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Travel tips for Italy

Posted by tjmc @tjmc, Mar 15 7:35am

I’m traveling to Italy in May and have a few questions. How do you handle the drinking water? Do you use a life straw, or filtered water bottle? I do a nasal rinse twice a day. Is distilled water easy to find? I have a Pari Trek S I was planning on taking with me but wondered if taking the Pari pro neb ultra is a better option. If you have any other info I haven’t thought of, please share.

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texaseve | @texaseve | Mar 26 9:20am
In reply to @sueinmn "@texaseve Since 2020 my family has been wearing 3M KN95 masks. The 3M brand KN95 mask..." + (show)
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@texaseve Since 2020 my family has been wearing 3M KN95 masks. The 3M brand KN95 mask is made of the same filter materials as their N95 mask, have head straps (not ear loops like some cheaper brands) and have the same fitting nose piece. For my narrow face the fit is better than the N95. My daughters who are nurses use exactly the same onesn includingat work where blue paper masks are all that are issued outside of sterile or infectious settings.

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@sueinmn I like how the KN95 fits, also. My hospital (Methodist Main hospital in San Antonio) issued us N95 masks, several years before Covid and I'm fairly certain that is what they still used if they had enough to go around when Covid hit. I worked on the Women's Surgical Unit, as the charge, and I did do procedures that had to be sterile. I was not required to wear an N95, just the thinner blue & white mask and gowns to do the procedures. I can only speak to my experience. I know that the N95 creates the best seal. Thanks for your reply.

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tjmc | @tjmc | Mar 29 9:31am
In reply to @sueinmn "@tjmc We were in Italy in October, bottled spring water is readily available, so it was..." + (show)
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@tjmc We were in Italy in October, bottled spring water is readily available, so it was our choice for drinking. Distilled water is "iffy" depending on where you are, so perhaps you would want a LifeStraw to purify tap or spring water for the nasal rinse. Or you could do what I do when we travel - use Neil Med NasaMist Sterile Saline Wash in an aerosol can.
As for the nebulizer, we brought our Pari eFlow Rapid, but in the past took our DeVilBiss Traveler, very similar to the Pari Trek. Washed the power head components after every use in anti-bacterial Dawn and sterilized once a week when we had access to a saucepan and stovetop.

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@sueinmn glad to know you just used your antibacterial Dawn and tap water daily to clean your nebulizer equipment. I wondered about bringing a collapsible kettle to sterilize but wasn’t sure if that would be necessary. I’m not sure if my hotels will have a kettle to sterilize weekly.

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Sue, Volunteer Mentor | @sueinmn | Mar 29 12:15pm
In reply to @tjmc "@sueinmn glad to know you just used your antibacterial Dawn and tap water daily to clean..." + (show)
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@sueinmn glad to know you just used your antibacterial Dawn and tap water daily to clean your nebulizer equipment. I wondered about bringing a collapsible kettle to sterilize but wasn’t sure if that would be necessary. I’m not sure if my hotels will have a kettle to sterilize weekly.

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@tjmc If you are traveling independently you could call and ask. If you have a travel agent, they can handle it for you.

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tjmc | @tjmc | May 14 9:52am
In reply to @sueinmn "@tjmc We were in Italy in October, bottled spring water is readily available, so it was..." + (show)
Profile picture for Sue, Volunteer Mentor @sueinmn

@tjmc We were in Italy in October, bottled spring water is readily available, so it was our choice for drinking. Distilled water is "iffy" depending on where you are, so perhaps you would want a LifeStraw to purify tap or spring water for the nasal rinse. Or you could do what I do when we travel - use Neil Med NasaMist Sterile Saline Wash in an aerosol can.
As for the nebulizer, we brought our Pari eFlow Rapid, but in the past took our DeVilBiss Traveler, very similar to the Pari Trek. Washed the power head components after every use in anti-bacterial Dawn and sterilized once a week when we had access to a saucepan and stovetop.

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@sueinmn did I get that correct that you used tap water and antibacterial Dawn to clean your equipment and then tried to sterilize once a week? I don’t know if I needed to boil the water before using it to clean the equipment.

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Sue, Volunteer Mentor | @sueinmn | May 14 11:46am
In reply to @tjmc "@sueinmn did I get that correct that you used tap water and antibacterial Dawn to clean..." + (show)
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@sueinmn did I get that correct that you used tap water and antibacterial Dawn to clean your equipment and then tried to sterilize once a week? I don’t know if I needed to boil the water before using it to clean the equipment.

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@tjmc I used bottled spring water, would have used filtered tap water if not bottled water available, but we were traveling in Europe where I knew I could get it. You can carry a LifeStraw or similar filter bottle to filter tap water before washing/rinsing. Boiling in tap water is fine since the boiling kills any bacteria. As a rule I use distilled to avoid minerals building up on equipment, but for a few times it worked OK.
My partner and I both have bronchiectasis, and we travel a lot in the US, Canada & Europe - we refuse to give it up to this disease, so we find ways to "make it work."

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