What's the point???

Hello All,

I'm a relative newbie to CPAP therapy, and I was hoping to get some thoughts/feedback from some of the veterans or medical professionals out there...

I've just completed a full month of therapy. As you can see from my profile, I'm running a ResMed Aircurve 10 ST unit w/ humidifier & and F&P Eson Nasal mask. Long story short, I haven't spent a single day since I've started therapy without some significant level of symptoms/side-effects from CPAP usage. I've experienced:

• Severe nasal/sinus congestion
  Nose bleeds
  Chest congestion
  Coughing
  Cold sores
  Eye infections/conjunctivitis
  General cold symptoms

So my question is this... What's the point of treating sleep apnea/getting better quality sleep if I spend my waking hours feeling miserable??

This is somewhat of a rhetorical question, I know. However, I'd truly like some advice/thoughts on how to minimize the symptoms & side-effects that I'm dealing with.

Now, it is possible that my start of CPAP therapy coincided with me catching a cold, and use of the CPAP made things worse. Or perhaps the excessive congestion from using the unit set up the right conditions to develop a cold or URI. I guess it's a chicken & egg thing.

I've used saline nasal spray at night and in the morning to try and address the congestion issue, ramped up the humidity setting, etc. Any other thoughts or suggestions at how to eliminate or at least minimize the issues that I'm experiencing?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Most of what you are talking about like

Chest congestion
Coughing
Cold sores
Eye infections/conjunctivitis
General cold symptoms

Are typically because you have a cold. You don't catch colds from CPAP. You don't get eye infections from CPAP. You got them from somewhere else.

CPAP itself, when first starting out can have challenges, having a cold on top of it will make it harder but you should continue to use CPAP as your tests showed you need it.

Some, like me, benefit from using CPAP when I do get a cold, I just adjust and deal with it. I get fewer colds than anyone else in the house though again something I attribute to using CPAP and good management to prevent getting colds in the first place, (washing hands etc)...

For many, nasal masks are harder to use when you have a cold. I use a FFM all the time so I can't really give any experience with that.

None of these symptoms is caused by your body getting extra oxygen, but they might be caused by too much humidity - try fiddling with the humidifier. If you don't feel better after you have turned it you can always turn it back up. We use a room humidifier, but I don't have a cpap humidifier at all. I kind of wonder about my conjunctivitis, too, and am considering putting something across my eye to block any stray airflow.

Welcome to the forum Phaedrus !

It sounds like you may have two problems. First, the coughing and stuff sound like you may need more humidity. Try increasing it a little at a time. Also, if you don't have a Climateline heated hose, I would highly recommend trying one. Secondly, the dry eye sounds like you have a mask leak. Try playing with the tension while lying on your back and the machine running. Start off with the mask so loose that it leaks everywhere, then start slowly tightening the lower straps equally until the leak stops. Once you have a good seal, tighten the upper straps to maintain position.

I hope this helps!

The point is the right therapy can make your life better. There are a lot of success stories and it can get better for you.
The nasal/sinus congestion and nose bleeds can be addressed by changing humidity which you are doing. I like to use http://www.amazon.com/Ayr-Saline-Nasal- ... +nasal+gel before I mask up. The gel lasts longer than the spray. Just put a dab on a Qtip into your nostrils.
The chest congestion, coughing, and general cold symptoms are probablity related more to the time of the year. I believe my Cpap helped to lessen my cold symptoms this year.
I too had the cold sores and remember stress will increase their breakout. Also, if your nasal mask is leaking or irritating the area it might be helped by the use of liners http://www.padacheek.com/ or https://www.cpap.com/productpage/remzzz ... iners.html
The eye irritation might be caused by air blowing in your eyes and drying your eyes, Liners will also help this.
Learning about cpap is a process that takes active participation so ask questions and we will help.

Are you cleaning your mask after each nights use while you are ill?

Too much humidity = congestion. Fact. Try lowering it or even turning it off once you see it helps (after a couple of days). It's only there as a comfort, convenience for those who need it, but if you don't, then don't use it.

Phaedrus wrote: Severe nasal/sinus congestion
Nose bleeds

What humidity setting are you currently using on your humidifier?
Are you using the optional heated hose or a regular hose?

While too much humidity can cause congestion in some people..most people find that more humidity helps the congestion.
Google "CPAP rhinitis" and read up a little on what you find.
The fact that you are experiencing nose bleeds too really makes me think the nasal mucosa have become dried out too much from the air and you might need more humidity to help keep the mucosa from drying out.
Once the nasal mucosa get dried out and the blood vessels burst to create nose bleed and the mucosa swell up (congestion) in response to being too dried out....it can take many days for things to heal up and get back to normal.

BTW.....I have first hand experience with nasal mucosa getting too dried out and the symptoms caused by that happening can mimic the worse cold and/or sinus infection. It took several days for my nasal mucosa to get back to normal. I get a nasty reminder of this happening every time I forget to fill my water chamber and I end up using the machine with no water for most of the night.
You may have also simply caught a cold for part of your symptoms...even if it is just a cold the old adage of "hydration, hydration, hydration" remains to be true.

Sounds like you immune system is in poor shape! XPAP isn't causing your problems, it can't cure them, but it can make you healthier. In t G en meantime you need to see a doctor or at least, I use vitamins in large doses to build my system up.

I take "C" 2000 to 3000 units daily, B-150's, "E" 400 units, Zinc and about 8 more. Crazy, it helps me, not with crazy though. Jim

Phaedrus wrote:Hello All,

I'm a relative newbie to CPAP therapy, and I was hoping to get some thoughts/feedback from some of the veterans or medical professionals out there...

I've just completed a full month of therapy. As you can see from my profile, I'm running a ResMed Aircurve 10 ST unit w/ humidifier & and F&P Eson Nasal mask. Long story short, I haven't spent a single day since I've started therapy without some significant level of symptoms/side-effects from CPAP usage. I've experienced:

• Severe nasal/sinus congestion
  Nose bleeds
  Chest congestion
  Coughing
  Cold sores
  Eye infections/conjunctivitis
  General cold symptoms

So my question is this... What's the point of treating sleep apnea/getting better quality sleep if I spend my waking hours feeling miserable??

This is somewhat of a rhetorical question, I know. However, I'd truly like some advice/thoughts on how to minimize the symptoms & side-effects that I'm dealing with.

Now, it is possible that my start of CPAP therapy coincided with me catching a cold, and use of the CPAP made things worse. Or perhaps the excessive congestion from using the unit set up the right conditions to develop a cold or URI. I guess it's a chicken & egg thing.

I've used saline nasal spray at night and in the morning to try and address the congestion issue, ramped up the humidity setting, etc. Any other thoughts or suggestions at how to eliminate or at least minimize the issues that I'm experiencing?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The point is........
Take charge of your own therapy and tweak things till they work for you.
You've been diagnosed with a condition that's detrimental to your health.
You have the equipment to treat it.
Now, you need to figure out how to use it to your benefit.
Many of us have had similar experiences when we first started.

As was previously mentioned, too much humidity CAN cause congestion for some people. Experiment with your settings
Stay away from Afrin (nasal spray) too much use/overuse can really mess you up.
If you're taking Lisinopril, that can cause a dry cough.

NEVER GIVE UP!!!


Den

.

Thank you all for your responses. I really appreciate the feedback. To address some of the questions posed in the responses (in no particular order)...

- No, I don't have a ClimateLine heated hose. Just a regular one.
- I started out with a humidity setting of 4 (50%). At the advice of the Resp. Tech. from the medical equipment company, I maxed it out at 8 for a little while. Now I have it down to 6.
- I recognize that CPAP therapy does not cause colds. My point was that perhaps the excessive congestion set up the right conditions for me to succumb to a cold virus.
- Admittedly, no, I've not been cleaning my mask every night while I've been fighting these issues. I clean everything once or twice a week.
- Yes, I have seen a doctor for these issues. Twice. I also have corresponded with my Dr. on a regular basis on these problems. He's probably getting tired of hearing from me at this point.

Honestly folks, I don't normally whine about being sick. Typically, I have two colds a year - Once in Fall/Winter, once in Spring. What's getting me frustrated here is that I've been dealing with cold-like symptoms for an entire month now. It's simply not like my system to be this fragile. Initially, I experienced the severe congestion every day, but I didn't really feel "sick". My feeling like I was actually dealing with a full-blown cold didn't happen until a week to ten days into therapy.

Regarding the cold sores... I used to get them all the time as a kid. Not so much as an adult, and almost none at all over the past few years. Now I'm getting them again. What has changed? I started CPAP therapy.

Regarding humidity... I seem to be running into the same discussion here that I've seen elsewhere on the subject. Some people swear that too much humidity causes congestion, some people think it's too little. Admittedly, the congestion is not nearly as bad now as it was when I started. I attribute that to the use of the saline nasal spray and finding what appears to be the "sweet spot" on the humidity setting. Now if I could just get over the remnants of this cold/URI.

Again, thanks one and all for the responses. I'll keep up with the therapy, and hopefully, things will get easier, and I'll get healthier.

Regarding the cold sores... I used to get them all the time as a kid. Not so much as an adult, and almost none at all over the past few years. Now I'm getting them again. What has changed? I started CPAP therapy.

These things can be very much stress related. Starting cpap can be very stressful. You are changing how you sleep which is how you spend 1/3 of your life. For many people the use of cpap challenges their sexual self esteem because we associate sex with bed time. So "Life style Change" applies.

Phaedrus wrote:Regarding humidity... I seem to be running into the same discussion here that I've seen elsewhere on the subject. Some people swear that too much humidity causes congestion, some people think it's too little. Admittedly, the congestion is not nearly as bad now as it was when I started. I attribute that to the use of the saline nasal spray and finding what appears to be the "sweet spot" on the humidity setting. Now if I could just get over the remnants of this cold/URI.

humidity is perhaps one of the more difficult things, after finding the mask that best fits your face, to get right.

you hear people saying "YOU NEED MORE" and people saying "YOU NEED LESS" because that's what works for them, then you hear pugsy, and me, saying "yeah, well, you may need more, you may need less", and trying to present both sides of the coin, because everybody's needs seem to be different, and to make it worse, your humidity needs can change with the weather... and definitely with the season.

I think the best way to say it is, you need DIFFERENT humidity than what you're currently doing.

try turning it down, if that's worse, try turning it up... find what works for you at this time, and maybe keep a notebook of how you feel the next day, the temperature and weather, and outside (and inside) humidity... you may start noting a pattern.

I normally don't use ANY added humidity... Pugsy would breath swamp air if she could. sometimes my humidifer is in the case in the closet... the only time I put water in is when I get sick, and then it feels like it helps loosen up the crud.

your mileage WILL vary.