CPAP use for Coronavirus mitigation & severe pneumonia

[OpalRose]

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.

Looks promissing this Acapella....just ordered.
thanks

I ordered one last week.

[70sSanO]

On a slightly different tangent...

If I, or if someone in our family, have to be a caregiver, I would like to be able to wear some sort of protective covering. I have wetsuits in the garage, and can use a lightweight (1mm) hood, but I really don't want to go the Navy seal route. I was thinking of a vinyl or ripstop poncho. Something easy to put on and take off, can be easily hosed off, and still have some use when this is all over.

Any thoughts?

John

[srlevine1]

With my last exposure with pneumonia I was given the following device as a PEP tool. This product is made in in Canada.

The Aerobika® OPEP device is a hand held device that uses Oscillating Positive Expiratory Pressure or OPEP to help clear secretions from your airways. People who have chronic bronchitis, bronchiectasis, COPD and cystic fibrosis often produce an excessive amount of mucus.
As you exhale through the Aerobika® OPEP device, you will feel vibrations or “pulses” that are loosening the mucus from the walls of your lungs, making it easier for you to cough up the secretions. There is a valve inside the Aerobika® OPEP device that switches quickly between higher and lower resistance creating positive pressure inside your airways. The degree of resistance can be changed depending on your comfort level.
Positive pressure will hold the airways open. Think of how you feel when you blow up a balloon. It is the positive pressure that holds the balloon open. Inside your lungs, the positive pressure opens up small airways that may be blocked by mucus.

Information Only Site
https://www.monaghanmed.com/Aerobika-OPEP

This product is sturdy and well made. It will cost more than Acapella. Prices for the basic unit will be $100+.

PS: Hope I am within website posting rules as I did not see any sales capability on this site. Looks to be medical information about this product.

 Snagged a new one from a reputable company on eBay for $76.64 with tax and free shipping. 

One of my instructors told me it is always better to have something and not need it than to need it and not have it. He seemed to get a little annoyed when I asked how much a man-portable tactical nuclear device weighed.

[SuperSleeper]

He seemed to get a little annoyed when I asked how much a man-portable tactical nuclear device weighed.

99 pounds, 8 ounces for a 0.19 kiloton yield suitcase nuke.   

Pretty obvious that you're carrying something quite heavy, so not much practical use for one person to lug around.    Personally, I prefer an AR-15... much lighter and more precise.

I now return you to our coronavirus discussion....

[jbourne]

Mercedes is going to make CPAPs!! 
And, they could make up to 1000 a day, starting a week from now. I hope this helps control the situation quite a bit.

The article also suggests that they might have tweaked the design. I wonder if they came up with a solution to manage the exhale aerosols/droplet issue.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-52087002

[uweti]

A personal experience ..... I use a Resmed CPap with oxygen piped into it because during my 3 sleep studies over the past 6 years my oxygen drops into the 60% range with only the CPAP. Oxygen is added to the CPAP and all's good with sats. Using a CPAP alone wouldn't benefit me.

[abworld]

I just saw this post (3/30) from a medical equipment engineer. Curious about your & others response to the issue he raises re CPAP not being able to relieve excess blood CO2..
  Here's the quote:
ch 19th, 2020 at 19:51:06

"After some additional research I’m finding that neither a CPAP nor a BIPAP is sufficient to blow off CO2 (pCO2)- in fact, in some cases these devices will do more harm than good. So the question remains: in Covid-19 patients with severe respiratory distress, what is the failure mode- low SPO2 or high pCO2? "
   Thanks for your responses, & this very good thread!

[Johnboy]

Mercedes is going to make CPAPs!! 
And, they could make up to 1000 a day, starting a week from now. I hope this helps control the situation quite a bit.

The article also suggests that they might have tweaked the design. I wonder if they came up with a solution to manage the exhale aerosols/droplet issue.

www(dot)bbc.com/news/health-52087002

It showed the device on the UK news this evening during a working demo from a hospital. Funniest looking CPAP I ever saw. It was a small rectangular box with a number of looked like valves. This hooked up to a valve mounted in the wall and the other end hooked up to a standard CPAP type mask.  I assume what is doing is providing positive airway pressure using oxygen and it claimed to prevent the need for full ventilation for many patients. I assume they have been able to do away with many of the settings and functions on a standard machine and focuses solely on getting oxygen support, at a fixed pressure, to the lungs.

[Dougo]

(I did read the entire thread). I'm getting a BiPAP ST. ST is the Spontaneous Timed feature. I was wondering if that could be split for 2 people to use simultaneously? (We wouldn't be paralyzed though). I'm thinking that we'd have to sync our breathing in bilevel mode, but if it was switched to CPAP, we could breathe independently. Has anyone tested if this could work? If used for just one person, would the bilevel mode be preferable for Covid treatment? There seems to be disagreement about that. Finally, do you think a humidifier is helpful in this situation?

[Sleeprider]

The Resmed VPAP ST has CPAP, S, ST, T and PAC modes. The T mode is strictly timed and could in theory be split to provide bilevel pressure on a timed basis with no spontaneous trigger if each circuit was not in sync. I've never heard of splitting these machines and can't predict how well that would work.