Re: Should we dehumidify? Use water in CPAPS?

[Guest guest]

You know, a friend of mine is a licensed esthetician who received a letter from the state of California about halting all use of the motorized foot baths due to the ability of a various bacteria to adhere to the inner workings of the baths, regardless of all efforts to sanitize. According to the local news, a flesh eating bacteria had managed to make its way into some nail salon a woman actually died after her leg became infected and treatments failed. We also recently lost a local teen age boy to a staph skin infection that would not respond to treatment. The point is, you may be sanitizing your machine, but that doesn't mean it's not harboring some nasty bugs. If it were me, I'd talk to my doctor and see if there's any other way to use your cpap without adding water. Perhaps you could use one of the nasal emollients out there? Oil based. That could actually be beneficial in

fighting the bugs and the biofilms they created to protect themselves. pennya Carnes <pj7@...> wrote: I don't think anyone in Las Vegas needs a dehumidifier. They might need to be sure they turn on the bathroom vent when taking a shower. I also do not think it is safe to use humidifiers or breathe in steam. Generally the humidifiers cannot be kept clean enough to be safe. As to CPAP - using a water tray - it is almost impossible to sleep here without the moisture added having extremely dry air pushed into your lungs for 8 hours. The tray must be cleaned every day and only distilled clean water should be replaced every day. Tubes and filters should be cleaned probably once a week. Actually this system of clean, filtered moist air tends, over time, to relieve virtually all airborne allergies and is one of the great aspects of a CPAP machine. This has been my experience as well, except when traveling and staying in mold contaminated and chemical contaminated hotels - most are. Here are stats on good levels of humidity and the level of relative humidity in Las Vegas, NV. You will note

that our humidity level is so low we don't even have to worry about dust mites. The United States Environmental Protection Agency cites the ASHRAE Standard 55-1992 Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy, which recommends keeping relative humidity between 30% and 60%, with below 50% preferred to control dust mites. At high humidity sweating is less effective so we feel hotter; thus the desire to remove humidity from air with air conditioning in the summer. In the winter, heating cold

outdoor air can decrease indoor relative humidity levels to below 30%, leading to discomfort such as dry skin and excessive thirst. Rrelative humidity level averages in northwest Las Vegas Monthly Averages Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Rain Inches .50 .50 .40 .20 .25 .15 .40 .50 .30 .25 .40 .35 Humidity % 30 26 20 15 13 10 15 18 17 19 27 33 Days of Sun 24 22 25 26 27 28 27 26 28 27 24 24 a Carnes Las Vegas, NV No virus found in this outgoing message.Checked by AVG Free Edition.Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.20.8/1289 - Release Date: 2/20/2008 10:26 AM

[Guest guest]

Oh, and I sort of got off track from my main point. Even if your machine IS sterile, which is questionable at best, your sinuses aren't. And many of the bugs we're infected with like moisture. So just adding the purest of water is aiding and abetting the bugs. That's why I'd look into some kind of oil as a substitute emollient, see if you get any relief from the headaches when you withdraw all the moisture. pennyPenny Houle <pennyhoule@...> wrote: You know, a friend of mine is a licensed

esthetician who received a letter from the state of California about halting all use of the motorized foot baths due to the ability of a various bacteria to adhere to the inner workings of the baths, regardless of all efforts to sanitize. According to the local news, a flesh eating bacteria had managed to make its way into some nail salon a woman actually died after her leg became infected and treatments failed. We also recently lost a local teen age boy to a staph skin infection that would not respond to treatment. The point is, you may be sanitizing your machine, but that doesn't mean it's not harboring some nasty bugs. If it were me, I'd talk to my doctor and see if there's any other way to use your cpap without adding water. Perhaps you could use one of the nasal emollients out there? Oil based. That could actually be beneficial in fighting the bugs and the biofilms they created to

protect themselves. pennya Carnes <pj7@...> wrote: I don't think anyone in Las Vegas needs a dehumidifier. They might need to be sure they turn on the bathroom vent when taking a shower. I also do not think it is safe to use humidifiers or breathe in steam. Generally the humidifiers cannot be kept clean enough to be safe. As to CPAP - using a water tray - it is almost impossible to sleep here without the moisture added having extremely dry air pushed into your lungs for 8 hours. The tray must be cleaned every day and only distilled clean water should be replaced every day. Tubes and

filters should be cleaned probably once a week. Actually this system of clean, filtered moist air tends, over time, to relieve virtually all airborne allergies and is one of the great aspects of a CPAP machine. This has been my experience as well, except when traveling and staying in mold contaminated and chemical contaminated hotels - most are. Here are stats on good levels of humidity and the level of relative humidity in Las Vegas, NV. You will note that our humidity level is so low we don't even have to worry about dust mites. The United States Environmental Protection Agency cites the ASHRAE Standard 55-1992 Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy, which recommends keeping relative humidity between 30% and 60%, with below 50% preferred to control dust mites. At high humidity sweating is less effective so we feel hotter; thus the desire to remove humidity from air with air conditioning in the summer. In the winter, heating cold outdoor air can decrease indoor relative humidity levels to below 30%, leading to discomfort such as dry skin and excessive thirst. Rrelative humidity level averages in northwest Las Vegas Monthly Averages Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Rain Inches .50 .50 .40 .20 .25 .15 .40 .50 .30 .25 .40 .35 Humidity % 30 26 20 15 13 10 15 18 17 19 27 33 Days of Sun 24 22 25 26 27 28 27 26 28 27 24 24 a Carnes Las Vegas, NV No virus found in this outgoing message.Checked by AVG Free Edition.Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.20.8/1289 - Release Date:

2/20/2008 10:26 AM

[Guest guest]

SALINE! basically it doesn't allow for the slime biofilm

formations..I think if you look at salted foods, even though they may

have high bacteria numbers, the slime and toxins are not evident to

destroy the food- basoically due to the nature of a salty environment.

> I don't think anyone in Las Vegas needs a dehumidifier.

They might need to be sure they turn on the bathroom vent when taking

a shower. I also do not think it is safe to use humidifiers or

breathe in steam. Generally the humidifiers cannot be kept clean

enough to be safe.

>

> As to CPAP - using a water tray - it is almost impossible to

sleep here without the moisture added having extremely dry air pushed

into your lungs for 8 hours. The tray must be cleaned every day and

only distilled clean water should be replaced every day. Tubes and

filters should be cleaned probably once a week. Actually this system

of clean, filtered moist air tends, over time, to relieve virtually

all airborne allergies and is one of the great aspects of a CPAP

machine. This has been my experience as well, except when traveling

and staying in mold contaminated and chemical contaminated hotels -

most are.

>

> Here are stats on good levels of humidity and the level of

relative humidity in Las Vegas, NV. You will note that our humidity

level is so low we don't even have to worry about dust mites.

>

> The United States Environmental Protection Agency cites the

ASHRAE Standard 55-1992 Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human

Occupancy, which recommends keeping relative humidity between 30% and

60%, with below 50% preferred to control dust mites. At high humidity

sweating is less effective so we feel hotter; thus the desire to

remove humidity from air with air conditioning in the summer. In the

winter, heating cold outdoor air can decrease indoor relative

humidity levels to below 30%, leading to discomfort such as dry skin

and excessive thirst.

>

> Rrelative humidity level averages in northwest Las Vegas

>

> Monthly Averages Jan Feb Mar Apr

May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Rain

Inches .50 .50 .40 .20 .25 .15 .40 .50 .30 .25 .40 .35

Humidity % 30 26 20 15 13 10 15 18 17 19 27

33 Days of Sun 24 22 25 26 27 28 27 26 28 27 24

24

>

> a Carnes

> Las Vegas, NV

>

>

> No virus found in this outgoing message.

> Checked by AVG Free Edition.

> Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.20.8/1289 - Release Date:

2/20/2008 10:26 AM

>