Darn. Loaner cpap doesn't have humidifier

I'm using a loaner (ResMed Autoset 2) while I try to figure out if my regular machine is malfunctioning. When she handed it to me without a humidifier, I thought "I'll just use my humidifier".........but its made differently and I can't do that. I really need humidification. This test isn't going to work without it. Is there any way I can somehow get humidity in there?? Could I rinse my tubing out and leave alot of the water in there?? Any ideas at all?
I had no idea that they didn't loan a humidifier too.
Thanks.

If your present humidifier doesn't work with your loaner and you need one, you might want to ask the DME to also loan you a humidifier. It could either be an integrated humidifier made to fit your loaner or it could be a stand alone humidifier that will work with any machine.

ewww that sucks.

As a temporary solution, if you aren't able to get a loaner HH (as bearded_two says there are standalone ones), could you try to use an old CPAP hose to rig the air outtake from the CPAP to the air intake to your old humidifer? I tried to see the pics for you loaner and your existing HH but I couldn't tell. Not sure what kinds of weird air pressure loss you would get though with a huge hose between the CPAP and the humidifer.
So yeah get the loaner humidifier!

Yuck, I had to go a whole month plus without a humidifier because my HMO does home titrations and does not include a humidifier (they claim there is "no way" to clean a humidifier between patients--not sure I believe that). It was only supposed to be a week, but because of their staffing issues it dragged on more than a month.

I had to be very vigilant about nasal rinses twice a day (OK, I cheat and only used nasal mist, but it was enough), drank extra fluids, and used chap stick on my lips when using a FF mask.

It was miserable, but not as miserable as it would have been had I not done these things.

Also, a room humidifier might help and they are not too costly.

Thanks everyone,
I'm afraid if I tried to connect the loaner machine to my humidifier, my numbers might be inaccurate because of it......but thanks for trying!
The room humidifier might be the way to go. I have a small one. Or maybe I can just submerge the loaner in a bucket of water??
I know what it feels like to not have humidity through a machine and its horrible. I usually keep my regular machine's humidifier set on almost high all the time.
The saline rinses are a good idea too.
Even if I can't get humidified enough with this loaner, hopefully I'll still get to see if my numbers are any better than on my machine. Even if I wake up in the middle of the night, needing to go back to my humidified machine, I will probably still be able to see if my numbers are any better by then. My sinuses really burn without humidity.
We'll see. If you don't hear from me again, I dried up and blew away!

I don't understand why the humidifier that works on the S8 Elite won't work on the S8 Autoset you were loaned. Something doesn't make sense here.

O.

My machine is an Autoset Vantage and the loaner is an Autoset 2. Its constructed differently and there's no place to hook my humidifier into it, and it wouldn't have a lid.

If your script called for a humidifier, your loaner should have one. The AutoSet II takes an H3i or H4i. Only the tank of the humidifier would need to be replaced because of patient usage. When my AutoSet II broke, the DME let me use Autoset Vantage. The RT went and got a new tank for Vantage. I hope you can work this out.

m

DUH!!! I just called Lincare and she talked me through it. I feel so stupid. I was trying to just move the little plastic water container to the other machine. I didn't realize that I had to move an entire section of the machine (with the hot plate) over to the other machine! (Mine came put together and I didn't realize the size of the entire humidifier part!
Voile! I've got humidity! YAY!
I used a room humidifier last night, set on high and this morning there was a fog in my room!
Now I can really test this out. My numbers on this other machine, for the 5 hours that I was able to tolerate no humidity, were better than they've been in 3 months. I'll do this for several more days, and if it consistently shows good numbers, then I'll call ResMed about my malfunctioning machine.
I'm just not sure if its putting incorrect numbers up, or if it isn't delivering the pressure/air its supposed to.
Hey....this could be a science fair project.

glad you got it to work for you

We all have our moments. Mine was when I had to have rooster explain to me THREE times why I would get a dry mouth with a full face mask

Thanks echo.
One of my other "senior moments" was the other night, as I was talking to my son on my cell phone, I was walking around looking everywhere, saying "where the heck did I put my cell phone?" My son said "ah mom......its by your ear."
Hopefully after I get my cpap machine troubles figured out and get better sleep, I'll get a little smarter. (But I'm not holding my breath!)

that's great, i did the EXACT same thing a few months ago

good luck sleeping better with the new machine

Thanks echo!

Most dme's dont loan humidifiers because they arent supposed to use them on multiple patient's. I would ask them to provide you with a loaner cpap that would work with your current humidifier. It is not an outrageous request so they should work with you.