Humidifier or Not???

[mattshaw]

I've been on cpap for little under a week and the nurse said I could order a humidifier on the NHS if required but she wanted to start me off without one.

Can someone please fill me in on the + and - of using one please, I know it involves a certain amount of maintenance and boiling or getting special water.

[LSAT]

Humidity is a comfort issue...some use it, some do not.

[chunkyfrog]

I RESPECTFULLY DISAGREE
If not for humidification,
I COULD NOT USE CPAP
The swamp is simply not moist enough!

[Julie]

Some people want/need it only e.g. in winter when central heating's on (or do you not have that?), others want it year round, some don't want it at all (I live near water) because of their climate. You should use distilled water - not 'bottled' - but on occasion, if travelling, etc. can use tap. I think most over here use theirs more often than not, and you should get it... better to have and not need than otherwise. Clean up is no biggie - don't get in the habit of dumping perfectly good distilled water out every a.m. - total waste - but keep an eye out once in a while to see if you've developed e.g. a small amt of pinkish or other deposits as they're relatively harmless but you do want to keep the thing clean... wipe with 1:4 vinegar water.

[Pugsy]

If you have been using the cpap for a week and your nose isn't experiencing any ugly nasal symptoms then you may not need to add a humidifier (at least right now).
Google "cpap rhinitis" and read up on the symptoms...which pretty much are your typical allergy like or cold like or upper respiratory infection like symptoms.
Some people find that the added air from the cpap blowing through the nasal passages just dries out the mucosa and when the mucosa gets dried out they react just like they react when we have a cold or have bad allergies.

Some people do well without any added moisture and others do well with minimal added moisture but some of us need the maximum amount of added moisture or we get some horrible nasal symptoms. I belong to the latter group. If I could snort water my nose would be the happiest and if I didn't have a working humidifier I simply couldn't use the machine because of the results that happen when my nasal mucosa get dried out (found out the hard way when I tried a low setting and also when I forgot to add water and the chamber went dry during the night).

Distilled water is recommended because of the mineral deposits regular water leaves behind in the plastic water chamber.
But you can use tap water if need be....just be prepared to do a little extra cleaning with vinegar to remove the mineral desposits from the water chamber.
No need to boil anything though...if it's safe to drink it's safe to use in the humidifier.

[mattshaw]

Great, thanks for another reply. I mainly sleep breathing through my mouth, however last night my nose was clear and breathed through it, but strangely got a higher ahi rate, could that be connected or just coincidence? Obviously I guess I would have reverted to my mouth once I was fast asleep. My mouth gets very dry in the morning but no symptoms with nose as of yet. Do the humidifiers warm the air at all as well?

[Pugsy]

Do the humidifiers warm the air at all as well?

Not much even at the highest setting. If you are experiencing what I call "ice cube nose syndrome" then I would suggest getting the humidifier and the heated hose. With the heated hose you can warm the hose air temp and also have better control over humidity delivered.

Now there are stand alone heated hoses that you can use with the blower alone but they aren't that cheap and besides...the humidified air might help with the mouth dryness you are experiencing with your mouth breathing and full face mask.

I have been down all the roads as far as heated hose stand alone or integrated heated hose and have had first hand experience with "ice cube nose". The integrated heated hose offers the best of both worlds....temperatures you can control along with humidity you can control.
With the stand alone heated hose you have no control over hose air temp...it's either on or off and it gets rather warm.

[D.H.]

All the integrated (or built-in) humidifiers warm the air as well. In addition, most of the recent models also support a heated hose.

Some of the older stand-alone humidifiers are not heated. They are sometimes known as passive or passover humidifiers. If a free-standing humidifier has a power source then it's a heated humidifier, otherwise it's not.

[rick blaine]

Hello again mattshaw,

You live in the UK - in fact, the north of England - where the average relative humidity is high pretty much the year round.
See here for some numbers:

https://www.currentresults.com/Weather/ ... annual.php

You're certainly not in Arizona - or in Southern Italy - or in Queensland, Australia.

So on humidity, you could get by without.

The reason I bought a humidifier, to go with my PR 551, and then another, to go with my PR 561, was partly health, but mainly comfort.

The air from my APAP machine is moving air. So in and of itself, it has a cooling effect - enough to make my throat feel cold - in an already British climate. And by moving, it also dries the throat.

In the UK, the main thing the humidifer does is warm the air, as much as it adds (additional) moisture to it.

And the feeling of comfort persists - even after I've fallen asleep. Before the humidifier, when I woke up, my face felt cold and 'frozen' (As you can see from below, I use a FFM). With the humidifer, that doesn't happen.

BTW, the thing about the distilled water is a thing the manufacturers say to avoid getting sued - particularly in more litigation-prone jurisdictions. I fill (and re-fill) my tank with still Scottish mountain water from Sainsbury's (£1.45 for eight litres) - it has a less calcium carbonate and less magnesium carbonate in it.

The humifier tank stills needs cleaning, but not as often as it would if I used my local tap water. And a 15-minute soak in a dilute solution of Sainsbury's distilled malt vinegar (50p for 568ml) cleans it out no problem.

PS. On my PR 561, the humidity comes on a five-point scale, so by trial and error, the user can find out how much suits them best. I imagine a similar scale is to be found on the Dreamstation.

[palerider]

I RESPECTFULLY DISAGREE
If not for humidification,
I COULD NOT USE CPAP
The swamp is simply not moist enough!

I respectfully disagree with your disagreement....
it is as lsat says, a comfort issue, some people use a little, some a lot, some none.

the fact that you wouldn't be comfortable without lots of humidity doesn't make it not a comfort issue.

[BlackSpinner]

I RESPECTFULLY DISAGREE
If not for humidification,
I COULD NOT USE CPAP
The swamp is simply not moist enough!

I respectfully disagree with your disagreement....
it is as lsat says, a comfort issue, some people use a little, some a lot, some none.

the fact that you wouldn't be comfortable without lots of humidity doesn't make it not a comfort issue.

If you ever spend any time in a northern heated home you will quickly learn that it is NOT a comfort feature. Unless of course you love the blood flowing down your face and constant sinus infections - and I am only talking about ordinary regular people, not cpap therapy.

[chunkyfrog]

Before cpap, I had constant dry, scratchy nose, and the occasional bleed.
Cpap with humidity fixed that. I am grateful to no longer need a place to hide while I extract the dry crusties.
If not bleeding is a "comfort issue", I am glad my insurance allowed it, and Medicare does now.
Humidity where I live varies from about 7% to 90% and up, but HVAC puts it around 30% year round.
Enough for enduring static pranks and icky habits to form.

[palerider]

I RESPECTFULLY DISAGREE
If not for humidification,
I COULD NOT USE CPAP
The swamp is simply not moist enough!

I respectfully disagree with your disagreement....
it is as lsat says, a comfort issue, some people use a little, some a lot, some none.

the fact that you wouldn't be comfortable without lots of humidity doesn't make it not a comfort issue.

If you ever spend any time in a northern heated home you will quickly learn that it is NOT a comfort feature. Unless of course you love the blood flowing down your face and constant sinus infections - and I am only talking about ordinary regular people, not cpap therapy.

the point is, I believe, that it's not mandatory for everybody for effective treatment.

[Uncle_Bob]

View the product images for this product for an explanation of humidification benefits. You may also want to consider something like this product for yourself.

https://www.cpap.com/productpage/fisher ... ifier.html

As far as the NHS goes I think you are lucky to have even got CPAP machine. I know people that have bee diagnosed and told to buy their own because their NHS trust was out of money and they would have to wait another year to be put on a waiting list.

Personally i like to use a humidifier because it makes my CPAP therapy work, mainly because it reduces my nasal congestion and I prefer to use a nasal mask. Call it a comfort gimmick or call it a medical device in itself with a medical billing code, I don't care. Now that they mostly come with a heated hose to prevent rainout it makes the humidifier almost as essential as the machine itself for me.

[D.H.]

NHS trust was out of money?! They ought to offer refurbished CPAP machines rather than nothing.