So Well has made an excellent and practical suggestion for how to do this:streamteamer wrote:Ok, when I stop the Afrin and can't breath through my nose how do I use my CPAP mask?
In Step One, you WILL get enough air through the Afrin nostril to buy the time for the Afrin-free nostril to recuperate. And that will be true even when you are in bed with your CPAP mask on: You will get enough air through the Afrin nostril at night even though it is in the CPAP mask. It might not be very comfortable, but you WILL GET enough air to last through the night.So Well wrote:To wean yourself off Afrin start with one nostril. Don't put in any Afrin in that nostril for several days. Once the rebound effect dissipates, drop the Afrin entirely and wait for the rebound congestion to disappear from the other nostril.
Once neti pots and the allergy meds you are on are enough to keep the Afrin-free nostril reasonably congestion-free, then move on to Step Two and quit using the Afrin in the other nostril. And in Step Two, you WILL get enough air through the reasonably clear (and Afrin-free) first nostril to buy time for the second nostril to adjust to having no Afrin. And that will be true even when you are in bed with your CPAP mask on: You will get enough air through the clear first nostril at night even though it is in the CPAP mask. It might not be very comfortable, but you WILL GET enough air to last through the night.
Is this method time consuming? Yes. Will you be miserable? Most likely. Will you live through the pain? Yes. Will it be worth it? Well, you yourself said:
So I suspect you will find the whole painful process of getting yourself off the Afrin so that the CPAP is easier to use well worth the time, pain, and effort in the long run.For the record when I have used the CPAP my pain level has gone down. I'm not as tired as before CPAP. Even though getting use to the entire idea of CPAP has been difficult I have found it has merit.
And thanks for providing the long medicine list. You're on a bunch of things, and it's not clear to me just how well your asthma is controlled on a daily basis. And without the Afrin, you clearly don't believe the allergies are well controlled in the sense of nasal congestion. But you really don't know if they're controlled because most likely the Afrin is why you are severely congested at this point. If I were you, I think I'd want to have a long chat with my allergist and the doctor treating the asthma. You need a comprehensive way of tackling both the allergies and the asthma so that you can more easily use the CPAP, which in the long run should help, not hurt, the allergy and asthma issues.