FLY BOMB and my CPAP machine

Oh Montana, are you a fly. Is that why you are so concerned?

montana wrote: Is my machine TOAST ?

montana, I was curious about your problem,
so I talked to our resident pesticide expert at my work.
He kills weeds for a living and is very good at it.
If you're interested let me know exactly what the
active ingredients are of the product you used.
I can run it past him.
His general thoughts are,
clean the filter w/soap and water,
clean all the parts, mask/hose/machine,
wipe down the surrounding area,
vacuum everything.
Run the system for some time in a clean environment.

Let me know.

Carbonman's offer reminded me of something.

If you still have the packaging, there should be a phone number for "poison control" type questions, give them a call. They are extremely helpful. I had to call once because my dog (a puppy at the time) thought one of the ant bait traps was fun to chew on. While your situation probably isn't as common, I would think that they would be able to help.

Great idea, #2.

I think that this will put Montana's mind at ease.

Unless the machine was running, it is extremely unlikely that any of the chemicals entered your machine. Even if your machine were running slowly, the filters would probably do what they are supposed to do and filter the chemicals out of the air before it enters the machine. The filters would protect the intake, and the length of the hose and the humidifier would protect the exhaust. I would thoroughly wash the hose and mask with soap (along with replacing the filters). Actually, I would replace the hose, but that is just because I have several of them and I am too lazy to wash a hose.

just gonna put this out there.

I visited my MIL overnight awhile ago. The machine was not running and in the case until I went to bed. She is a smoker. She went to bed an hour before I did. The next day when I got home that thing REEKED and was blowing stale cigarette smell up my nose.

So although no one smoked while the machine was on or running it still picked up the residual from the house when I unpacked it and used it only about 6 hours. After using it I packed it back up and got back on the road.

I would be very concerned about picking up residual chemicals from in the house personally. That said. I did run my machine outside for about 20 minutes the day after I got home and it was fine after that but still. I'd be one taking up Johnny on his offer or at minimum calling the manufacturer/dme to get real answers after finding out what chemicals exactly were used.

I however was freaked out using a mosquito coil at the cottage in the same room as my machine too.

My approach would be 2 fold.

#1. Take Johnny up on his VERY generous offer. Your health is not worth a risk. The money spent on a new CPAP is money well spent when you consider the peace of mind you will receive in exchange.

#2. Follow all the directions from the good folks here to clean your old CPAP. Contact Poison Control and also the Tech Support line for the manufacturer of your machine. You can also look up the MSDS (material Safety Data Sheet) for teh active ingredients in the spray on the net to see what the possible respiratory complications could be and how to clean the chemical. If everyone you talk to agrees that it will be okay, you will then have a back-up unit for emergencies.

Just my thoughts. Good luck, and try to not be too hard on your husband. I'm sure he feels terrible about it. Non-hose-heads normally wouldn't think twice about it. It took me a year to convince my wife to stop spraying furniture polish on the nightstand while my machine was sitting on it.....lemoney fresh pledge doesn't smell too good when it is being forced up your nose... =)

billbolton wrote:

BlackSpinner wrote:Mt resmed is always moving some air unless I unplug

Unless you have fault in your S8 Elite flow generator, it does not always move air.

It will move air at low velocity for a short while (I've never timed it exactly, but its about 20 to 30 minutes or so) after you have ceased treatment, to clear any condensate from the humidifier completely out of the air circuit.

Yup - my DME told me to leave the machine plugged in for 30-45 minutes after I turn it off to clear out the condensate but after that, it doesn't move air. Air may move in and out of it a bit due to fans/AC/etc in my apartment, but the machine itself isn't pulling in air from the surrounding area. You can hear it go silent when it shuts off completely.

Have three identical side-by-side rooms, that have no odors and have normal ventilation. Use the center room as a control. In one room have a one hour cocktail party with people smoking cigarettes. At the same time, in the other room, release a fly bomb. Follow the fly bomb manufacturer's instructions concerning airing out of the room after it has been "bombed" and duplicate the airing out of the cocktail party room and the control room.

The next day, go into all three rooms and smell them; go into the control first, fly bomb room second, and then the cocktail party room. The odor and chemicals from the fly bomb will probably have dissipated and broken down, while in the cocktail party room, you are very likely to still smell cigarette smoke. If you smell anything in the control room, it is very likely that it will be cigarette smoke.

I've lived thru several in door bug fogging episodes in the years I've been on cpap. I'd have to say the night I spent at my Mother's house in my first year of use was the worst experience by far...she's a smoker.

I never thought about it before, but the most I've done is cover my equipment with a towel to not doing anything. Not even a left over smell that I can remember. I think you are way over reacting to this. I'd change the filters if you think you need to and continue on.

FWIW


JeffH

The odor and chemicals from the fly bomb will probably have dissipated and broken down, while in the cocktail party room, you are very likely to still smell cigarette smoke.

Just because you can't smell it doesn't mean it can't hurt you.

Anecdote:
In Nova Scotia they built a bright new state of the art hospital in the late 80's. They made a few mistakes with the ventilation system - they put the air intake next to the exhausts amongst other things. The hospital is now closed - it became the ultimate in sick building. Nova Scotia is now in the fore front of environmental allergy treatments because most of the medical staff came down with environmental allergies. It is amazing how fast the medical community will accept new concepts when its leaders all become sick with it.

Don't breathe in chemicals even if you can't smell them.

Goofproof wrote: Then I would hook it up on my husband for 8 hours, then check his color. If he is still breathing and not blue or twiching, it might be safe

That is what my wife would do. Heck, she probably wouldn't even air it out!

Take Johnny up on his generous offer and let your husband live.

Another suggestion is to use this for a mask!!

teresamichele wrote:

billbolton wrote:

BlackSpinner wrote:Mt resmed is always moving some air unless I unplug

Unless you have fault in your S8 Elite flow generator, it does not always move air.

It will move air at low velocity for a short while (I've never timed it exactly, but its about 20 to 30 minutes or so) after you have ceased treatment, to clear any condensate from the humidifier completely out of the air circuit.

Yup - my DME told me to leave the machine plugged in for 30-45 minutes after I turn it off to clear out the condensate but after that, it doesn't move air. Air may move in and out of it a bit due to fans/AC/etc in my apartment, but the machine itself isn't pulling in air from the surrounding area. You can hear it go silent when it shuts off completely.

Sorry that this question is not on topic for this thread, but I'd like to know.

Exactly HOW does the resmed xpap do this? I'm assuming that the humidifier is still connected in line with the blower and that it contains whatever water was left over from last night and that water will still be warm from when the heater was "on". It appears that the ONLY difference is that the humidifier's heater likely will be off during this drying period. So how does the xpap dry the hose when it's operating substantially like it did when the system was feeding air to you last night?

Hose_Head wrote:So how does the xpap dry the hose when it's operating substantially like it did when the system was feeding air to you last night?

It doesn't dry it. I remove the water container from the machine, and disconnect the hose and hang it to dry, like my DME told me to do when they set me up. So - the machine is just clearing itself out, not the hose. I don't think anyone expects the machine to dry the hose after you turn off the pressure.

teresamichele wrote:

Hose_Head wrote:So how does the xpap dry the hose when it's operating substantially like it did when the system was feeding air to you last night?

It doesn't dry it. I remove the water container from the machine, and disconnect the hose and hang it to dry, like my DME told me to do when they set me up. So - the machine is just clearing itself out, not the hose. I don't think anyone expects the machine to dry the hose after you turn off the pressure.

So the follow-on question is: what is being cleared out of the machine? It's taking in, pressurizing, and discharging air just as it did when you were using it. What's changed and what's the purpose of the post-treatment cycle if it's not to dry the system?

Secondly: your description suggests that you discard the leftover water and refill the humidifier every night. Is this correct?