Starting neb meds again and have some ?s

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sdavis227

New member
There's a new doctor in town! And he is much more proactive than other docs at the clinic we go to. I am totally okay with being proactive and I know that so many CFers are already doing these nebs at a way younger age than PK (5 1/2 yo.). But the problem I have always dealt with in the past is being really scared that I'm going to harm him by not sterilizing everything enough.

I know to wash with soap and water and then boil for 5 minutes every night. Then air dry with paper towels under & over. I just feel like I felt years ago and worrying that every little drop of water is out of it (and this is only after the first treatment that we did tonight).

I guess my true fear is this: He has never grown anything very bad - only staph and h.flu and things that have never needed treatment. I am afraid that by starting all these nebs and me possibly not sterilizing the right way that he will start to grow PA or something else.

Anyone think that my worries are valid? Anyone want to tell me I'm nuts (please)?

Thanks in advance :)
 
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MOM247

New member
Hi Shanon,

I felt the same at the beginning, I'm a complete freak over making sure nebs are a 100% dry. The best money I ever spent was on a good supply of neb equipment. My son has a set for an entire week (2 nebs a day) (14). I wash them once I'm down to 4 clean ones left. That way have 2 days to let them dry in the oven:) Gives me extra peace of mind. You can do it! You will find a routine that works for you in no time:)

Sarah

Mommy to Johnny 5 w/cf & Bailey 3 tomorrow Oct 21st:)
 
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sdavis227

New member
Thank you Sarah. I thought you were supposed to wash and sterilize them right away? I've never heard of drying them in the oven - do you do that just so it doesn't get anything on them that is in the normal environment?
 
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nmw0615

New member
After each treatment, I use a microwavable breast pump sterilizer bag to clean each set of nebs, one bag for each neb. Then at the end of the week I do a major sterilization by boiling distilled water with a little dish soap, and then letting one neb at a time boil for 5 minutes. I use a clean dish towel to dry and then rest them on a paper towel until I'm ready to use them next.
 
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Ratatosk

Administrator
Staff member
I have enough nebs that daily I can wash them over my lunch hour, then boil in a huge pot for 10 minutes. Dry on a dry paper towel.
 
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Twistofchaos

New member
While some level of hygene and common sense should be used with our neb equipment, some sort of paranoia is really not needed because our enviroment and especially our lungs themselves are already far from sterile.

Remember that bugs like Pseudomonas are already around us everywhere we go (plants, when taking a shower, etc.) and so we mainly get susceptible when our lungs and state of (lack of) health are "ready" for it rather than the other way around.

CF segregation is a different story because with that we just try to prevent tribes of nasty bugs from transferring that have undergone years of treatment with antibiotics and built up loads of resistance, rather than somehow not getting exposed to those bugs at all.

The advantages of nebbing, mobilising and clearing out the lungs and the benefits from that are far greater than the potential risk for an infection.

What I do by the way is just clean under the warm water tap and then spray it with alcohol disinfectant/acticid. ..But there are days where I forget.
 
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sdavis227

New member
Twistofchaos said:
Remember that bugs like Pseudomonas are already around us everywhere we go (plants, when taking a shower, etc.) and so we mainly get susceptible when our lungs and state of (lack of) health are "ready" for it rather than the other way around.
....
The advantages of nebbing, mobilising and clearing out the lungs and the benefits from that are far greater than the potential risk for an infection.
Click to expand...

I really needed to hear that Twist - Thank you.


Does everyone just use paper towels or is there anything else (like something to hang things on) to dry them? I guess I'm thinking of like a baby bottle drying rack - or then would I need to sterilize that too?
 
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Ratatosk

Administrator
Staff member
I prefer using paper towels and just toss them every day. I did have a drying rack for bottles, but never used it for nebs. I do recall water collecting at the base sometimes...
 
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Aboveallislove

Super Moderator
I'm not real confortable with paper towels; I use spit cloth/cloth diapers that we run through the bleach load and use for jsut that.
 
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2roses

New member
Shannon,
You should b fine with your approach!!!

We rinse the neb parts in tap water at the end of each day (so the meds don't dry and crystallize on them). Because I have 2 with cf and want to limit unnecessary germ sharing (and I frankly don't want to keep track of whose pieces/parts r whose), we clean in hot soapy water and then sterilize after each day's use. We have enough nebs to do this every couple of days.

I put the pieces in a container w/a lid, add hot water and dish soap, and shake the container for about a minute. Rinse off w/ tap water. I use an Nuk baby bottle sterilizer (way easier than boiling) using reverse osmosis water (cld use distilled as well). I do put the pieces on a nebs-only stacking style cookie rack to dry (though the oven wld b out of the way :)). Dishwashing is recommended as well tho I haven't done that.

There was a video I think on the CF Foundation website about properly cleaning nebs with a version of what we do. One thing that is emphasized is using a NON antibacterial soap (like Palmolive). I know that seems counterintuitive but that was the instruction ...not sure why.

A lot of great suggestions here. Good luck!
 
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running4life

New member
Maybe I'm just completely ignorant on this situation, but my doctor told me I only need to sterilize my nebs one time a day. His theory is that you're putting antibiotics into the nebs and that should theoretically kill all germs. I don't sterilize every time I use them, but I also don't struggle with infection that much.
 
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Aboveallislove

Super Moderator
DS's doctor said the same and the instructions also say it. We wash a batch at a time, though, as oppose to the same day so we always steralize.
 
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ehtansky21

New member
At this point we use a Germ Guardian for drying the boys nebs...it is supposed to be a dry sterilizer, but it gets no where near the temp it needs to get to sterilize, but it is an excellent way to dry the nebs. The problem is, that they are no longer being made:( When we are without our Germ Guardian, I use a very large bottle drying rack. The one I have has a little reservoir that collects the water.
Here is a post i wrote and what works best for us...

http://chasing-truth.blogspot.com/2010/04/cleaning-nebs.html

blessings,
missa
 
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MOM247

New member
[FONT=Tahoma, Calibri, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]Shanon,

I started putting them in the oven after a CF Parent support group meeting a couple years ago. One of the other CF Moms that is also a nurse at our children's hospital told me her routine. I copied it as my own.

1. Bought a bunch of nebs.
2. Set up shelfing sections for the nebs. (7) for Hypertonic Saline (7) Pulmolzyme
3. Bowl for dirty nebs to collect at the bottom shelf.
4. On wash day: I wash in hot soapy water, and rinse. Then add them to already hot boiling water & boil 10 mins. Then use tongs and place them on paper towel lined cooking trays. 5. Place in oven at 170* for 30 mins. 6. Turn off oven and let them sit for 2 nights. 7. Then I place them into clean ziplock bags.

I bought a $100 bottle sterilizer for traveling the Advent iQ24, but it's still sitting on our shelf. I trust the old fashion method of boiling. I like putting them in the oven because it keeps my little monsters hands off them.

Sarah [/FONT]
 
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littlemisscoughsalot

New member
Those of you that have extra dryad of nebs...how did you get three stock pile? I had 4 sets, but had an unfortunate laps in common sense and leftthem on ether stove too long. Now im down to 2 sets and insurance won't give me any more for 6 months.
 
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Ratatosk

Administrator
Staff member
I order extras online. We used to get bagfuls from the clinic RT; however, the clinics policy is to not accept freebies from vendors, so no more free Nebs. And our local DME wasn't getting the right kind of neb cups, were getting cheap disposable ones, not pari or sidestream
 
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RayRDT

New member
Ok. After reading everything you guys/gals do, I feel not paranoid enough !!! I have one set of nebs that I wash after each use with soap and hot water. Rinse with hot tap water and leave it dry for 12 hours. I have never sterilized anything yet ... Is it really necessary ? I mean the air we breathe is not at all sterile so ... Is this overkill ???

RDT.
 
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