Drama Time- It's the Machine

 Well, holy shit. After 10 days of tearing my hair out and googling my fingers down to the bone, I finally found reports of patients having issues with the machine I have. Not a lot, mind you. But at least it's not just me!

They say they have issues with chemicals from the plastics in the machine and are ditching it for models they know don't bother them. I don't think they have asthma.

I'm trying to get in touch with them to learn more about what they experienced and how they knew it was the machine.

And then I found a better search term and bingo. People are having issues with odor. I don't have an odor but there's definitely an acknowledgement that there's some offgassing. I'm SO ridiculously sensitive to that.

And I'll bet you poly foam shit's flecking. Or there's some degree of microplastics being power blasted into lungs and that some small % of patients sensitive to even teeny tiny particulates can't deal.

I've got a message out to the pulm. I'm working on figuring out whether I contact the company or file something with the FDA or what. Because if there is something going on, I really hope someone somewhere will want to find it.

But probably that's not where the energy is. I'll try at least.

And no. I have no idea why it's always the nightmare scenario for me. I really wish I knew what I could do differently to avoid these drama llama situations. I saw a doctor. An expert. I did a test. Test said sleep apnea. Doctor said use this machine. Machine company swears up and down that 'our machine is safe.' So I used the machine and then my lungs blew up, and just like that, almost 2 weeks of my life gone. Why stuff has to go off the rails for me, I wish I knew.

I think sometimes that medicine must be way more broken than people really realize. This is why I was absolutely appalled at how cavalier everyone was about Covid. And now they're all upset because medicine can't fix their long haul. Like, duh. That's the baseline for far too many things. 

You want a fix? Break your arm or have a small heart attack. Don't get complicated. They can't help with that, and are far more likely to do more harm.

On that note...eat your broccoli and exercise if you can manage it. Stay the hell away from medicine. I'm still on the asthma recovery wagon at the moment, so I'll be right behind you just as soon as I can.

I'm feeling dodgy enough that I'm a little worried this isn't going to be simple though.

Update: I filed a thing with the FDA and sent a quick note to the manufacturer as well. I do see some other complaints but nothing exactly like mine. Someone did report a toxic odor that impacted their breathing but I didn't have an odor. Some other reports of congestion and respiratory issues. An older model where the foam failed and backed up into the tubing...that poly foam shit is NOT stable, guys. It's just not. 

How did I know about the FDA? A billion years ago, I worked in medical manufacturing and managed applications to the FDA as well as overseas equivalents thereof. Not an expert, but I know a bit more than the average person.