CPAP irritating my lungs

[Eschewy]

I was diagnosed with sleep apnea in August of 2011. Since then, I've been fairly compliant in using my Philips Respironics Remstar Auto with A-Flex. I had some trouble over the winter keeping the humidity sufficiently high, but that's no longer a problem now that it's summer here (near Chicago). Lately, though, I've been waking up with irritated lungs that have me coughing lightly for most of the day after I use the CPAP. If I stop using the machine for a couple days, the cough goes away. I had a suspicion that there's dust stuck in my machine, so I tried to clean out as much of the equipment as thoroughly as possible, and I elevated it a foot off the ground so it's no longer in contact with the hair and dust on the floor. Even after all this, I still woke up today in the middle of the night with a bit of a cough.

I've had a couple instances in the past where I realized that my machine had been running without the filter in place. It had popped out overnight, probably because I had coughed into my machine. Also, I think I've put the white filter in backwards, when I didn't know better. On top of that, dust and hair tends to collect near my machine, which I haven't been as careful about cleaning up.

I've called my DME provider about this, and they say that they haven't heard of a CPAP causing irritated lungs. They think I should talk to a doctor about this, and I will, but I have a suspicion that this is a problem with the machine. I just wish I could take it apart completely and thoroughly clean out the insides. It's driving me so crazy that I'm contemplating buying a new machine or getting one of those dental devices.

Has anyone else here encountered this problem? Any ideas about what I should do?

[Lizistired]

You might try disconnecting the hose and setting at max pressure and let it blow full blast for a bit. I let mine blow after I change the filter. Hate those tiny little loose fibers.

[Eschewy]

Thanks for the advice, Lizistired. I've been too scared to experiment with the pressure settings on my machine, but I've had it for almost a year now, so I should figure out how to use it. I'll set it to max pressure and (hopefully) blast everything out.

[Lizistired]

There is a link to machine video tutorials in my signature.
Please update your equipment so it will show each time you post. Here's how:

[LSAT]

I would suggest buying a vaccum cleaner.

[old64mb]

Few thoughts.

1. As has been suggested, could simply be you need to thoroughly clean the machine and the room around it and replace both mask and filters a bit more frequently.

2. On the other hand, too much humidity can actually cause irritation as well, and especially if you're not sleeping with an AC unit on to dehumidify things, might want to try turning the humidifier settings down a bit for the summer.

3. If that doesn't work, check with your GP or allergist; could be something unrelated that's popping up due to summer allergens, although it's a bit late in the year for that.

[mayur]

my father (57) started using the cpap around this february and just after that he has some respiration problems like breathing frequency has increased, he becomes tired after doing a little work, is it common with all ?
any treatment

[archangle]

While you do want to keep the filter in place and clean, it's unlikely there's a problem with dust in your machine. The air going into the machine is just room air. Even if the filter was out for a while, you're only going to be able to blow out whatever gunk the machine sucked in when the filter was missing. It's not like the machine can multiply the amount of dust and you'll have more dust in the air going out than the air coming in.

You do want to keep the area around the air intake clean.

The filters probably do more good for the machine than for you. You're breathing whatever dust is in the air 16 hours a day.

Sit it on a table top where it's breathing in clean air, take out the filters, and let the machine blow at full blast with no hose for a few minutes.

Some people do get irritation from the airflow, pressure, whatever, from the CPAP machine.