OK to use cpap while sick?

Hey guys. I have been sick a little over a week now. It started as a cold with a cough and then turned into a double ear infection. I am on antibiotics now to get rid of the infection but I still have massive sinus pressure. I didn't use my nasal mask for the first few days because I was too stuffed up. I am relatively new to cpap and don't have a full face mask. Anyway, just wondered what the consensus was about wearing a mask while sick. I just feel like I should feel better than I do by now.

I use mine all the time. When I am congested, I find the CPAP helps clear my sinuses.

JLtheDrone wrote:Hey guys. I have been sick a little over a week now. It started as a cold with a cough and then turned into a double ear infection. I am on antibiotics now to get rid of the infection but I still have massive sinus pressure. I didn't use my nasal mask for the first few days because I was too stuffed up. I am relatively new to cpap and don't have a full face mask. Anyway, just wondered what the consensus was about wearing a mask while sick. I just feel like I should feel better than I do by now.

I normally don't use the humidifier on my machine, but when I get a head cold, sore throat, etc, I will usually drag the thing out and hook it up, and add some moisture... it seems to help me.

I know other people find the opposite helps them.

in short, I use the machine when sick, because part of getting well is getting rest to allow your body to heal, and if you've got apnea, and don't use the machine, you're not getting rest.

might be good for you to look into picking up a ffm for those times when you're too stuffed up for nose only.

I use my machine everytime I go to sleep, sick or well! The last thing I want is to die in my sleep sick. If I had the stomach flu, I wouldn't use it if sick, but in 8 years that I've used cpap, I haven't had it, knock on wood. I don't take the flu shot. I take heavy doses of vitamins. Jim

I agree. Even when I feel like my nose is stuffed up, I put the mask on, and it opens right up.
Oxygen promotes healing. If you absolutely MUST have a full face mask,
this is a case for an emergency exception to insurance restrictions--talk to your doctor.
A letter of medical necessity should allow you to qualify for a specific mask WHEN you need it.

I would suggest cleaning things more frequently while you are sick and especially after you feel better. I don't like having the extra germs festering in something I breath out of.

Thanks,
John

If you don't have a FF mask use a sinus rinse like NeilMed several times a day. When you get a chance pick up a FF mask for situations like this.

I agree with chunckyfrog and john844. See if you can get your sleep doc to prescribe a FF mask for these situations, and get your DME to bill your insurance to pay for it. My DME was very up front in saying that even if you use a nasal or nasal pillow mask it is a best practice to have a full face mask for any time you may be sick or have an allergy attack.

I also agree that extra cleaning will keep you from re-infecting yourself, or others. There can be nasty things hiding deep in your sinuses, and if you sneeze into your mask at night they can get spread, and cause secondary infections. I am much more thorough about cleaning my cpap gear than anything else.

I also agree with what others have said. The humidity, and pressure tend to open my sinuses when I am congested anyway.

Normally as the others say - USE it with full face mask and extra humidity and put some eucalyptus on a cotton ball at the air intake.

However since you have issues with your ears and sinuses now, better discuss it with your doctor.

Most of us find a cold and even pneumonia much easier to deal handle using the cpap machine. There is nothing quite like hot humid pressurized air to clear things up.

When you're sick, you're going to have billions (trillions?) of the particular germ inside your body, your nose, your mouth, etc.

Until your body kills of the billions of copies of that germ inside your body, inhaling a few million of that germ back from your CPAP equipment isn't going to matter. For a while after your body manages to fight off the vast hordes of germs that are already inside, you, your immune system is probably going to be primed and ready to kill off the piddling few germs of that same type that you can get back off your own CPAP equipment.

You might want to be a little extra careful on the cleaning during the illness to help keep you from catching some other germ than the one that's making you sick. Lots of people get pneumonia, for instance when they have the flu.

Give it a good cleaning after you get well, just in case.

BTW, everyone should get a pneumonia shot. It's cheap, safe, and lasts for many years. It won't kill all the thousands of different germs that can cause pneumonia, but it helps with many of the more common ones.

BlackSpinner wrote: Most of us find a cold and even pneumonia much easier to deal handle using the cpap machine. There is nothing quite like hot humid pressurized air to clear things up.

a bit like spending the night in a hot steamy shower, at least as far as your airway is concerned

john844 wrote:I would suggest cleaning things more frequently while you are sick and especially after you feel better. I don't like having the extra germs festering in something I breath out of.

Thanks,
John

Definitely....and the toothbrush too.