Horrible Chemically Burned Bacon Smell in Nose After Reservoir Ran Dry

[icashootnstar]

I wonder if anyone else has had this happen.

I forgot to refill the reservoir and it ran dry. The next morning, I woke up with a chemically, burnt bacon smell that seemed to emanate from my sinuses. It has persisted throughout the day for over a week (this time).

It has happened twice before over the years.

The first time it happened, I had been recovering from a cold. When it didn’t clear up after a couple of days, I was very concerned and I took a round of antibiotics. It still took a while to go away.

Then, the second time, I tried to let it run its course to see if it would go away on its own. After three weeks it hadn’t. So, I took the antibiotics again. But I also made an appointment with an ENT (though it was several months before I could get in) and there were no abnormalities found. So, whether it was the antibiotics or time is unknown. I tried using a neti pot, though I hate it. I always feel like I’m drowning, and it doesn’t seem to make a difference in the symptoms. The ENT also prescribed a corticosteroid nasal spray in case it was seasonal allergies. It wasn’t.

This time it’s been a week so far with no signs of abatement. In the hopes of eliminating as many variables as possible, I changed the chamber, tubing, and mask. But the burnt bacon smell is still in my sinuses. I haven’t had a viral infection.

There are no visible signs of damage or discoloration to the old reservoir.
I do the recommended daily washing of the nose pillow and weekly vinegar and distilled water soak and rinse and use only distilled water in the reservoir.

So, it appears this is a residual effect of breathing whatever was being released when the reservoir was subjected to heat without water as that is the one common denominator.

I'm very curious to hear if anyone else has experienced this and if there are any studies, including details and ramifications.

[chunkyfrog]

I would check my bacon stash.
Everybody horks my bacon, so I am forced to hide it.
But cooking it in the cpap? I cannot even imagine that!

[D.H.]

The "bacon" smell is probably how you perceive the burning smell. I do get that when the tank runs dry. There was one Chinese-made CPAP where the heating element switches off when the tank goes empty. It will probably be standard for the heating element to stop working when the tank goes dry eventually.

However, if you do cook bacon (or someone cooks bacon in a neighboring dwelling) you might be smelling actual bacon.

[chunkyfrog]

When my tank runs dry, I smell scorched pond scum.
Nothing like bacon.
Now, I need to go have a couple slices.
Bacon, that is.

[lazarus]

pond scum. . . a couple slices.
Bacon, that is.

Although pond scum probably wouldn't be all that bad on a BLT; it would just become a BPST.

I've run dry a few times. The burning smell seems to wake me up immediately, as best I can tell. So I do a quick refill and then head right back to dreamland.

My mind registers the smell as pleasantly bucolic hillbilly-bathroom-deodorizer, though.

(Light a match!)

May just depend on where one is from.