General discussion, page-11972

Hey @cuppa,

Great to have your input as a CPAP user.

I did not intend to generalise the recall issues across all CPAP devices: obviously they have not all been recalled.

But for you to better understand my comment, our environment is full of off-gassing items that we casually consider safe, but that release VOC's that can have hormonal, neurological and cancer-causing effects. Just as you consider your CPAP to be safe because it has not been recalled, chances are you consider your couch and mattress to be safe, even though they probably contain polyurethane foam, memory foam, and even latex foam which though natural, has imbibed the chemicals used to create the foam structure that gives it the properties valued for sleep support. And these essential items also generally contain flame retardants.

Flame retardants and the chemicals used in the formation of foam continue to off-gas for years. They reach high concentrations in house hold dust, which we also inhale alongside the more direct contact with the VOCs in the air we breath. I'll let you do the research into the effects these chemicals can have on humans: you already consider my contribution to have been alarmist, so I'll go ahead and let you alarm yourself no more and no less than your heart desires.

The point being: nobody is doing a recall on your mattress, or your couch. Correct? That does not mean they are safe.
There is no need to become overly alarmed by any of this, but one should be aware and seek to minimise exposure to these compounds. This can be achieved through increasing ventilation in the home, and making smart choices in furnishings, varnishes, cleaning products, etc.

Where the CPAP device comes in is simple: any VOCs released from materials used within the device have a highly privileged pathway directly into your lungs, and on into your blood stream. The primary function of the CPAP is certainly to maintain clear passage for your breathing, but in a very real sense, the CPAP is also a VOC inhaler that you inhale through literally all night. Whilst I don't want to alarm you unduly, I do want to caution you against assuming all the materials in the CPAP that have not given rise to a recall are harmless. If plastics, foams, sealants or glues are present in the air pathway of the device, they are off-gassing VOCs you would be better off not huffing on 8 hours per night.

Will this kill you? Probably not. Will it impact your well-being to some degree: definitely. The only question is whether it will ever do so to a degree that you realise the cause of the impact. As with all the sources of exposure to toxic chemicals, it is all about finding ways to minimise exposure to them, when possible.

Now the risk/benefit factor of CPAP vs inhaled VOCs certainly highly favours their use, IF there is no alternative.
As soon as pharmaceutical alternative becomes available, and as long as it does not present a significant toxic profile of its own, then there arises a clear extra motivation to discard the CPAP in favour of the pharmaceutical, beyond the issues of comfort and convenience.

I'm very glad your CPAP works well for you, and I hope the sound proofing in it does not use foam (most, if not all foams require toxic chemicals for their formation). My guess is you have not been aware of ill effects from breathing through your CPAP. Just remember, we're not always aware of how our biology responds to the environment. Neurological effects are a great example: if exposure to substances that create cognitive impairment results in a loss of 2-3 IQ point, nobody is going to notice. That does not make the loss any less real. 5-10 points? We might think we're just tired, or that our digestion is impeding our usual mental clarity, or that we didn't get enough exercise, etc... The last thing people are going to suspect is their mattress, or their couch, or their dehumidifier... or their CPAP machine, but all these items and more have a cumulative material effect on our well-being, whether we realise it or not.

All the best @@cuppa