Getting Rainout in your Tubing?

This is caused by the heated and humidified air in the CPAP tubing being substantially warmer than the air outside the tubing. If your CPAP machine doesn’t have built-in ambient tracking (like the Fisher & Paykel HC220 series); there are a few ideas that can help. First of all, you can turn down the temperature of your heated humidifier. If you want to keep the level of humidification the same, you can also try insulating the tubing. You can put most of the tubing under the bed covers as possible, wrap the tubing with bubble wrap or cut the ends out of tube socks and string them along the tubing and tape in place. Snugglehose makes a tube of soft arctic fleece to resolve this problem.

Pressure Sores?

There are a number of tips to try and resolve this problem. Start off by loosening the straps on your headgear. Having your mask on too tight is bound to cause sores. There are also a few products on the market that can help. Moleskin is a sports related product that has a sticky side and a soft side. Putting a small piece on the area of the mask that causes the sore can help. Another product is a zinc-oxide based adhesive tape (latex-free) that you can place on the areas of your face that get sore. A few brand names include Hy-tape® and Megazinc Pink ®.

Definition: \Com*pli"ance\, n. 1. The act of complying; a yielding; as to a desire, demand, or proposal; concession; submission. Medicine. Willingness to follow a prescribed course of treatment.

Compliance can be a touchy issue in CPAP therapy. Although CPAP therapy can be life-enhancing and indeed, life-saving, it can be pretty tough to comply with the therapy if your mask is ill-fitting, leaking and leaving sores on your face.

There are a few things to consider when thinking about whether or not to continue your therapy:

Be sure to take your CPAP unit with you when traveling. It not only keeps you breathing throughout the night, it allows those around you to sleep too. Have your instruction booklet with you when crossing the border or going through the airport. It explains what the machine is, and how it works and may save you some time and grief with the tighter security at those places.

CPAP Machine – There is really no maintenance schedule to keep for the machine itself, other than dusting.

Inlet Filter – The filter should be flushed under running tap water on a regular basis (every week or two, depending on the amount of dust in your home, pets, etc.) DO NOT use soap on this as it is very difficult to get the soap residue completely out. Make sure the filter is dry before replacing it in the machine.

Hose – The manufacturers generally recommend washing with mild dish detergent, rinsing well and hanging to dry. Unless you rinse the hose extremely well, you may get soap residue left in the hose. Another way is to use a 10% solution of vinegar and water and then rinsing. Vinegar and water make a weak disinfectant and helps prevent bacteria from growing. Rinse well and hang to dry.

Humidifier Chamber – Place a 10% vinegar/water solution (1 part vinegar to 9 parts water) in the humidifier chamber for ½ hour weekly to loosen up any mineral build-up. Rinse well. If you are using tap or filtered water instead of distilled, you may have to do this more often as minerals can create small holes in the bottom of some chambers.

CPAP Mask – The mask itself should be washed with mild dish detergent and water every day. Any oily residue left on the mask from your skin can make the mask material harden and crack. You can extend the life of your mask by cleaning it regularly. A well cared for mask can last 12 to 18 months.

Headgear – You can wash the headgear in a washing machine. I recommend that you make sure any Velcro tabs are secured and that you use a lingerie bag, just to make sure that the Velcro doesn’t get stuck on any other clothing. Hand washing with mild dish detergent is another solution

Hose Suspension

Suspending the 6’ hose can be useful to keep it from dragging on your mask (and possibly created leaks) when you move about in bed. Here are a few ideas to do this:

1. Take an elastic band or strip of cloth and wrap it around the hose. Then pin it to your mattress so that you have about 2 feet of hose attached to the mask. That way, when you move around, you are only dragging a small amount of hose.

2. Hangs your hose over a desk lamp that is articulated. It carries the weight of the hose and has the added benefit of swinging a little when you move in bed.

Mask Leaks

Here are a few ideas to deal with mask leaks:

• Be sure not to over-tighten straps. The top straps should be fairly loose, and the lower straps should be snug enough to keep the mask from leaking.
  
  
• Facial oils can cause a mask to leak in the middle of the night. If you find your mask leaking, wipe your face with a damp cloth as well as the mask seal. And just as a reminder, you should be washing your face (but not moisturizing) every night to remove the facial oils, as well as washing your mask (any part that touches your face) every morning. You will get a better seal, and increase the life of your mask.
  
  
• Mask headgear stretch out over time. You may have to adjust the straps slightly to snug the mask up again. Be sure not to over-tighten! (This can’t emphasized enough!)
  
  
  

Distilled Water – What is it???

For those with humidifiers for their CPAP’s, it is important to use the correct type of water. For best results, use distilled water. This is available in grocery or drug stores and the label will say “Distilled’. The idea behind distilled water is that most of the minerals have been removed. Using water that is labeled “spring” or “mineral” water is actually very bad for your humidifier. It leaves mineral and lime deposits in your chamber similar to those found in a coffee kettle (sometimes even more than tap water) and if you use a heated humidifier with an aluminum bottom (such as those in the Fisher & Paykel machines) you will generally find that any water other than distilled will produce tiny holes in the bottom of the chamber.