Illness from CPAP

[classysassy]

I was wondering if anyone has ever gotten sick from an uncleaned/unsanitized CPAP machine. What were your symptoms and what was the incubation period after exposure?
Thanks in advance.

[Julie]

Can you please say the model of what machine you're talking about and what you mean by unclean/unsanitized? Under what conditions?

Cpaps are closed and only the outsides exposed, except for where the filter goes and the hose exits. People don't get sick from them, they get better from apnea. But if you believe you got sick (symptoms?) can you give more detail about what happened and why you think the machine is at fault? Most cleaning consists of wiping the outside with a baby wipe.

[palerider]

I was wondering if anyone has ever gotten sick from an uncleaned/unsanitized CPAP machine. What were your symptoms and what was the incubation period after exposure?
Thanks in advance.

CPAPs don't cause disease, and the vast majority of the germs that may be on a mask/hose have come from the user, with the rest of them floating around in the air in the bedroom.

I get sick much less often since starting CPAP. I used to have at least one sinus infection a year before getting on CPAP.

[chunkyfrog]

Same here.
I used to have at least one severe respiratory infection a year--including pneumonia.
In the 13 years since I started, I have had fewer than a handful of simple colds;
and flu only once or twice.
Cpap is awesome!

[Conrad]

I was wondering if anyone has ever gotten sick from an uncleaned/unsanitized CPAP machine. What were your symptoms and what was the incubation period after exposure?
Thanks in advance.

How in the world would someone KNOW that their CPAP machine made them sick? In order to prove that a CPAP machine made them sick the machine would have to be tested by a lab and then disassembled and tested again to determine whether it was the machine or something else that made them sick.

[classysassy]

To clarify, the air outlet where the hose connects to the Airsense 11, was dirty with some kind of growth inside. So I was just wondering if anyone has ever determined that they got sick from using a machine that was not cleaned.

[chunkyfrog]

No, any "dirt" comes from you and your home.
The cpap does not produce anything that was not there already.
All you need to do is wipe away any visible soil.
And stop paying attention to companies that sell cpap "cleaners"--
BECAUSE THEY DON'T.
Beware of scams!

[Wulfman...]

I was wondering if anyone has ever gotten sick from an uncleaned/unsanitized CPAP machine. What were your symptoms and what was the incubation period after exposure?
Thanks in advance.

How in the world would someone KNOW that their CPAP machine made them sick? In order to prove that a CPAP machine made them sick the machine would have to be tested by a lab and then disassembled and tested again to determine whether it was the machine or something else that made them sick.

EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!

This is an absurd question to begin with.
Keep your intake filters clean and use distilled water and you won't have anything to worry about.
You're more likely to catch something from someone else.

Den

.

[KittenZero]

Wait. I don't have to clean my mask with soap and water every day? Or clean all my tubing with soap and water once a week? As long as I am changing the filter and using distilled water?
Because honestly I loose track of days and can't remember when I last ran soapy water through the tubes and they DO NOT dry out by bed time!

[Julie]

Most of us never wash the hoses (well, maybe once a year, if that) because there's no need to. Distilled water is only for the humidifier, not 'washing' otherwise. And baby wipes weekly usually do the job on the mask.

[amenite]

Wait. I don't have to clean my mask with soap and water every day? Or clean all my tubing with soap and water once a week? As long as I am changing the filter and using distilled water?
Because honestly I loose track of days and can't remember when I last ran soapy water through the tubes and they DO NOT dry out by bed time!

I clean part of my mask every day, but that's only because it goes inside my mouth. It can get pretty funky in there as anyone's toothbrush can attest to Other than that it's a filter change now and then and distilled water in the tank and that's about it.

[ChicagoGranny]

Wait. I don't have to clean my mask with soap and water every day? Or clean all my tubing with soap and water once a week?

No. No.

I've never washed a hose. Only filtered room air goes into a hose. It doesn't get dirty.

I don't wash the mask. It gets wiped down each morning with a little alcohol swab like diabetics use. This is to remove facial (body) oils.

This has been my procedure for many years. No problems.

[ChicagoGranny]

I clean part of my mask every day, but that's only because it goes inside my mouth.

Why complicate the discussion with irrelevant remarks? It's not nice to do this to a newbie.

[zonker]

Wait. I don't have to clean my mask with soap and water every day? Or clean all my tubing with soap and water once a week? As long as I am changing the filter and using distilled water?
Because honestly I loose track of days and can't remember when I last ran soapy water through the tubes and they DO NOT dry out by bed time!

as others have said, i use a baby wipe everyday on the mask and on my nose. i wear a nasal pillow mask plus lanolin. baby wipe gets rid of the residue every morning.

no cleaning of tube.

distilled water is for your convenience. i stopped using it when it jumped from 90 cents per gallon to a buck and a half during covid. i now just trade out my tank and use a polident tablet to clean out the gunk build up.

[amenite]

I clean part of my mask every day, but that's only because it goes inside my mouth.

Why complicate the discussion with irrelevant remarks? It's not nice to do this to a newbie.

It's very relevant. I clean the "inside the mouth" portion of my Oracle mask because it gets pretty nasty. Otherwise I clean very little. And it's a great opportunity for a newbie to look at a user's profile and see what type of mask a poster uses. I'll give them some credit for knowing how to do that.