Bleach fumes and CPAP. Please help!

So the missus and I have engaged in a massive house spring (except it's winter!) clean for posterity.

I was doing the living room, kitchens and bedroom and she the bathroom and laundry. Anyway our house plan is a bit odd and there is a separate toilet and a bathroom with two entrances. One entrance to the bathroom goes onto the bedroom and one onto the corridor. My wife squirted bleach ALL over the bathroom, way too much - she don't like germs! Anyways I hear her violently coughing and run to the bathroom from the living room and I am overcome with lung problems and watered eyes - overpowering bleach fumes! So as I am coughing I notice that the bathroom door to the bedroom has been left open. My side of the bed and bed side table is closest to the bathroom door. I notice my CPAP with mask and tube sitting on the table where I always left it and realize that it has been covered in the bleach fumes like the rest of the bathroom/bedroom. I quickly remove the machine and take it out somewhere where there are no fumes. I find out that it has been engulfed in fumes for 5 minutes. The fumes are gone now and the bathroom is spotless, but I can still smell the faint smell of bleach on my mask and machine.

I have already started removing the sliding door to the bathroom from our bedroom and gyprocking the door hole in the wall over. That was the excuse I needed (and the missus is okay with it because it means if I remove the shower there is room for a large bath/spa). I have always wanted to remove the door to the bathroom as when we have guests it is weird for them and us when they are using the bathroom and we can simply open the door from our bedroom into the master bathroom. I never liked it - one entrance to a bathroom is enough IMHO. Surely it is bad Feng Shui?!

Anyway to my question:

I now have to have the machine professionally cleaned now don't I? I don't want to put that thing on my face now because the fumes in the machine are going straight into my lungs. Has anyone had this happen to them? What should I do? Will it damage my lungs if I use the machine without it being professionally cleaned? Please advise.

I don't think you necessarily need 'professional' cleaning... just wait a day or so and run your machine for a few hours (not on you) during that time... If that doesn't help then I might even try Pur-Sleep for a few days to balance out the smell, but give time and nature a chance to work first.

In my opinion, you shouldn't need the machine cleaned. If it was not running the bleach smell should not have been pulled into the machine. I definitely would change the filter.. The mask and hose is a different story. Hoses are cheap. I would change the hose. I would clean the humidifier and mask and let them air dry. You could also run the unit outside for a few hours .

Read all lables on cleaning agents. Do not mix them. Best to use just one at a time. Follow this link to a Wiki entry and read down towards the bottom on safety. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_hypochlorite

Take your hoses and mask and put them into a pail of water. Just water. Let them soak for 10 minutes and then swish them around in the water and shake the excess water off. Change the filter in your machine. Next hook up your hose and mask and let the machine run for 20 minutes or so.

Chlorine is very unstable and this will get rid of it.

When you go to mask up at night, it is always a good idea to blow some air through everything to flush out any stale air that is in your machine and hoses. This only takes a second or two. Some find it easier to get a good seal with things pressurized up.

Matty
I just throw a hand towel over my machine in the morning, thus covering everything up that could get contaminants or dust on/in them. I did the bleach thing several years ago, only I added household ammonia to the mix......woke up with an ambulance at my door and paramedics loading me up. My doctor nearly had a fit..said I could have had a heart attack... Good thing my doctor and I were friends, he was yelling at me pretty darn good. But he did scare the sh%$# out of me. Never did I do that again..........