insane amount of winter sneezing

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surf_rower
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insane amount of winter sneezing

Post by surf_rower » Wed Nov 26, 2014 10:00 pm

Monster loud sneezing! Congestion! Started as soon as the heat in this house went on a couple weeks ago. Help, I really want to be able to taste Thanksgiving food tomorrow. I guess I have to start using my humidifier, as the room humidifier is not helping anymore with the nose problems, though it did for awhile. So, tonight I will try the humidifier for the first time, but I don't understand a couple of things. It is a System One heated humidifier. I use a Tap Pap nasal pillow mask.
(1) This is one constant heat, right? I read the manual and studied the machine but don't see any dial for heat settings, just humidity settings. I don't have the heated tubing so I worry about this "rainout" you guys mention.
(2) The 22mm tube does go downward before going up to the scrunchie taped to my wall (hi-tech) so maybe that will keep rainout from occurring...? My room is colder at 62 than the water will be at 75.
(3) I set the humidity to 2 (goes from 0 to 5) – is that a good starting point?
(4) How do people use "passover" unheated humidifiers, are those a different kind of machine? I don't see a way to turn off the heat on this one.
I did about 20 mins of research on the site but didn't yet find all those answers. Thanks for any help!
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DreamDiver
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Re: insane amount of winter sneezing

Post by DreamDiver » Wed Nov 26, 2014 10:13 pm

What kind of heat does your house use?

1. Without the heated hose, you'll only see the one setting for humidity. Since humidity is controlled by heating the water, that's what can sometimes cause rainout, especially when the room is enough colder than the hose. Wrap your hose in a towel or old socks with the tips cut until you can get a hose snuggler.

2. Hanging the hose may stop the water from collecting in some low spots in the hose, but it won't stop rainout from collecting under the correct circumstances. Rainout will drain down from the scrunchy either toward your mask or back toward the tank. The towel-wrap or sock-wrap method is great until you can get either a heated hose or a hose snuggle or both.

3. "2" is as good a place to start as any. If you feel your nose clogging up, humidity may be too high, or too low. It varies from person to person.

4. "Passover" is simply your air passing over an unheated water tank. If you set your CPAP's humidifier to "Off" or "0", you effectively have a passover humidifier. I still think 2 might be a better starting place than Off.

Make sure you have your air filters set up properly. If you're not already using them, try hypoallergenic filters on your machine.

Good luck! Happy Turkey Day.

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Last edited by DreamDiver on Wed Nov 26, 2014 10:58 pm, edited 6 times in total.
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Re: insane amount of winter sneezing

Post by surf_rower » Wed Nov 26, 2014 10:17 pm

DreamDiver wrote:What kind of heat does your house use?
Radiator hot water. Same sneezing thing happened last winter when it was super cold in PA. I thought it was from the unusual cold plus the CPAP, but this time it started right up with normal November weather. I was running the room humidifier religiously because that helped a lot last year, but now it isn't. My thought is that the heat and the CPAP together are drying out my nasal passages enough that my normal allergies (cats, dust) are really flaring up. The rest of the year, no sneezing.
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Re: insane amount of winter sneezing

Post by palerider » Wed Nov 26, 2014 10:22 pm

surf_rower wrote: (4) How do people use "passover" unheated humidifiers, are those a different kind of machine? I don't see a way to turn off the heat on this one.
I did about 20 mins of research on the site but didn't yet find all those answers. Thanks for any help!
4) just set the humidifier to 0 and put in water

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Last edited by palerider on Wed Nov 26, 2014 10:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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surf_rower
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Re: insane amount of winter sneezing

Post by surf_rower » Wed Nov 26, 2014 10:27 pm

turn the knob after the machine is running, that's how you adjust the humidifier level.[/quote]

Thanks, I did set that in the Settings, was wondering about whether the heat temp could be changed. I guess not.
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Re: insane amount of winter sneezing

Post by DreamDiver » Wed Nov 26, 2014 10:29 pm

surf_rower wrote:
DreamDiver wrote:What kind of heat does your house use?
Radiator hot water. Same sneezing thing happened last winter when it was super cold in PA. I thought it was from the unusual cold plus the CPAP, but this time it started right up with normal November weather. I was running the room humidifier religiously because that helped a lot last year, but now it isn't. My thought is that the heat and the CPAP together are drying out my nasal passages enough that my normal allergies (cats, dust) are really flaring up. The rest of the year, no sneezing.
I thought it might be radiator heating. It might be dust that has settled all year on the radiator fins and is now released through convection as it begins heating the house. How often do you clean your radiators? Also note that I've added some extra information to my previous reply.

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surf_rower
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Re: insane amount of winter sneezing

Post by surf_rower » Wed Nov 26, 2014 10:31 pm

surf_rower wrote:turn the knob after the machine is running, that's how you adjust the humidifier level.
Thanks, I did set that in the Settings, was wondering about whether the heat temp could be changed. I guess not.[/quote]

oops sorry, maybe you did mean the heat. So the 0 to 5 is actually a heat setting.
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surf_rower
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Re: insane amount of winter sneezing

Post by surf_rower » Wed Nov 26, 2014 10:35 pm

DreamDiver wrote:
surf_rower wrote:
DreamDiver wrote:What kind of heat does your house use?
Radiator hot water. Same sneezing thing happened last winter when it was super cold in PA. I thought it was from the unusual cold plus the CPAP, but this time it started right up with normal November weather. I was running the room humidifier religiously because that helped a lot last year, but now it isn't. My thought is that the heat and the CPAP together are drying out my nasal passages enough that my normal allergies (cats, dust) are really flaring up. The rest of the year, no sneezing.
I thought it might be radiator heating. It might be dust that has settled all year on the radiator fins and is now released through convection as it begins heating the house. How often do you clean your radiators? Also note that I've added some extra information to my previous reply.
OMG you are a genius. That could be it! It is a dusty house and maybe that is what happens. We tried to allergy-proof the bedroom, got rid of the rug and so forth, but it is definitely possible the radiators are dusty. I never had this affliction until CPAP, so I believe it is the combination of both. We will attack the radiators, and I'll try your sock trick on the tubing. Thanks so much.
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Re: insane amount of winter sneezing

Post by surf_rower » Sun Jan 25, 2015 10:25 am

Hi all,
This is a progress report on this problem. The humidifier completely solved the tickly sneezy drippy nose issues. About three weeks ago, I stopped using the humidifier (suspecting it was causing headaches, will start a new thread about that) and used a room humidifier instead. That worked fine for about two weeks but then the dry nose, sneezing, and dripping came back. Yesterday it was fairly bad, so I used the humidifier last night. Today, bingo, no nose issues at all!
When I got my allergies worked up the doctor told me that we all have a baseline of allergy response and sometimes allergies just lurk until something, like dryness, adds additional irritation and then you start having symptoms. I had no symptoms at that time (was before CPAP) but she told me to get rid of our cats and buy hypoallergenic everything. Sorry, the cats are family members, not happening. So how about that, the humidifier saved my family!
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Julie
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Re: insane amount of winter sneezing

Post by Julie » Sun Jan 25, 2015 1:28 pm

Thank you for keeping cats!

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Re: insane amount of winter sneezing

Post by chunkyfrog » Sun Jan 25, 2015 2:14 pm

Furnace filters need to be changed each year, minimum.
I consider duct cleaning a scam, but there could be reason to have it done.

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surf_rower
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Re: insane amount of winter sneezing

Post by surf_rower » Sun Jan 25, 2015 6:38 pm

chunkyfrog wrote:Furnace filters need to be changed each year, minimum.
I consider duct cleaning a scam, but there could be reason to have it done.
Thanks, the Resident Home Inspector is on top of that one.
Really this problem was the dry winter CPAP. Solved by humidifier. Love when chronic things are easily solved!
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