Using CPAP without fileter cover..uh oh

[josh73]

So, my initial 3 month period ended and i had to send back the modem that was attached to my S9 Elite and send it back. I guess when i took it off, the filter cover with the filter fell but i didn't realize it until this morning (5 days later) when i went to change the filter. My question is, how bad is it for you not to have a filter while using CPAP? I don't feel much different except i have noticed more dry mouth this week than i have in weeks. I don't plan on making this mistake again but was curious how bad it was for you not to use a filter. Thanks guys!

[Heavylids]

The filter on there to do prety much the same thing as the filter on your furnace or air conditioner. It filters out dust, hair, pet dander, etc. It would have nothing to with your dry mouth. If you live in a dusty environment it's probably not a good idea to go without it. Probably has more to do with extending the life of your Resmed than your health. I'm pretty much a mouth breather when I sleep and until beginning CPAP and breathing air from a Resmed S9 never put a filter over my mouth to sleep.

[Pugsy]

5 days without the filter is not the end of the world..no big deal.

Filter use or non use....won't be the reason for dry mouth or not dry mouth under normal circumstances.

Watch the dry mouth...and watch your reports..especially the leak line...it doesn't take much mouth breathing to dry out the mouth...as long as you can't spot it on the leak line...probably not bad enough to impact therapy.. but do keep and I out for it just in case.

I sometimes wake up with dry mouth and my mouth is open (usually middle of the night)...I look at my reports and there simply is no evidence of any leak beyond my normal little variances. So I assume that my time with mouth open was brief and not long enough to impact therapy.
So just watch it...make sure that you aren't losing therapy pressure out the mouth.
It will show as a large leak if it is prolonged.

[-tim]

There are two huge sponges inside the S9... If your air is clean, no problem.

This is the S9 major design flaw. There should be a second filter or it should be easy to change. They could have done that if they didn't go for "snap" design and you will break the case if try to take it apart. Its also a mess if water gets in there.

I'm thinking someone should come up with a standard inlet design to allow the different filter levels that different people may need.

(Hint to FP and Ph... And I'll crack apart any cpap machine anyone loans me and evaluate it too)