smokers & trading masks

[echo]

Just a quick question for the group - if one was a smoker, and one wanted to use a mask and then pass it on to someone else, would the second person suffer from the fact that the smoker had used the mask first? Does smoke-breath affect masks?

(Assuming the smoker didn't smoke around the mask and used it only for a few days).

thanks,

Echo (who's still a smoker despite trying to stop, again, and still hasn't managed to go to bed)

[NeedinZs]

For me personally, I know I couldn't tolerate a smoker's mask.

If you used it only one time, I probably couldn't stand to be near the mask, let alone use it. Sorry. I am just very sensitive to smells. It seems like cigarette smell is just really hard to get out of CPAP equipment.

I can't speak for others.

[Sergey45]

I also was trying to test a used mask after smoker. I wasn’t really able to do so. I am too sensitive to every odor.

[Bearded_One]

Masks, hoses, and machines are useless after they have been used in a home that has a smoker in it.

[JeffH]

Shortly after getting on the hose I went to my Mom's house to visit. Took my machine and everything and got it all hooked up to go to bed.

My mother only smokes in the bedroom of her house.

At three in the morning I woke up congested like I have never been before or since. I literally had to get up and get in the shower with the steam trying to get my nose opened up.

I haven't sleep at her house or anyone elses that smokes since.

BTW, I was a three pack a day man for 20 years. Thank God I was able to quit. You just have to quit sticking them in your mouth and lighting them....it really is that simple. I'm not saying you won't go thru some interesting withdrawals, you will.

FWIW

[Slinky]

Yup, almost as easy as quitting any other addiction: like cocaine, heroin, etc. Just put that cigarette out and quit cold turkey. Mind over matter and all that.

[echo]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Note that I do NOT smoke in the house itself, only outside...
so the only "smoke" that would be near the mask would be my own breath.

as for being sensitive to smells, I can totally understand that - I hate any and all smells. You'd think I would also be sensitive to cigarette smoke.

As for stopping... I already did cold turkey 4 times but started again after a week. Yes the withdrawl symptoms in that time were interesting. Now the doc has given my Champix, the new Zyban... I still have a "window" of 5 days to stop, and I better!!! (yeah yeah I know I said something like that last year so don't bug me!)

[Bearded_One]

I stopped smoking twice using nicotine patches. The first time I stopped smoking for over a year and I restarted smoking during a divorce. The second time has been for nearly ten years so far and I don't think that I will start smoking again.

[Slinky]

Echo, unfortunately, even tho you only smoke outside the house, there is still smoke in your lungs and that smell really does not only affect the mask but if you continue to use a mask a long time you will begin to see it turn yellow, and you will notice the top of the humidifier turn yellow too. All that gunk in your lungs, some of it does get breathed out into your mask. I've seen the mask of a smoker after it has been used a long time and the top of their humidifier. Until then I was skeptical as to how the smell could get into the device itself but now I even believe the stories of the CPAPs of smokers also smelling of smoke.

[JeffH]

Withdrawals took 11 days in my case. I remember waking up on the 12th morning and knowing I had gone thru physical withdrawal. From what I now understand about nicotine withdrawal, that's about the normal time. Anybody that tells you three days and it's over with hasn't gone thru it.

[echo]

Slinky - thanks for the info. That's what I was worried about (with respect to the mask). My mask is turning yellow , I just though that was the hard water... silly me.

JeffH - you may be right there... I also always thought it was 3 -- sort of burned into my brain. The few times I stopped I was really really peaceful the first few days but then it just kept getting worse from day 2 or 3 until a week later (which is around when I would start again) . Knowledge is power... maybe if I can just stick it out a couple of weeks it will be better after that. Who knew?? I always thought it was *3* days and after that I was just being panicky for no reason!!

Thanks guys, 1 - for all the info , and 2 - for not lecturing me... I know what I gotta do now I just gotta do it!

[MissDozer]

Echo, if you're using Chantix, see if the online support is still available. I quit almost 2 years ago using it, and so far I've not had another cigarette. The online program is a great help. Good luck with it!

[echo]

Hi Missdozer -- I looked that up, turns out it's Chantix in the US and Champix elsewhere. So I tried to log into the Chantix online support center - but you need a code that's on the box and my non-US Champix box doesn't have it. So unfortunately I can't use it Though I ran across an online thing like that last year, from some other organization.

I noticed something else intereseting - apparently some people have been suicidal using it - in the US and Canada there are tons of warnings about this, and here where I am - nothing, no mention of it at all (in the product leaflet, on the website, etc)!

[Treesap]

Quitting smoking is different for each one trying. Some have a harder time than others. I smoked socially off and on for 13 years. Toward the end, I was smoking about 2/3 pack a day. I know it's not a lot, but it's still damaging and addicting. The cigarettes I did have, I LOVED!! I quit cold turkey 14 1/2 years ago. I tried once about 1 year after I quit when I got divorced. One puff reminded me of why I didn't want to do it again.

On the other hand, I had a friend who tried to quit. She was an emotional basket case. You would have thought she broke up with her lifelong lover. She still hasn't been successful.

My dad was a 2 pack a day Camel smoker for 40 years. He said he started at 10 years old. I don't know how much he smoked at 10, but he went in the Navy when he was 18, and I'm sure it was downhill from there. He stopped cold turkey one day about 18 years ago, and he hasn't looked back since.

I have a 43 year old brother who has never grown up and has used recreational drugs throughout different times in his life. He got involved in meth for a few months and quit on his own. You don't hear about that happening too much because of the highly addictive nature of that nasty drug.

I had a boss who is a recovered heroin user. He had been recoved for over 15 years by the time I started working for him. He goes to bed at 7:00 p.m. every night. I think that helps him control any cravings he might get because he has a highly addictive personality. He drinks a lot of coffee and diet Dr. Pepper each day to curb his taste for a buzz. We had to hide the See's candy we got in the office at Christmas time because he would eat the whole box. He's not fat at all. It was an addictive behavior.


I think there are different degrees of addiction, and I'm convinved that it is genetic. What works for one person to conquer addiction is different for another. I don't claim to be an expert. I've just been an obeserver of a few people in my life.

I wish food addiction wasn't so hard. It's not like you can go cold turkey on food.

[deerslayer]

i have not smoked in Soo many years and like others don't tolerate it very well. that being said one of the blessed angels on this site graciously let me borrow a machine to test & also GAVE me a mask(HUGS--> you know who you are) . they came from a smoking house. the residual odor was soo slight that it dissipated very quickly to insignificant obscurity & i have the nose of a predator. pur sleep doesn't hurt either, but i think for some folks it's a mental thing.imho