British Snoring & Sleep Apnoea Association

Hi, still on a learning curve with cpap,and am still trying to establish a regular routine. Would anyone care to share their mask cleaning regime, both in an ideal world and also when extremely pushed for time. Should I be picking apart all the components of my full face mask every day?
I care for my elderly Mam and sometimes my 'to-do' list is longer than my arm.
I understand the importance of cleaning it, and prioritising things, but I shuttle backwards and forwards between two houses from morning till night, and sometimes I run out of Day. Am trying to keep the nights for sleeping!!!
Would welcome any advice. Thanks, Sue.

hello sue, as nm says mine is about the same, daily wiping of parts of mask that is contact with skin, but humidifeir is approx every 2 -3 weeks, in dishwasher, I still use tap water, & as my water is quite soft, with very little lime scale build up, I do not use vinegar, which if you do be carefull to rince copiously. I also rinse the tube out at same time as humidifer, having a spare one I usualy interchange and let the other dry fully and where possible let it hang outside. The daily routine takes about 5 minutes, rest well probably 20 mins top.

Hi guys, thanks for replies, again! I'm glad you're keeping me right. I was starting to feel guilty if I couldn't take mask apart every day, like I was cheating.
I wasn't given a humidifier when I got my machine, so far no nasal probs.
This is 4th morning woken up with no chest pain/wind, having slept on my back again, maybe I've got that part cracked!
Hope you're both ok, best wishes, Sue.

Hi NM, thanks for update! Must confess, hadn't had time to strip mask down every day and was feeling really guilty about it. Improvising is good!!!
Having posted this query, I discovered you, and Leng and others had already covered subject with other users. Don't know how you have the patience to keep repeating yourselves, but much nicer for you to have done that, than just refer us newbies to previous posts! Thank you!
Best wishes again, Sue.

Hi, all of you folks who are replying to me are GREAT! You know who you are, I don't think I could be doing this without you all. I thought I was alone too. Don't want to be over-dramatic, but this place is my lifeline. I've had more info and support here than from the very overworked NHS dept that diagnosed me.
My hubby is having to fight me for online time!
Hope you're all well, and enjoy rest of weekend yourselves, best wishes, Sue.

Mac, no spare cash for that, will have to make sure I win the fights! Or make him buy his own laptop, hmmm!
Sue.

Sue, for me too this forum was a lifeline, especially as living in France, I had no local support. There is now a 'group' to which I pay a membership fee, and receive a newsletter very firmly directed at the elderly: I should add that the 'administrators' of this group are also older than I am, and although I'm 53 (which I do NOT consider to be old!!!) there is nothing mentioned to help the new users or younger users. HURRAY FOR THIS FORUM!!!

I'm delighted to hear that you are making progress, and your feedback certainly helps many others who read but don't yet feel that they can post. And of us 'oldtimers', it's great to hear positive news!

To get back to the point, I don't clean my CPAP as often as many of you do ... say once a fortnight .... but it hasn't done me any harm so far, and that's after at least 12 years of using a machine.

Keep posting and all good wishes! (And to the valiant posters who have helped me so much and still have lots of support and good advice to share. You know who you are!!!)

Alsa 12 years of cpap, how the hell have you managed to keep so positive all this time. You must have felt you were in that very dark world all too often..........

It's the folk who make up sites like this who keep me going ... plus the firm commitment that this sort of set up is for life ............ because I like life and want to have as long as one as possible!!

(I was also suffering from reactive depression but that had nothing to do with the CPAP, except that the antidepressant made me excessively sleepy and I spent often 18 hours in bed ... I am now 'off' Seroxat 14 months and have no intention of returning to it even though I suffer from dysthemic depression, and want to enjoy life because you only get one chance at it!!)

It's thanks to people like your goodselves that keep me going, and I have a fantastically kind lung doc who can see beyond the physical bits (yes, I'm overweight!!) and show particular kindness to all his patients ... as long as you accept that his appointments always run late, and bring a book with you!

alsa don't be hard on your self, I am not as slim as I used to be, more wrinkly and lots more wisdom with the ever so increasing grey air yet showing those lines of lfe experienced.

I went through a phase of being bullied at work by a female colleage, spent months thinking of suicide not seeing any future to life, having panic attacks, dreading the phone ringing, and every morning trying to make myself sick so as to have an excuse to stay in bed, or not go out. ironic 15 years erlier, that so ever so emotionaly retarded person was also my student searching for knowledge from a very energetic colourful flamboyant person. In the end I decided to call it a day.

Thought to myself, surely not all people are lunatics and surely there are nice people, of course as you and I well know, you can only reep what you sow. I had to spend many months reflecting what my profession did for me, along with the many people I met. Why lord did she get a man's name? and be rewarded with a body of a stick insect. Was I to feel sorry for self or her, well the answer was given openly. neither, get up go out and forgive myself for knowing her. Then I remembered what an old consultant said to me, your build is your personality. the bigger the person the bigger personality.

Depression often a word miss represented, and ignored or all to often played down by the ever so well meaning people in this world, or for all to judge even for unlikeliness to have the pleasure of knowing. Yet if we are to judge people by the initial glance, the miss of beauty is all to often not seen, Like a hand full of silicone / sand, all to often slipped from our fingers, without knowledge of care and attention it can all to often become one of the most beautifull things man can ever have a chance to hold.

Take care alsa

Hi Alsa and Leng, thanks again for your updates, I had a quick look at an American OSA site forum via a link, and some of the people there don't even clean their kit once a month Alsa! As one 'postee' replied to them, "Hey Guys, you're grossing me out!) I think I've found a happy medium now for cleaning, and feel better for it.
I know now why Mac and NM call you Dr. Leng! You offer constructive and friendly advice with plenty of background knowledge and personal experience. As Alsa says, all the folks on here are GREAT! I have a bunch of new friends who know what I'm talking about! And more importantly, understand.
A bientot!!! Take care, Sue.

Thanks sue, from my old nursing fable, cleanliness is next to godliness, but too much soon becomes an obsession, along with increasing the risks of alergies. Most of our auto immune system is made up from our body being able to remember parasitic, or many of the miner infections, but if or when they become unrecognised, our system will automaticaly become at war with even the miner issue, at any time.

Sadly our society have allowed the many chemical companies brain wash us with adverts like kills 99% of known germs, problem, is not known ones, but unknown ones. The use of more chemicals if not at known strength or not allowed to remain on contact for correct amount of time, or even used at incorrect temperatures, the risk of mutating is increased.

If germs are allowed to develop, they always need heat, (8 to 15 c) moisture, and food to grow on, (dirt any protein is all that is allowed, even the germ it self) reduce any one of those 3 main things, the reduction of growth or prevention to mature, will be achieved. so just well rinsing with cold water and being allowed to dry in reduced temps, will be quite affective, as with tube if not wet all the time, growth is automaticaly reduced.

Although I am a firm believer of good soap and hot water, with cold rinsing and allowed to dry, the kick back is as suggested in the begining, knowing each day the machine is turned off for at least 14 hours. and if the windows are open so allowed to vent, many things are automaticaly achieved. But I would bet you will already know that.

Take it easy.