A few more questions from a newbie

[Rosebud]

Hello. I have had such great success when asking questions on this forum, that I thought I'd ask a few more. Usually, my questions happen in the middle of the night and I need to know right away so I can get some sleep. This time, I have less of an urgency, but still need to know.

1. What is the best/quickest way to dry out my tube on "cleaning day". Seemed to take forever, even hanging in the bathroom with the heater on, and after running the cpap w/out wearing the mask didn't get all the moisture out.

2. What is the best resource for accessories, such as the snuggle (or whatever that skin is called for the tube) the one that helps cut down on rainouts?

That's all I can come up with for now.

I do want to report that I slept my best sleep w/cpap last night, and it wasn't at home. That is discouraging, since I don't know if it was the matress, pillows, or what! On the bright side, I had a much better nights sleep and felt more rested than at any other time since getting this lovely thing.

At the advice of restedgal, I asked my dme supplier for the Elite II w/EPR and picked it up today, having been approved by the medical director @ my insurance, so it did not cost me the $209.00 over the set price they had advised me might happen. So far, I love my supplier, as they have gone to great lengths to keep me happy and helping me with the nasty insurance aspect of all this.

Thank you to all who offer such great advice.

[wasColette]

After washing out my tube I hang it to dry all day. In the evening I hook it into my cpap machine (remove the humidifier first) and just let it crank for around 5 minutes or so. Voila! all dry.

[alnhwrd]

If you hook your hose back up to your Elite II withe the humidifier empty and turn it on and back on again, it should blow lightly for about an hour, which should be long enough to dry out your hose. If not you can come back in an hour and turn it on and off again, or just leave it running for a while. Hope this helps.

[zomby]

you can get hose covers from cpap.com or padacheeks

http://www.padacheek.com/

[6PtStar]

I use 2 hoses and only wash one at a time. Alternate the two hoses so they dry between use also.

Jerry

[elader]

I use 2 hoses and only wash one at a time. Alternate the two hoses so they dry between use also.

Jerry

I got a set of three respironics hoses on ebay for crazy cheap. Jerry is right, alternate.

[glfredrick]

One solution for cleaning/drying the hose that I've been thinking of is a cable gun cleaning tool with a 20 gauge shotgun mop. You can usually find those sort of kits at any local sporting goods store.

A cheaper alternative is to simply tie a piece of cloth to a string, weight one end and pass it through the tube. Just make sure the cloth is clean.

I've also been disinfecting my gear with a peroxide mouthwash (I'm using Listerene whitening, which is mostly peroxide). It seems to do a good job of cleaning residue and odor that regular soap doesn't always remove. I trade off between this and vinegar. Soft parts stay really clear with this. For soap, I use a product called Planet. It is all natural, with no chemicals, made of coconut oils. It works great, and it is a very gentle soap. I find it at well-stocked grocery stores. It costs more than some other products, but a bottle will last a year or more.

For the hose cover, find a wife, mom, aunt, grandmother, etc., that knits or crochets. My wife only knows one rudimentary stitch with the crochet hook, but was able to make me a nice cover. Cost was about $1 for some yarn we picked up on clearance.

Same with the cheek and strap pads... My wife sewed me a set from some left over fleece she had on hand. It wraps all the way around the back of my head, because I was having some issues with the latex in the headgear irritating the back of my neck. It wraps around the strap, gets a bit bigger where it goes up the top of my head, and has small dressmaker's snaps to hold it in place. Took her all of 10 minutes to whip that out and it is GREAT.