Stuffy nose

[Sleepy Bubba]

Good morning all, I have been using my CPAP for about one week now, and I think that things are going very well. While I don't notice a ton more energy, I do notice that I haven't gotten very sleepy at my desk at 2 in the afternoon, and that has to be a result of my therapy, so I think good things are ahead. I have not had much trouble getting used to the machine etc, but have one issue that would really help me. When I first put the mask on, things are fine, and I go to sleep easily. However, after about 5-6 hours, I wake up, and I have a lot of trouble breathing, because my nose has gotten pretty stuffy. Not to the point where I can't breathe, but really uncomfortable. I am not sick, and once I get up, my nose clears up within a short time. I have read where this might be a humidifier issue, and that changing a setting might alleviate this. This morning, I had to get up, because it was very difficult to breathe, particularly out. What do you think?

[Greg Riddle]

Glad to hear that things are going well. Congestion can be from humidifier. Most people react differently to the humidity. Some get congestion with high humidity. I personally have mine up very high because my congestion gets worse off it's not. The only advice I could give is change the humidity setting and sleep. Test a few different settings and find the one that fits your needs. It may take a week maybe more maybe less. Be patient

[Sleepy Bubba]

OK, thanks. Do you think I should try more or less humidity first? From what I read in this forum, it seems like people make the mistake of making too drastic a setting change.........Say, going from a 3 to a 6..........and changing temperatures etc at the same time.......I really hope that this doesn't get too involved and that I can find a happy medium, because while the thought of wearing this mask for the rest of my life is not really up my alley, the changes are going to be worth the effort. What say you?

[mon]

I have the same sort of problem, only I can't breath properly whenever I lay down due to congestion and blockage. It was so bad that I had to take the mask off because I couldn't breath. I worked out that I had to have the starting pressure turned up to 7cm H2o pressure rather than the usual 4. This 7cm H2o pressure forces through the congestion and I am able to breath immediately I lie down. Also when I wake up the pressure remains above the 4cms H2o pressure on 7, so I remain able to stay lying down while I'm awake.

When you wake up, the pressure on your machine may be dropping back to 4cm H2o pressure and therefore you feel more congested. The CPAP machines will drop pressure upon arousal routinely, so you may need to change your starting pressure. I don't know if it will help you but it is worth a try. The problem is solved for me.

[Greg Riddle]

To simplify the adjustments you should try automatic mode on humidity and just assist the temp.
If you have humidity low go higher. If it's high go lower

[Sleepy Bubba]

thanks. My start pressure is 4 and ramps to 9. At least that is how I understand it. I have no problem at all when I first get into bed. Put the mask on, lay down, and within a few minutes, I am fast asleep, with no breathing restriction at all. However, I wake up later in the night, usually after 5 or 6 hours, and continually mess with my mask to try to stop feeling suffocated. I realize that it is not the mask that is blocking my breathing, it is my nose that is blocking my breathing. I don't think that the start pressure is my issue, though I am glad to hear that it solved yours.

[Sleepy Bubba]

Thanks Greg. I will have to go in and see what the humidity is set at, and make an adjustment. Seems like we are all in agreement that adjusting the humidity is the first place to start.

[Greg Riddle]

I have the same sort of problem, only I can't breath properly whenever I lay down due to congestion and blockage. It was so bad that I had to take the mask off because I couldn't breath. I worked out that I had to have the starting pressure turned up to 7cm H2o pressure rather than the usual 4. This 7cm H2o pressure forces through the congestion and I am able to breath immediately I lie down. Also when I wake up the pressure remains above the 4cms H2o pressure on 7, so I remain able to stay lying down while I'm awake.

When you wake up, the pressure on your machine may be dropping back to 4cm H2o pressure and therefore you feel more congested. The CPAP machines will drop pressure upon arousal routinely, so you may need to change your starting pressure. I don't know if it will help you but it is worth a try. The problem is solved for me.

There have been quite a few times I woke up wondering of the machine was on, not sure to lower pressure but just because I was used to the pressure was at and couldn't notice it

[Sleepy Bubba]

Yeah, when my nose does not get this congestion thing, I barely notice it at all. Have been very pleased with how I have slept, considering it is only a week or so since I started. But, the suffocating feeling is not going to work for me, so I have to figure that out. Once I do, I will be one happy camper.

[Greg Riddle]

I understand what your going through. I have a severe allergy to dust mites. Being outside it's my only true relief from congestion. Even sitting in someone's car my nose starts to get congested. I rinse my nose 2-3 times a day and use dyymista nasal spray and allergy meds to get some relief on top of allergy injections. For me I can lower humidity and the congestion will start within a few minutes. The other day I had some congestion with humidity settings on auto and temp at 79° I turned up the temp to 86° and initially started to decongest when the warm most air hit my nose

[Sleepy Bubba]

Thanks for the info, I will adjust the humidity tonight, and sleep with fingers crossed!

[TangledHose]

Bubba, two things to mention:

Humidity first.....do you live in a dry climate or a moist climate? When you wake up and feel stuffy do you have any other indications like a dry throat or tongue that might give you a clue if you need more humidity or less?

The Airsense you are using (if you have the heated hose option) will shoot for 85% relative humidity on the Auto setting for climate control, this may seem like a lot, but with so much air moving through the circuit and you, it's really not as all that moving air does tend to dry things out. If you want to make any real changes in humidity I would run climate control in manual otherwise in auto mode your always going to get the 85% percent default. On manual you have off, or settings of 1 thru 8 ........8 being highest humidity. 4 is close to the default of 85% so if you want to try more humidity, I'd try 6 and see how that feels, or if you think you're getting too much maybe try 3 or even 2. I personally need more because I am high and dry here in Denver area........I have manual set at 7 and temp at 83 or 84 depending on room temp. The warmer, moist air really helps my nose and sinuses, but as you are aware some people like the opposite.

Be aware that if you go up on humidity you might also have to increase hose temp if you start to get rainout (condensation in hose) you'll know this by a gurgling in the hose as you inhale or exhale.....its anoying and will wake you up.

On the other note.......you describe your feeling as a bit like a suffocating feeling.......that feeling often occours because that 4 cm setting on your ramp or low side setting is too low. As you sleep with a higher pressure you get used to it, then when you wake later in the night and restart ramp or start at low range pressure setting as low as 4 cm it's just too low for comfort and you can get a feeling like you are over breathing the machine so if it was me I would definitely raise that setting to at least six or more. The pressure not only helps keep your airway open, but also will help if your nasal passages are somewhat stuffed up....it stents your nasal passages open as well.

[Sleepy Bubba]

OK, good stuff, and thanks you. I live in CT, near the Mass border, and it gets pretty dry here. Skin gets itchy, etc., and I am going to try to raise the humidity to 6 and ramp up to 6. I will let you know how I make out, thanks.

[Sleepy Bubba]

I just changed the setting..the ramp was at 5, not 4, so I bumped that up to 6 and moved humidity to 6 as well. Should I increase the hose temp now, or see if I get rainout.

And what do I do if I get rainout??

[Greg Riddle]

hose temp is up to you. If you set the humidity to auto the temp setting will change the amount of moisture in the air. As tangledhose posted, the relative humidity does stay at a certain percentage but the hotter the air is the more water vapor it can hold. Therefore the more moisture you get. If you find that your still not getting enough on automatic then you can mess with separate settings