CPAP use for Coronavirus mitigation & severe pneumonia

[70sSanO]

One more thing I’d like to add on masks. We bought 5 cotton masks, made in USA, and even though they are double layer, they are thin.

I tried different types of cloth, but what I ended up using, for now, are cloth diapers I got from Amazon. I tried varies folded layers and found that a 6 layer, folded and cut to size in the 2 layer mask (8 total) worked best. Like placing a folded handkerchief in between my face and the mask. It seemed to give the right amount of air resistance while breathing and it was deep enough to fill in gaps around my nose and mouth.

The DIY mask article seems to indicate some correlation of air flow to particle resistance. Denser material, or just sheer thickness, reduces air flow and seems to provide greater protection.

John

[SuperSleeper]

The DIY mask article seems to indicate some correlation of air flow to particle resistance.  Denser material, or just sheer thickness, reduces air flow and seems to provide greater protection.

Yeah, it's kind of a catch-22.    It would seem that duct tape firmly placed around one's mouth & nose to cut off all airflow would prevent any mean old covid virus from getting a foothold in your body.   In a few short minutes, you'd no longer have to worry about getting infected at all.  

Gotta come up with a happy medium for breathability vs. effectiveness.  That's why I chose to buy N95s rather than N100s (which seem way too suffocating to me).

I've heard of some who claim that using two types of materials together works better, such as flannel & something else I can't remember right now.

[70sSanO]

Yes it is a catch-22, but it also provides a degree of verifying that you are getting at least some protection.

If there is no difference in air flow resistance wearing a DIY mask, the material is too porous and needs to be thicker.

By the same token a DIY, or N95, mask has to fit snug enough so that air doesn’t flow around the edges.

Finally, I would think everyone needs to wash his/her face ASAP after getting home. A mask only protects part of a persons face, but there are exposed areas.

John

[geauxdbl]

Today's Boston Globe features a story from inside Mass General, probably the best hospital in a region known for its health care:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/04/04/m...-covid-19/

Postural drainage is validated again.

In a packed seventh-floor intensive care unit called Blake 7, 15 of the 18 patients were sick with COVID-19 and on ventilators. And in a scene rarely witnessed in pre-coronavirus times, most were on their stomachs, not their backs.

Medical staff have rolled patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome onto their stomachs for years; the difference now is there are so many. Coronavirus patients also remain on the breathing machines for far longer than normal, sometimes for several weeks. Doctors said a prone position removes pressure from the heart and allows the lungs to expand more fully.

But Dr. Charles Hardin and other Mass. General physicians are taking this idea further. Just 48 hours before, they rolled out a protocol to put patients on the regular floors on their stomachs before they require ventilators — just like the young man in the emergency room whose oxygen level improved.

Though based on anecdotal reports of success at a few other medical centers, the fervent hope is this intervention will mean fewer patients will ultimately need ventilators.

Doctors “in Italy told us they did it,” Hardin said. “But no one has written it up yet” in a scientific journal.
The intensive care staff hopes this strategy will be crucial in the days ahead as they frantically work — and wait — for what is yet to come.

[cryonix]

Chinese doctors gave some hints, what happens to the lungs and some recommendations to avoid:
How to use ventilators to effectively support severe or critically severe patients? (ChinaDaily)

Cryonix

[SuperSleeper]

By the same token a DIY, or N95, mask has to fit snug enough so that air doesn’t flow around the edges.
Finally, I would think everyone needs to wash his/her face ASAP after getting home.  A mask only protects part of a persons face, but there are exposed areas.
John

Agreed, John.

One mistake I see sometimes is people touching the outside of their mask to readjust it, which just introduces contaminants onto their fingers.  As you stated, it needs to be properly adjusted and tightened enough when you first put it on, because we shouldn't be touching the mask itself after that point.  It needs to be removed using the head straps, not by touching the mask material.

One video I found helpful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quwzg7Vixsw

[Jim Wester]

Please consider specifics of using oxygen with cpap. 
I have read the entire thread. A major take is the big benefit of early O2 use (via non invasive nasal cannula). As there are many citizens with cpap, there are also many citizens with welding supplies (ie, oxygen tanks). The additional needed items to use a welding oxygen tank (tubing, fittings, flow regulator, humidifier, T fitting) can all be gotten on Amazon for about $70. From what I have read, early use of O2 is a much greater positive benefit than cpap. If used together, could maybe be really significant. I am thinking in line with the ideas of this thread - last ditch/at home.

[Cpapian]

Please consider specifics of using oxygen with cpap. 
I have read the entire thread. A major take is the big benefit of early O2 use (via non invasive nasal cannula). As there are many citizens with cpap, there are also many citizens with welding supplies (ie, oxygen tanks). The additional needed items to use a welding oxygen tank (tubing, fittings, flow regulator, humidifier, T fitting) can all be gotten on Amazon for about $70. From what I have read, early use of O2 is a much greater positive benefit than cpap. If used together, could maybe be really significant. I am thinking in line with the ideas of this thread - last ditch/at home.

Could you list the specific equipment needed for a non DIYer?

[Maggie]

I've just checked this page so presume it's up to date. 

https://www.mountainside-medical.com/pro...pep-device

 Acapella Choice Vibratory PEP Therapy Device by Smiths Medical reduced from $74.95 USD to $43.00 USD

[Maggie]

The "lung flute" type devices are still available on Amazon, now for about $48, which is only about $10 higher than they used to be.

Search Amazon for "Acapella Vibratory PEP Therapy Device".  There's several of them still available, which surprised me... I would have thought those to go as fast as N95 masks.  Public must have not caught on yet... If you want one, order it now or you may not get a chance tomorrow.

I did and they are selling for £68 and i refuse to pay someone that for a piece of plastic

https://www.mountainside-medical.com/pro...pep-device

Reduced from $75 and now selling for $43 USD