Cleaning + disinfecting nebulizer and aerobica

There are may ways to filter tap water, but as you may have learned from my posts, I am all about simplicity. If I lived in an apartment, I would probably use the Pall .2 micron filter that fits on the tap, as a lot of members do. You can read the discussion here:
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/recommendation-for-0-2-micron-filters/
For away from home, I use bottled spring water, but have been looking at the Lifestraw bottles to cut down on plastic waste.

I don't use a steam bag for my parts, I use a saucepan on the stove. You can search "bololo" or steam sterilizers to learn what other members have to say.

I wash reusable water bottles with a brush (to disrupt any microfilm trying to form) then sanitize in my dishwasher on the sanitize cycle which includes heated drying. My dishwasher temp is 145F. If away from home I sanitize with a bleach soak. The bottle brushes go into the dishwasher too. I learned this many years ago from friends who hike in Arizona, where they have to be careful about desert fever, which is as nasty as MAC to get rid of.

The thing that works best for me for AC is exercise - I jog every morning albeit so slowly I call is "slogging" instead of jogging. I also use my Aerobika and do "CAB" of course, but only bring much up if I am having an exacerbation. You express is very well: we must find our own path.

There are may ways to filter tap water, but as you may have learned from my posts, I am all about simplicity. If I lived in an apartment, I would probably use the Pall .2 micron filter that fits on the tap, as a lot of members do. You can read the discussion here:
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/recommendation-for-0-2-micron-filters/
For away from home, I use bottled spring water, but have been looking at the Lifestraw bottles to cut down on plastic waste.

I don't use a steam bag for my parts, I use a saucepan on the stove. You can search "bololo" or steam sterilizers to learn what other members have to say.

I wash reusable water bottles with a brush (to disrupt any microfilm trying to form) then sanitize in my dishwasher on the sanitize cycle which includes heated drying. My dishwasher temp is 145F. If away from home I sanitize with a bleach soak. The bottle brushes go into the dishwasher too. I learned this many years ago from friends who hike in Arizona, where they have to be careful about desert fever, which is as nasty as MAC to get rid of.

I’ve been sterilizing after every use with Bololo baby bottle sterilizer. I guess I thought that would be enough but after reading posts I’m sobering if I should also use dish soap. I was told to take the nebulizer off the compresser tube and let the compressor run for two or three minutes after each use and that would dry out the tubing.

I think you can breathe a sigh of relief - sometimes we get too far "down in the weeds" with trying to do everything exactly right when what we really need is a safe routine that works for each person in their life.

There are two things we are trying to do with cleaning and disinfecting - one is to disrupt the formation of biofilm where NTM like to hide and breed. The other is to kill the NTM that is present. Your sterilizer is killing any NTM.

Dr Falkinham and his colleagues did a study on how much NTM adheres to our devices a few years ago, and the answer is very few. Here is the slide, which is all I have been able to locate from the study:
https://evidence.monaghanmed.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/MD-295A-0423-mycobacterium_poster-EN-final.pdf
What it says is that, even after being submerged in a solution rich with NTM for 24 hours, very few colonies grew from a culture taken from the Aerobika or the nebulizer. (These devices were not cleaned before they were swabbed.) So even if your technique isn't perfect, you have very little to worry about.

PS According to my pulmonologist, getting people to clean and disinfect their equipment EVER, let alone every day, is one of her biggest hurdles

Hi Sue, the link you posted for the slide (NTM adhering to devices) was corrupt. Only the graphics show - not the main text. Could you please send me the pdf (or jpg) of the slide DM?

Thank!
Deb in Utah

here you go