoir. You will see occasional reports of science projects in them after a much shorter time period. At less than $25 for my PRS 1 machine I don't see a reason not to change them out every 6 months, or sooner if anything weird is going on in there.

Julie · Post by **Julie** » Tue Mar 17, 2015 7:26 pm

That's nonsense - you can keep tanks a long time, just clean them if they need it when you see bits of debris, pink slime, etc...

We live in a throw away world and we're killing it with plastic, etc... and most of the time it's not needed. Just because the DME's have some deal with the monster insce. co's doesn't mean we have to take whatever whenever and can tell them we don't need to keep getting stuff unless we really do.

Rant over but this is such a great example of pure waste, just disgusts me (not you guys, the corps).

amenite · Post by **amenite** » Tue Mar 17, 2015 8:27 pm

Julie wrote:...
We live in a throw away world and we're killing it with plastic, etc...
...

"We" are killing the world with plastics that don't wind up in a sanitary landfill, and those that aren't recycled into other usable products. If I were tossing my tank in a river after 6 months that would be the story here. As it turns out I've saved the planet form literally thousands of disposable coffee cups over the years by using the same thermos mug over and over and over again. And coffee filters - many thousands of those also since I brew without them. So I'm taking a circumspect approach here and tossing two tanks per year.

Julie · Post by **Julie** » Tue Mar 17, 2015 9:38 pm

But why not just clean the thing - takes 5 minutes!

palerider · Post by **palerider** » Tue Mar 17, 2015 10:14 pm

amenite wrote: So I'm taking a circumspect approach here and tossing two tanks per year.

just because the people that want you to buy a new tank twice a year to increase their profits say so?

when there's nothing wrong with it, why throw it out?

you see the same thing with filters, resmed technical manual says 6 months. the DMEs say 'every two weeks! kaCHING!"

I started in 2009, everybody was talking about how often to replace those fragile mask cushions.... so I bought a spare. five years later, it was still in it's package, because the original "fragile, delicate" cushion was still working fine.

archangle · Post by **archangle** » Wed Mar 18, 2015 11:53 pm

KyGolfer wrote:This may sound weird or stupid, but could my humidifier be causing my shortness of breath? I never really had an issue with this until after I started using the machine back in July of last year. I have talked to my Cardiologist about maybe medications being the cause. He has no remedies yet. Just spit balling!

Try it. Turn the humidifier off and try it. Turn it to max and see what happens. You can even remove the entire humidifier from the blower unit and connect the hose directly if you want to try, but you'll need an unheated hose.

amenite wrote:Just wondering - did this symptom start early on or is it recent? I'm only asking because I wonder if you've replaced the humidifier reservoir. They seem to recommend 6 months interval for replacing the reservoir. You will see occasional reports of science projects in them after a much shorter time period. At less than $25 for my PRS 1 machine I don't see a reason not to change them out every 6 months, or sooner if anything weird is going on in there.

You'd probably be better off keeping 2 or 3 of them and cleaning one thoroughly every week and swapping with one of your spares. Drying out fully for a week or two is probably a good idea even if you have a new tank. You could still buy a new one every 6 months or so if you want to. Definitely keep a few spares in case your new one breaks.

Even with a new tank, I think it needs a thorough cleaning at least once a week.

RuthArt · Post by **RuthArt** » Thu Mar 19, 2015 1:50 pm

is your shortness of breath happening with or without the machine? The reason I ask, is because I have shortness of breath while on the machine, but as soon as I take the mask off I'm fine.

I decided to eliminate the heated humidity since I love cooler air. I still use water in it though, just in case it helps with my nostrils. I also keep my room 'cold' , so there was a lot of 'rain out'
with heated humidity, even with a cozy cover and my machine lower than the bed.

I almost quit using my CPAP because of the breathing problem, but I'm actually getting back on track since I quit using the heated humidity.

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Mask	Humidifier