Cleaning and maintaining your equipment and supplies is essential to your CPAP therapy. Whenever moisture is present, bacteria or mold can grow. Bacteria build up can lead to infections in your body, especially in your airway passages. Also, the oils in your skin and the minerals in tap water can cause premature breakdown in the materials used to manufacture your CPAP equipment, especially your mask. For these reasons it is important to properly clean and dry your equipment on a regular basis.
The following chart will help you properly care for your equipment:
As always, if you experience any trouble with your equipment or have questions about supplies, don't hesitate to
contact us!
Avoiding Water Damage:
It's important to change the distilled water in your humidifier on a daily basis. When changing the water, please be sure to remove the water chamber from the unit before filling. You should also avoid moving your unit when water is in the humidifier chamber. We're seeing several CPAPs that have water damage inside due to moving the unit while the humidifier contains water, overfilling the chamber, or accidentally pulling the unit off of the nightstand.
We have a
CPAP Holder available to keep your unit securely in place and free up space on your nightstand. Just slide the CPAP holder between your mattress and box spring, and the Velcro will secure your CPAP to the shelf!
The Importance of Heated Humidity:
When we breathe, our airways warm and moisten the incoming air for our lungs. Healthy lungs function under very specific conditions (37°F and 100% humidity). If we are ever exposed to air that's too dry or cold for our lungs, our nose attempts to add warmth and moisture. But in doing so, it can become overwhelmed. As a result, we experience nose and throat symptoms such as a sore/dry throat, nasal congestion, a runny nose, or in extreme cases- a nose bleed.
During CPAP therapy, up to 75% of users experience these kinds of side effects as a result of the dry CPAP air. Heated humidification is an important adjunct to CPAP therapy in order to prevent these annoying symptoms from occurring. As always, if you continue to experience problems, please contact one of our Respiratory Therapists at 716-667-9600 option 8.