New User (7 days on machine)

Hello all,
I am glad to have found this forum as I am trying to get my head wrapped around my new dependence(CPAP). I am 61 in December and it seems there is a new malady popping up each turn of the year end. Last year I had a detached retina, this year I am diagnosed a SEVERE 55API sleep apnea. I must admit I did not have fatigue worse than old age can attribute. Oh yes, I am also on Lithium (which makes people sleepy)

After about 7 days I am developing a dry cough and nose dripping. I do not think I have the cold. Can the CPAP cause this?
Thanks
-A

The nose dripping could be related to the humidity or lack of.
Google cpap rhinitis and start reading.

If you are using a humidifier...try turning the humidity setting up or down...if using a minimal setting try more and if using a higher setting try less.
If you aren't using a humidifier...use one.
Humidity preferences and needs vary widely among cpap users. Some need a lot and some only need a minimal to none amount of added moisture. This is something you just have to sort through yourself.

The cough may or may not be related to the humidity. It's not usually but wouldn't be impossible for dryness to be affecting the cilia in the lungs causing a person to cough. So it's like any usual remedy for cough...hydration or more moisture.

It's also possible that the cough might be related to medications...some Blood Pressure meds are known to cause coughing...specifically Lisinopril is a well known culprit.

Thanks,
There is a lot of bad air here due to forest fires in California. This is the month, dry and hot weather and the Santa Ana winds (devil's winds) to start fires. Maybe I am sensing the particulars in the air. Anyway, thanks for the feedback and maybe I turn the humidity to a notch higher.
-A

I've had a series of ailments well. I'm forty, and for a while I thought I was just "aging" and getting age related diseases, but my Gerd, weight, pre-diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesteral(sp? ), fatigue, and maybe even my IBS were probably all related to apnea... at least they have all gotten better. Good luck! Personally I live in a very dry climate and I have my humidity cranked all the way up to 8 out of 8 and it's barely enough. No water collection from that high of a humidity either.

Having the same trouble. Congestion. Big problem. Had rain out the other night. Sneezed all day the next day. Have turned humidifer down from 8 to 6 and its okay now. Any lower and the nose gets inflamed from being too dry. Cant win!

I am 61 years old also. Sometimes I am shocked at the gray-haired stranger looking back at me in the mirror. I had a bad year last year with cataracts and cancer and this year, it's CPAP therapy. Getting older aint for sissies.

AMESS wrote:Cant win!

??

It sounds like you are winning at a humidifier setting of 6.