CPAP Cure for the Common Cold?

mikemoran · Post by **mikemoran** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 8:10 pm

My wife being of a generous nature decide to share her cold with me last week. the previous week she had been coughing up a storm and I was dreading coughing through the night with my mask on. My symptoms came on and I felt like hell so stayed home from work and hooked myself up to my Spirit.

Dozed on and off all day with my heated humidifier and Aussie hose pumping in warm moist air. Suprisingly never coughed with my mask on and never had any major coughing when it was off. Finally over the cold and minimal coughing. I don't think I've ever had a cold this easy. Yes my nose dripped and I had a few sneezes but no worse than when I started on CPAP.

Maybe it won't happen this way the next time, but thought I would pass along my experience. It just may be that us bed snorklers might have a benefit those non-hosers don't have.

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 8:36 pm

I, too, just had my first cold on CPAP. I took Airborne 3 times a day and lots of chewable vitamin C (love the taste). When it was time for bed, my ENT had given me Flonase so I used that to breathe. Otherwise, I couldn't have used my mask. It didn't take my cold away, but it seemed to be a far less severe cold than I'd had in a long time. Now, was it the Airborne, the vitamin C, the Flonase, the CPAP, or a combo of all of these, or maybe none of the above? Choose one. I have NO idea!!!

mikemoran · Post by **mikemoran** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 6:01 am

My combo was Ultra Mirage FF, orange juice and a nightitme shot of Nyquil. Except for the CPAP my usual cold approach. I'm sure it was the humidity that stopped the coughing. When prescribed rest and plenty of liquids its nice to know that I can finally do the first half of the prescription right

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 10:54 am

Hmmm... I can't remember where I read it, but I believe I've read in several places that Vitamin C (Orange Juice) actually doesn't help with the cold. Of course you can probably find studies to go either way with it.

I guess I just do the eating right, and trying to get alot of sleep. It's hard taking those days off from the gym and running, but draining your system is def not good. I find that just staying healthy is the easiest thing to help a cold out. (Of course I"m a slacker college student who has no job, so therefore no 9-5)

bman · Post by **bman** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 5:30 am

I had a few colds recently and one felt really bad and probably much worse with using the cpap

the other cold was helped a lot by the cpap

Kermit · Post by **Kermit** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 7:17 pm

I am not married so I can't speak about getting a cold from a spouse, but I do work around clinics that have very sick people come in and drip, cough and whatnot and since starting cpap a few years ago don't remember getting any more colds!

As a matter of fact pre-cpap I not only got lots of colds and flu but had daily post nasal drip all morning long, not any more thanks to the heated humidifier.

Add to this all the other health benefits of cpap and I truly believe the pain and headache of using it is greatly offset by the benefits it brings to the table.

Kermit

bman · Post by **bman** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 6:43 am

I find that my allergic rhinitis is less and I suspect the filtered air may help in the breathing

Cameo Ann · Post by **Cameo Ann** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 2:24 pm

I have gotten fewer colds since being on BiPAP for about two years now. I am really pleased about that because colds trigger serious asthma attacks for me, which require hospitalization. I think that by getting better sleep via xpap, our immune systems might improve somewhat. My pulmonologist disagrees with that and says it is just a matter of which viruses we pick up, still I prefer my version.

Ann

dsm · Post by **dsm** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 2:47 pm

Mid-winter here. Last week I had a 2 days where I felt a cold coming. Many symptoms (sneezing, congestion) but, nothing eventuated & sleeping seemed quite normal.

I did take some vitaminC but if it was a cold it vanished. Maybe CPAP helps ?.

DSM

Kermit · Post by **Kermit** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 3:45 pm

Well, my new project has me working at clinics with very sick people even during flu season and that includes pediatrics as well as urgent care. Talk about viruses being in your face!

Yet I haven't gotten sick, so far anyway. Yes I think Cpap does help our immune system. Based on my cold catching days before Cpap, I know I would have been sick in no time.

Kermit

unclebob · Post by **unclebob** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 4:28 pm

The common cold, the common cold.
The doctors, really, must be told.
The horrors of the common cold.
etc, etc. etc

Do any of you sneezers remember this as a poem? I remember it from my youth but it could just have been my big brother spouting off as usual. This was many, many years ago. Hell, who knows, it could have been an English class here in the Great White North.

When I started xPAP last Jan I had bronchitis, rather susceptible to this and colds, so had a tough time adapting to the hose. Had big trouble inhaling. Always seemed to have this problem though. Decided I was not getting the benefit of xPAP so got a prescription for Flonase and this was a turning point for me. Can freely breath day and night. Made a big difference.

Anyway. I think people on the hose are a little more germ conscious, what with all the cleaning etc with the mask. Also my wife, the sex maniac, finds it stange to kiss me with the mask on and don't get her obnoxious viruses like I used to. So, throw in a vitamin pill, a third of a gallon of vinegar, filtered humidified air and limited on golden pond face sucking we should all get rebates from the medical insurance companies.

By the way, do any of you cold sufferers Know what winter really is? really don't know why this subject surfaced in the middle of summer where it's 10 degrees above freezing (at least for the next couple of weeks) here in the Great White North.

Bob F

littlebaddow · Post by **littlebaddow** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 4:38 pm

For all you scientists out there, I realise that a study of one is not valid, but I've not had a cold since starting on the machine last December. This may not seem much of an achievement, but it's the first winter I've been through without getting a cold for as long as I can remember. I even purchased a full face mask in preparation for the inevitable cold, but it's still unwrapped in the box. Nothing else has changed in my life - I haven't been living in an isolation chamber for the last 7 months - and wife and daughters all suffered with a cold at some stage, so I guess the apap with humidifier must be making a difference.

Kermit · Post by **Kermit** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 7:12 pm

Well I am terrible when it comes to cleaning my equipment. I use distilled water and even though I might clean the humidifier tank once a quarter it always looks clean. The mask once a month. The fine paper filter gets replaced about twice a year. Still no more colds unlike pre-cpap days. By the way, I cap my hose end so dust and airborne stuff won't go into the "sealed" system. I fill tank through end of hose at bed level instead of dealing with it being down there.

The fine paper filter actually delivers better quality air than room air, that's a cpap plus.

The heated humidifier, I set as high as I can get away with without drowning, is also a BIG cpap plus as I remember that when I used to get colds I would always use a steam vaporizer at night and that cut it down in half. So that's another cpap plus.

Getting proper amount of oxygen to the body is another cpap plus.

Turbo charging your nasal passages with pressurized air is also another helpful cpap plus. I am always congested and so I specifically use nasal pillow type interfaces to force open my nasal passages and it works very well as I can easily breathe this way. A mask offers pressure inside nose but same pressure is outside nose, within mask canopy. Result is that equal pressures don't allow nasal cavity to expand. With a pillow interface arrangement, you have same presure inside nose but lower atmospheric pressure outside nose so nose expands and you breathe much easier which makes lungs happy campers. Another big cpap plus.

So its not surprising to hear stories like those posted here about not getting colds as frequently as before. Maybe non OSA sufferers should use a cpap for better health.

Kermit

dsm · Post by **dsm** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 7:57 pm

Kermit wrote:

Turbo charging your nasal passages with pressurized air is also another helpful cpap plus. I am always congested and so I specifically use nasal pillow type interfaces to force open my nasal passages and it works very well as I can easily breathe this way. A mask offers pressure inside nose but same pressure is outside nose, within mask canopy. Result is that equal pressures don't allow nasal cavity to expand. With a pillow interface arrangement, you have same presure inside nose but lower atmospheric pressure outside nose so nose expands and you breathe much easier which makes lungs happy campers. Another big cpap plus.

Kermit

I have been interested in trying nasal pillows but someone I respect (local sleep clinic) keeps telling me that most who try them eventually give up - her reason is issues like 'windburn' etc: for people like my self on high pressures.

Your remark about the nozzles delivering air into the nostrils & inflating them caught my attention as I have long dreamed of a way I could expand my nose in a practical way, as I suffer a lot from sinus related congestion.

The potential benefits, in my mind, are now starting to outweigh the risks (spend money but stop using) so I am now leaning towards purchasing an AURA.

Thanks for those remarks

DSM

mikemoran · Post by **mikemoran** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 8:58 pm

unclebob wrote: By the way, do any of you cold sufferers Know what winter really is? really don't know why this subject surfaced in the middle of summer where it's 10 degrees above freezing (at least for the next couple of weeks) here in the Great White North.

Came up in the middle of summer cause thats when I get my worst colds. Air conditioning to humidity and back again. Brought it up because I never had a cold that didn't make me a hacking coughing machine and this is my first year on CPAP.

Haven't really been on long enough to get benefits, in the past two months can only think of three nights I slept through. Still tired during the day. So guess I brought this up because I found something postibve about fighting with my mask most nights. Pretty sure in my case it was just blowing hot air up my nose. Can't give up so grabbing every thread i can

CPAP Cure for the Common Cold?

CPAP Cure for the Common Cold?

Colds & CPAP

Aha, just what I wanted to hear

Machine	Mask