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Yes, the discoloration of the ResMed filters is simple empirical evidence of particulate capture. I keep two used filters to show the difference. One is as white as it was before a month's use, and the other is medium gray, yet still some think there is nothing wrong with the white filter and will argue that. ?? I am baffled at such a position. Some even believe the filter is there only to protect the machine from dust. Cheap inefficient filters will not even do that.
The test here is done at a hospital with a sleep lab. After an all-night sleep study, the patient is given breakfast at 8 a.m. At 9 a.m. the patient is told to lie down (all electrodes are still connected from the overnight sleep study, lights are turned out. In one hour the door to the bedroom is open and lights are turned on. The patient sits up and watches TV for 30 minutes then lies down, and lights out again. This is repeated once more. If the patient falls quickly asleep each time the lights go out and quickly goes into REM sleep, the diagnosis of narcolepsy is put on the sleep study report.
I have managed to get Large Leaks down to get a more accurate AHI on OSCAR reports. I, unfortunately, have to tighten straps to a quite uncomfortable level to prevent what I call blowouts that ruin therapy due to loss of mask pressure. I am now getting consistently lower AHIs.
My humidifier has its water tank replaced every six months by insurance. When mine has leaked which of course makes the machine unusable, it takes 4-6 tries to get the seal between the water tank and the intake to seal. Once it seals it stays sealed. Water tanks leaking at their silicone air connections is common. The silicone seals on the air intakes last at least 5 years for me, but a few times the water tank will not seal but working it in and out 4 - 6 times gets the seal back.
Since I have been using ResMed Hypoallergenic filters my chronic bronchitis has reduced in severity. The difference between these filters and others once they have been used for a month is dramatic. Generic filters remain white. The ResMed filters are charcoal gray.
On occasion, my AirSense 10 will lose its humidifier seal. I move the water tank in and out of its slot a few times and the seal will return.
Congratulations on your success with PAP therapy. I have been using it for 18 years. The OSCAR program is available free from various online sources. You can view your sleep in many graphs of information and look at individual wave forms that show the quality of single breaths during sleep. It helped me take my AHI down to <2.00 and sometimes < 1.00.
My MD does not set cpap features nor does my DME. It is all up to me and advice I can get from forums like this which is a common state of many. Point is that my median pressures are skewed by a session of apneas that the machine cannot supply therapy to therefore the median and the high pressure are not the optimal setting. I must factor out the large amount of apneas that occur under high pressure to get a realistic figure for min./max. cm. and AHI. What good is an AHI of 10.0 when 97% of those apneas happened during an untreatable session of positional causation?
Discoloration is the only thing I have as an indicator that particulates are captured by a CPAP filter.
A proper filter has been the ResMed brand. No, I do not believe any CPAP filter is made that captures viruses. No MERV rating is given for CPAP filters which would indicate what size particles will be captured.
