Mold or bacteria issues inside CPAP machine?

Thanks for your opinions and insights, I appreciate it.

I have noticed that this mucus and cough are just getting worse every day. I'm going to try to see a doctor this coming week for a diagnosis. It might be as simple as allergies, or possibly I have a virus/infection/chronic sinus irritation. I'm just exhausted from it. Every night lately, I wake up about 2 hours after falling asleep with a terrible tickle at the back of my throat and tons of clear mucus. After I finally get it to settle down, I sometimes go back to sleep without my CPAP on. Last night, I woke up again 2 hours after falling asleep without the CPAP, coughing and with mucus. (And when I don't sleep with the CPAP I feel even crappier the next day, of course). Therefore, I have concluded that the CPAP isn't causing the problem (although it may be contributing to it somehow by possibly making my throat tickle more).

There are a number of things I'm going to ask my doctor about: silent reflux (which I have suffered from in the past but hasn't been a problem for years), allergies/chronic sinus irritation, lung irritation, infection, virus. It's one of those things, I'm sure. Figuring out which one will be the key. I tried an RX antihistimine spray but it didn't seem to help. Maybe I need a steroid spray instead. I'm not sure what triggered this. Allergy season is bad this year, but I had 10 years of allergy shots and generally high pollen doesn't affect me much anymore.

This all seemed to start after I was on a short course of strong antibiotics after I had surgery on my shoulder in late Feb. After a few weeks I seemed to have a sinus infection and got additional antibiotics to treat it. The cough and mucus went away, but then gradually have come back. However, I don't have any other sinus infection symptoms (face hurting, dizziness) so I doubt it's that anymore. Maybe the anesthesia irritated my sinuses and it has become chronic (???) Because I didn't have this problem before I had the shoulder surgery.

My best guess would be chronic sinus irritation. It feels like it's coming from my sinuses (really bad constant postnasal drip). I feel it during the day but it doesn't usually make me cough. The bad cough is only at night (makes sense because I'm lying down and the mucus is probably pooling in my throat).

Well anyway, today I'm going to thoroughly clean my CPAP again just in case and change the filter. Can't hurt.

You can assume that the mold spores in the air in your house is high. Depending on the filters on your machine your machine will clean the air to some degree. You might want to make a bigger filter that would come from an air cleaning machine (Hepa type filter) that would be the intake filter for the machine. Otherwise change the machines white filter and foam filter every couple days for a few weeks to see how it works. Also use a brand new hose and don't wash it and leave it on the machine for a few weeks while you change those filters every couple of days. Take the water tank an empty it everyday. Don't wipe it out with towels. Just put it back in the machine and run the machine for a few minutes to air dry it.. Everyday before you go to use the machine put the mask over your nose and turn it on to see how bad the mold smell is. If you notice the a mold smell, you can assume the mold spores in the air in the room is really high. The spores likely activate from being in the hose and tank with mild humidity and that is what you smell.

If you use air conditioning, you can assume that is loaded with mold. The air ducts are likely loaded with mold as dust will stick to the ducts.

You might have water leaks in the walls and as air comes in through the cracks around windows and the wall it could carry the mold spores into the house.

If you do have lots of mold spores in the air in your house it will contaminate the machines plastic. Your biggest problem is the air inside your own house. clean it up or move out. If you move out leave most of your possessions behind as they will be contaminated as well.

Bogready,

Bullshit

Elle wrote:Bogready,

Bullshit

Elie, you're being too kind to Bogready.

Mold in the house can be a problem. However, the CPAP machine can only lessen the problem unless you are REALLY bad with the cleaning.

You could also try the in-line filters that sponsor carries. Will not hurt and will at least let you see if something you are breathing in via CPAP is the issue, although I suspect it is just allergies. This is from someone that is a regular snot factory!

Last night, I noticed one area in my throat that seemed to have a tonsil stone. I had gotten a few out last week (I'm prone to them), but apparently I missed one. It was very difficult to remove, but with persistence I got it out. Then I used my Neti Pot and also gargled with warm salt water. I took a Lorazapam to help me sleep.

Additionally, I thoroughly cleaned the metal prongs on my Ionic Breeze and put a brand new filter in my CPAP machine. Interestingly, the new filter came not only with the black sponge, but with a white pre-filter. I'd never used that before, so I thought I'd try it.

For the first time in over a week, I slept through the night. Still a little groggy today from the Lorazapam.

I think that the tonsil stone was irritating my throat and contributing to the mucus buildup. Getting things thinned and moving with the Neti Pot was probably a good idea. And the sea salt gargle soothed my sore throat a lot. I didn't realize that the CPAP filter came with a white pre-filter, so I will be sure to use it from now on.

So, we'll see whether the problem is solved. My regular doctor is booked until July (!!) so if I need to see somebody it will have to be my second choice doctor, I suppose.

I'm still going to check my bedroom for mold, however. Even if mold wasn't the issue, I need to see whether it has come back, and treat it if it has.

Elle wrote:Bogready,

Bullshit

Do you wanna break that down and say what you have a problem with?

archangle wrote:

Elle wrote:Bogready,

Bullshit

Elie, you're being too kind to Bogready.

Mold in the house can be a problem. However, the CPAP machine can only lessen the problem unless you are REALLY bad with the cleaning.

What about the rest of the time when your not on cpap? Another thing to note is that the sponge type filter does not get mold spores out the air. They pass through the machine contaminating the plastic in the machine. Its not a big deal until the spores set in the water tank or the hose where the humidity is high enough to activate the mold. At that point the mold gets embedded in the plastic of the hose and the tank. If you turn on the machine after it sets for many hours, that first blast of air is strong with the smell of mold. That why its good to replace the hose and tank when you start getting that mold smell. Air conditioners in the summer are really bad for spreading activated mold spores through out the house.

borgready wrote:

Elle wrote:Bogready,

Bullshit

Do you wanna break that down and say what you have a problem with?

well, basically, you're a nutjob that only posts apocalyptic crap here when you go off your meds.

go take your meds.

zeeclass wrote:No, I don't take Lisinopril or anything like that.

I'm not saying that the mold is coming from inside my machine. Years ago, my bedroom had a minor mold/mildew problem due to crappy windows. We replaced the windows several years ago and cleaned up the mold/mildew with bleach water. It's possible that we didn't get it all, and I am wondering whether some of it may have gotten into the machine from the general air in the room. The air cleaner I use is an Ionic Breeze (not a heavy duty one with a hepa filter or anything like that). So it's fair to say that perhaps some mold or fungus may have gotten into my machine from the room itself.

Once your reach a certain level of temperature and humidity the mold spores activate. That when you smell the mold.

If you run an air conditioner during the summer and don't keep it running cold all the time or run the air conditioner so that the house temperature stays around 80 degrees you will likely have problems with a moldy smell from the air conditioner. When you smell mold its activated mold and its super bad for the health.

palerider wrote:

borgready wrote:

Elle wrote:Bogready,

Bullshit

Do you wanna break that down and say what you have a problem with?

I don't believe what you were telling the original poster and I believe (because she appears to worry excessively about this) that you did more harm than good....thus it was a bullshit post to me.

Elle wrote:

palerider wrote:

borgready wrote:

Elle wrote:Bogready,

Bullshit

Do you wanna break that down and say what you have a problem with?

I don't believe what you were telling the original poster and I believe (because she appears to worry excessively about this) that you did more harm than good....thus it was a bullshit post to me.

Worrying about mold is never bull shit. If you smell mold, then you have activated sources that are putting toxic material into your enviroment. Don't ignore it. Smelling mold in your cpap machine is a good clue that you may have a bigger mold problem somewhere.

If you smell it.

zeeclass wrote:Additionally, I thoroughly cleaned the metal prongs on my Ionic Breeze and put a brand new filter in my CPAP machine. Interestingly, the new filter came not only with the black sponge, but with a white pre-filter. I'd never used that before, so I thought I'd try it.

I'm still going to check my bedroom for mold, however. Even if mold wasn't the issue, I need to see whether it has come back, and treat it if it has.

PRS1 machines need the gray filter at all times. The white filter is optional, but might help. There are two forms of white filter, a normal one and a hypoallergenic one.

Change the white one once a month or when it gets dirty. Clean the gray one every two weeks, and replace them every 6 months.

While some people are hypochondriac about mold, mold in the room can be a real problem. I just don't think it tends to grow in CPAP machines. CPAP can dry out or irritate your throat, which might make mold or other things more irritating.

Be careful about checking on mold. There is a lot of hype and a lot of scam artists wanting to take advantage of you. There are even a lot of "true believers" who think they're doing good, but are mostly cleaning out your wallet, not your lungs.