Ice in humidifier chamber

[palerider]

No offense intended,

likewise.

There is absolutely nothing unsafe about using humidified cpap, and in fact, is better in the long run for tissues. They will get irritated over the years by blowing pressurized dry air over them. The turbinates were not meant to deal with pressurized air =)

the only time that "pressurized air" is "blowing" over your tissues is if you've got your mouth open, and are using a nasal mask/pillows and you're letting the air blow in your nose and out your mouth (or, the other way around if using an oracle mask) otherwise, there is no blowing, just your lungs sucking air in and out like they do all day long.

[sc0ttt]

W

I do NOT have the heater element on and it doesn't matter how cold the room is.

Why is it that you think colder inlet air wouldn't give you the same effect as cooling the air in the humidifier? That statement almost makes me think it's not the cooler temperatures that help you at all. Air heats up as it gets compressed, heats up some more (usually) with a heated humidifier and heated hose (which you don't use). So you're starting with room temperature air, heating it up a little, and then cooling it down a little... starting with cooler air should give you exactly the same finish temperature as cooling it down after.

You could try putting a tub of ice next to your inlet filter and cool the air down that way - they you wouldn't even need the humidifier.

[JDS74]

If the solution to the temperature issue is colder air coming in, then it is possible that this will work.

Get a FP HC150 humidifier replacement humidifier chamber,


and a short connecting tube,


and a small ice chest,


and drill a couple of holes in the chest to accommodate the short hose and the regular hose,
fill the chest partly with ice, insert the HC150 chamber (with water if needed), connect to the Trilogy and off to sleep.
With no heat in the humidifier, the ice in the chest will keep the humidifier chamber nicely cold all night long.

The chamber and the hose are available from our hosts, CPAP.COM and the chest from Walmart, Target, etc.

You wouldn't get much in the way of humidity but the temperature should be low enough. Some experimentation might be needed.

[ice cube]

the newer HC150 humidifier chamber has a removable bottom. you could just fit ice cubes in that way.

[ice cube]

or just get a spare chamber for the trilogy fill one 1/2 way with water to put into the freezer while taking the 2nd out of the freezer for use? of course some experimentation will be needed on water/ice level and be careful about cracking the frozen chamber.

[stienman]

You could probably even just run a long hose through the ice chest under the ice and water.

[ice cube]

a longer hose not only reduces pressure to the patient it can cause the machine to not sense events and so results in inaccurate data reporting the end result is the patient is not treated adequately and the data shows no events so you think things are working great when they are not. i would avoid a hose longer than 10ft. also note adding an external humidifier chamber also adds volume which can also cause the machine to not sense events. so its a critical balance when adding volume to these machines.

[Jay Aitchsee]

what's old is new again:

First, make sure your humidifier is off, then check out this thread: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=86433&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=15

[Hang Fire]

I feel as though I'm suffocating.

The most common cause of this is a pressure or ramp pressure that is set too low (4.0 or 5.0).

I see the OP has been asked what his pressure settings are, but he is no longer responding to the thread.

[davep700]

I used to have this issue until very recently. I tried putting ice in the humidifier tank because the air felt warm like rebreathed air. I would wake up with a suffocation feeling and remove the mask repeatedly. Now I don't seem to have this issue as long as I keep the room cool and airy enough, but I still take off the mask for other reasons, like wanting to get up. I seem to have become largely desensitized to wearing a mask, and in particular to its' silicon/plastic scent.

[GRANDPA]

When I first started cpap I didn't like the cold air blowing on my nose all nite either. I went the heated hose and pre-heat the water in humidifier etc.
I was using a FFM mask then but use nasal pillows now. We also like to keep the bedroom cool no higher than 62 and normally below 60 with a window slightly open even during the winter. Now I have no heated hose, and do not heat the humidifier just use in passover mode with a cool bedroom seems to work for us now.

Some years ago I was thinking of trying to use some electric type cooling coils (like used to cool an ice chest found at truckstops) to cool the humidifier but seemed like too much work for me.

It does seem like the body adapts to wearing the cpap mask.

[palerider]

a longer hose not only reduces pressure to the patient it can cause the machine to not sense events and so results in inaccurate data reporting the end result is the patient is not treated adequately and the data shows no events so you think things are working great when they are not. i would avoid a hose longer than 10ft. also note adding an external humidifier chamber also adds volume which can also cause the machine to not sense events. so its a critical balance when adding volume to these machines.

the machine will still sense events just fine. it might have more trouble differentiating between centrals and obstructives.

pressure will be lower, but not a lot lower.

[JustBreath]

I also have a deviated septum. My nose is tiny. I breath 95% through my mouth. I like cool air too. I have a few tricks that help me.... I put my ceiling fan on medium. I don't mind my room cold and using more blankets. I found that too many pillows blocks the air around my face, so I just use the ones I need and make sure I have good head space to breath, removing the rest from my bed completely. A pillow next to you, blocks a lot of air. I put vicks on my throat and chest. This is VERY cooling and helps me a lot. Best thing I have tried. I swear by the vicks vapo rub. If my lips are dry, I use carmex on my lips before I put my mask on. It helps with cracking of lips. I know, it sounds like a voodoo ritual, but yes, takes a lot for me to feel cool and relaxed to sleep. LOL I also run a Honeywell Hepa air purifier in my room all the time. This also helps if you have pets. Makes the air you breath feel cooler and fresher . I bought it at Home Depot for 300.00. Worth every penny. I prefer hepa to ozone. Its a bit safer. I've tried both.
My doc told me to be sure I do nasal rinses regularly to be sure my sinuses are very clear , so I do it in the shower before I go to bed. I really love the Arm and Hammer in the can. I find it better than the ones where you put your own water, and they last a long time. I also use a saline spray or moisturizing spray 2 times a day....also, he ordered me a new type of hose that is cool or hot....it hasn't come yet, so I cant say how its going to be, but he told me to wrap it in medical tape when it arrives, to keep it cool longer. I will post a review on it when I get it.

I thought of putting a small table fan facing the intake filter on my machine to see if the air is cooler.

Now maybe this is bad advice, but I also try to put on my mask while I'm sitting up 30 minutes or so. It helps me to sit up, read and relax for a while first....better than just putting it on and laying straight down. I feel less stressed if I put it on and sit up a while..... Good luck!

[Sir NoddinOff]

I can understand why you like ice cold air... at the other end of the spectrum, for a whole year I got infatuated with super warm air. A couple of years ago, this came to the point where I even went into my Respironics clinician's menu and set up 'classic mode' as my humidifier setting. This mode allowed me to crank up my humidity and heat levels to at least twice as high as standard mode, maybe three times as high! That's a lot of heat and humidity. I guess I had some vision in my mind's eye of tropical beaches and waves lulling me to sleep. The result was that I spent every morning coughing up lots of phlegm and feeling miserable. Nowadays I'm in the medium zone (standard non-classic) ie. low to moderate heat/humidification and my lungs are handling it a lot better. No more coughing, no more phlegm. The object of this tale is that sometimes what you think you need is not actually what your body requires. Looking back, I suspect my psychologically based desire for 'tropical' heat and humidity was ill-founded and for several months I suffered for it. <<<end of sermon>>>

[JAG2]

An increase in volume will most certainly affect the way any cpap machine senses events. If you are not concerned about the data at all you can get by. If you are using an auto or a bipap machine there is a definite impact. Especially when adding a longer hose and an external humidifier. Just go by how you feel instead of the data. If it is a straight cpap just increase the pressure slightly to compensate for the loss.