Medicare requires that I answer questions before my next shipment

[palerider]

By all means I would have at least one back-up, you never know what will happen.

This is recommended by everyone that knows what they're doing. Have a spare, of *everything*.

You should do what you feel is sanitary, not what other people "think" you should do.

Now this, on the other hand, is total bullcrap.

OP has no idea what is *sanitary*, OP is not a microbiologist.

OP should *gently* wash the mask with soap and water, and it will be *sanitary*. replace filters *when they are dirty*, replace the hose and water tank *if they fail*.

[palerider]

I'm surprised that people don't clean their hoses. Mine is heated, so with moisture inside, it's a good trap for mold.

It's not even "heated" to body temperature, it's warmed a little to *reduce* the moisture inside, since the moisture won't condense on warmer tube walls.

You have a lot of unfounded assumptions.

[Pugsy]

I'm surprised that people don't clean their hoses. Mine is heated, so with moisture inside, it's a good trap for mold. I'll try to conserve more.

Thanks for the input!

ResMed machines run for about 30 minutes at a low pressure after you turn it off to dry out the hose. It's called the cool down period.
Unless you physically unplug the machine so that it has no electricity to power it...this gets done every time you remove the mask and turn the machine off. It's not really off until the end of the cool down period.

So the chances of it remaining moist enough inside to harbor mold....very slim unless you have copious amounts of water in it from rain out and you would probably already be annoyed from either the noise or getting a cold shower from it blowing out the vent holes and you got sprayed in the face.

[Dog Slobber]

I'm surprised that people don't clean their hoses. Mine is heated, so with moisture inside, it's a good trap for mold. I'll try to conserve more.

Because mold requires moisture, many believe *all* it requires is moisture. And that's just not true.

Mold requires a source, it just can't pop up out of nothing.
It require a food sources, typically organic.
It requires a surface conducive to growth.

This is why, when we see mold form because of moisture we see it form on drywall and grout, well before class and tile.

The inside of our hoses only provides the moisture, and for a minimal time. It does not provide good exposure to a source, food or a surface conducive to growth.

[RogerSC]

After getting the maximum amount of supplies that Medicare would allow for a few months, I told my DME to stop doing that, and sent back my last load of unsolicited supplies. Said that I'd get hold of them when I needed supplies, and that's the way that it's worked since. I still have a bunch of stuff that I got in the first few months that I'll never use because I've switched masks a few times, and now have even switched CPAP's...and things like the heated tubes and humidifier tanks are, of course, incompatible between CPAP's.

My DME is really annoying. I'll ask for a nasal pillow or nasal cushion for a particular mask, and they'll send me the same one that they sent me last time, which I then have to return. Their line is that customers frequently order the wrong things, we're so ignorant and just do random things. This allowed them to charge Medicare for the original cushions, and also charge them for the replacement ones, since they dragged their feet for long enough that I got into a new monthly supply period for the replacement cushions that I actually ordered. I tried to get them to reverse the charges to Medicare on the returned cushions, but as far as I can see on my Medicare Summary Notices, they never did.

I just ordered a couple of replacement cushions for the AirFit N30, when my last order was for the Dreamwear. I'm curious what they'll send me. If they're true to form, they'll send me the Dreamwear cushions, which I'll have to return, but they'll have charged Medicare for them. And on and on.

[klm49]

By all means I would have at least one back-up, you never know what will happen.

This is recommended by everyone that knows what they're doing. Have a spare, of *everything*.

You should do what you feel is sanitary, not what other people "think" you should do.

Now this, on the other hand, is total bullcrap.

OP has no idea what is *sanitary*, OP is not a microbiologist.

OP should *gently* wash the mask with soap and water, and it will be *sanitary*. replace filters *when they are dirty*, replace the hose and water tank *if they fail*.

Thanks for telling me what I already know Mr. Not-A-Microbiologist!

Now how good of sleep do you think someone is going to get if they are concerned about the hygiene of their equipment when they try to go to sleep. What is total "bullcrap" is an uncredentialled poster telling other people that they do not know that they are posting "bullcrap".
Make the next reply your last cause I ain't playing your silly "yellow stain on the wall" games.

[palerider]

Now how good of sleep do you think someone is going to get if they are concerned about the hygiene of their equipment when they try to go to sleep.

The *proper* solution to the problem is to *educate* people so that they know there's nothing to be concerned about, not to tell them "do whatever ignorant thing makes you happy, waste your money on ineffectual things", which seems to be your "thought".

[ChicagoGranny]

Thanks for telling me what I already know Mr. Not-A-Microbiologist!

[chunkyfrog]

I wonder how many clean freaks have been murdered--just for being obnoxious.
Not a suggestion--oh, please do not do that.

[Okie bipap]

When we were young, my wife and I both were taught to use what we had until it could no longer be used. Raising three kids while an enlisted military man, I had to make things last as long as possible. Now, we can "afford" to be wasteful, but we cannot bring ourselves to do it. The mask frames we are using are over three years old, the current mask cushions are over a year old, and I finally had to get a new water chamber for my machine after five years because one of the hinge pins broke off. We can get supplies through Medicare, but it is not worth making the trip to the DME and me with the paper work to do so. I either buy from cpap.com, eBay, or some where else on the internet.

[Dog Slobber]

I ain't playing your silly "yellow stain on the wall" games.

[Pugsy]

Am I going to have to step in and clean up the yellow stains from you know what??

I would really rather not have to do that because I usually leave blood stains in the aftermath

Back on topic please and in case anyone has forgotten...It was about Medicare wording of a request for replacement supplies.

[realshelby]

I'm surprised that people don't clean their hoses. Mine is heated, so with moisture inside, it's a good trap for mold. I'll try to conserve more.

Thanks for the input!

I cleaned my hose a week or so back. First time in over a year. I have the heated hose too, which actually would not accumulate moisture as easily as the non heated hoses. Thanks to LSAT, I got a fairly new machine which replaced the other one ( it goes into the RV and stays there ) that I had 6700 hours on. Both have the climateline hoses and both still look new. I just don't see a reason to replace most anything besides pillows/cushions sooner than at least a year if not longer.

[Janknitz]

I'm surprised that people don't clean their hoses. Mine is heated, so with moisture inside, it's a good trap for mold

The only way moisture gets into my (non-heated) hose is if I wash it. It seemed to take a lot of work and time to dry it out. So I don't.