Apnea Forum Posting

Posted by Doug H. on July 26, 2000 at 18:49:23:

In Reply to: New to Apnea--need advice posted by Gary on July 26, 2000 at 08:28:25:

They other responses pretty much addressed your conditon, so I won't reiterate any of that.

What they didn't talk about is humidifciation. Fortunately, my sleep doctor wrote a model-specific prescription for a CPAP with a BUILT-IN heated humidifier. When the DME (Durable Medical Equipment) supplier saw which model was ordered, they said "you must be Dr. So-and-so's patient."

The point is that having air blown into your nose (or nose & mouth), tends to dry and irratate your sinuses. Humidification - either a built-in or add-on unit - will mitigate this problem. It's especially important if you already have sinus problems, headaches, or live in a dry climate. Sometimes, winter heating can also make this more necessary. Patients seem to have better success with heated humidifiers than with passive ones (as evidenced on these formus).

As far as I know, the Fisher & Paykel HC-200 (and HC-201) are the only CPAPs with built-in humidifiers available in the U.S. They're made in New Zealand, and - if you're paying yourself - they can be bought for U.S.$680 ($710 for the HC-201) with a prescription. The 201 has a complaince monitor, and that's the only difference. This may be useful to proving to an insurance company or a motor vehicle department that you're using it. I never heard of motor vehicles bothering with this in the U.S., but I have heard of this in Canada (on one of these forums).

I believe that there is another CPAP made in Germany with a built-in heated humidifer. I don't think that it's available in the U.S. at this time. Anyhow, I think that if you buy a CPAP it should come with a humidifier, just as when you buy a car it comes with an air-conditioner.

An add-on humidifer has a hose coming in from the CPAP, and another one going out to your mask. It has to be plugged in separately, though some passive humidifiers do not have to be plugged in. For travel built-in is better (if you need humidification). It's got to be smaller than the combined bulk of separate units. Also, you don't have to bother with two hoses and two plugs in a strange hotel room (or at home for that matter). It can run on the local electricity in almost all countries in the world (many CPAPs can, but I understand many add-on humidifers can't). Since the electric sockets may have a different shape in other countries, an adapter may be neccessary.

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