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KateB2025 Check-In 10/07/2025

In: Check-In
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K

Good morning!  Feeling good.  Good exercise.  I do light exercising, stretching and sometime small arm weight lifting while nebbing in the morning.  Gets things moving and gets me moving too.  2nd nebbing session of the day generally just sitting - while catching up or watching a show.
I've been boiling equipment with an instant pot after every session.  I use distilled water.  I don't mind the extra time (most of the time) as I'm retired.  I use that term loosely 😄 because I keep very active during the day.  My question is this:


1) If boiling, do you soak, wash and rinse beforehand too? Under hot unfiltered tap water?
2) do you save and reboil your water (change if yucky or every 5 days or so) as another site's protocol? 
3) dry and store equipment in baby bottle dryer or store in some other container? I have 2 sets so I just keep in baby bottle dryer since no one set is in there more than 24 hours or sometimes maybe a tiny bit longer depending on when I neb.


My personal goal (as I'm sure it is for everyone) to keep infection free.  Just about the time I think I'm doing everything I can, I read more and then second guess my cleaning/sanitizing procedure.  How effective it REALLY is.  Is the water staying sanitary enough?  It would be so expensive on a long term basis to change the distilled water every time. :-( 
I know I'm on the extreme end (as I can be on most anything really - not a big risk taker in general) and way above manufacturer recommendations for cleaning, but ..... 
I appreciate everyone's thoughts, research they have done, etc.



Latest Activity: October 7, 2025
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3 Replies

Replies

K

Hello! I am so glad to read that you are taking preventative measures to reduce the chance of infection.
1) you don’t have to rinse with tap water, just the boiled water.
2) I wouldn’t save boiled water for rinsing any equipment
Regarding drinking water:
I rinse a pot , boil my water , let it sit for a little while.
I then bottle water in a glass container and use it within a few days. I keep a bottle of water at room temperature as well for a day. I have gotten into the habit of boiling a pot of water every evening after dinner.
I don’t use distilled water, boiling water for 15 minutes kills mycobacterium.
3) You can dry out the equipment with the baby bottle dryer or just let it dry out on clean paper towels, flipping the equipment over so it drys out from all angles.
All we can do is to try our very best to avoid recurrent infections.

Latest Activity: October 7, 2025
7
K

Scroll down in the link below to read& view the videos on cleaning respiratory nebulizer equipment: https://www.copdfoundation.org/Learn-More/Educational-Materials-Resources/Educational-Video-Series.aspx

Latest Activity: October 7, 2025
6
K

Kate B,
In addition to the community support you receive here on BronchiectasisandNTM360, you can call one of our Patient Ambassadors directly by phone at (833) 411-5864. Our Ambassadors are real live patients with concerns similar to yours. Our Ambassadors can’t provide medical advice but may be able to assist you with additional information and resources on nebulizers, water, and any other related concerns. 

Latest Activity: October 7, 2025
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It is not our intention to serve as a substitute for medical advice and any content posted should not be used for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. We make every effort to support our members, our medical professionals cannot and will not provide a diagnosis or suggest a specific medication; those decisions should be left to your personal medical team. While we encourage individuals to share their personal experiences with COPD, please consult a physician before making changes to your own COPD management plan.

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