waking up REALLY, stuffy at night

new-to-BiPAP · Post by **new-to-BiPAP** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 9:47 am

For some reason this week I've been getting really stuffy at night. The only thing I can think of is the lanolin I've been using to protect my nose from the nasal pillow. Only...it's not where I'm putting the lanolin...it's up further. If it's not that then I have no idea what would be causing it. It's fine during the day. But I wake up being really stuffy so it's difficult to breathe in or out. I've been doing saline washes (even did one in the middle of the night last night to see if that helped...did for a short time). I've been on my machine for almost 4 weeks. This wouldn't be a delayed allergy to any part of the machine could it? I've been able to use it for full nights up till last night (and the last few nights I've been waking up feeling like I'm suffocating...which I think is from the stuffy nose). At first I thought I was just getting too anxious with the chin strap but I don't think that's it. I don't have a cold or runny nose or anything. I just don't get it. And I'm sooooooo sleepy! Still haven't gotten a good night sleep on this thing yet...so tired of this...

any ideas what could be causing the stuffyness?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 10:02 am

How high do you have your humidifier?

Some people get stuffier the higher the humidifier setting (I am one of those, In the summer, I use the humidifier as a passover, with no heat) Other people are less stuffy with more humidification.

So check that out and alter the setting to see if that helps.

RipVW · Post by **RipVW** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 10:09 am

Same here--I have use "passive" humidification (i.e. NO heat), and I use two humidifiers to get enough COOL moisture: my regular integrated one + my HC150.

Wulfman · Post by **Wulfman** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 10:19 am

What those other two said.......

I use pass-over (cool) humidification year round to keep my nasal passages open.......and in the warmer months I keep my distilled water in the refrigerator.

Den

HP · Post by HP » Wed Jun 25, 2008 10:22 am

I would guess also that you maybe getting too much humidified air. But you might also have an allergy kicking in.

During my first year or so on APAP, I used a heated humidifier especially during colder months. But now I do not like to use a humidifier at all due to excess moisture. I have some sort of allergy that seems to be more active now. In this warmer weather right now, I wake up (not in the middle of the night) with some excess moisture, likely due to allergy.

I'd try throttling down your humidifier and see.

HP

new-to-BiPAP · Post by **new-to-BiPAP** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 1:15 pm

I've been keeping my humidifier at '4' (out of '5'...we live in the desert). Our humidity is a whole 16% today which is really really high for us. I think it's usually below 10%. The last few weeks hasn't been a problem at level '4'. Last night when I woke up stuffy the first time at 1:30 I put it down to maybe '2.75' and did a saline rinse. (I had originally tried '2' when I first started and it dried out my sinuses and gave me a bad headache.) With it just below '3' I still woke up at 3:30 too stuffy to breathe well thru my nose. I'm kind of leery to put it back down to '2' again...cuz an all day headache is...well...no fun at all. I'm fairly certain that turning off the heater and just having passover air would not be enuf moisture for me. Is there a way to have it heat it up to evaporate and then cool it down before you breathe it in?

thanks!

RipVW · Post by **RipVW** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 1:26 pm

Don't know of any way to cool the heated humidified air. But, you might need two humidifiers to get enough cool moisture. This one works great--designed to force the air to pass over a much greater water surface (snakes around and around throughout the unit). Check it out:

https://www.cpap.com/productpage/respir ... -hose.html

Only drawback is that it is more of a pain to clean.

pjwalman · Post by **pjwalman** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 1:32 pm

I didn't realize you could have two humidifiers. How does that work connection-wise? Sorry if that is a dumb question, but I'm a visual learner, I guess, and I'm having a hard time picturing where all the hoses would hook in.

Thanks!

Peggy

ww · Post by ww » Wed Jun 25, 2008 2:22 pm

pjwalman wrote:I didn't realize you could have two humidifiers. How does that work connection-wise? Sorry if that is a dumb question, but I'm a visual learner, I guess, and I'm having a hard time picturing where all the hoses would hook in.

Thanks!

Peggy

Use the short hose that comes on the HC150 to connect to where your hose is on the M series, then connect your hose to the output of the HC150. It may work so well, you will want to remove the M Series humidifier and just use the HC150. In that case there is a little adapter that came with your machine that connects in place of the built in humidifier and then you unit is much smaller and less likely to leak.

lvehko · Post by **lvehko** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 4:30 pm

I'll second (or third, or fourth, or however many went before me) turning down the humidifier. I ran mine where the DME told me to for the first couple of weeks and had a lot of trouble with congestion. I turned it down to almost nothing and got a lot better results.

Min

Wulfman · Post by **Wulfman** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 6:01 pm

new-to-BiPAP wrote:I've been keeping my humidifier at '4' (out of '5'...we live in the desert). Our humidity is a whole 16% today which is really really high for us. I think it's usually below 10%. The last few weeks hasn't been a problem at level '4'. Last night when I woke up stuffy the first time at 1:30 I put it down to maybe '2.75' and did a saline rinse. (I had originally tried '2' when I first started and it dried out my sinuses and gave me a bad headache.) With it just below '3' I still woke up at 3:30 too stuffy to breathe well thru my nose. I'm kind of leery to put it back down to '2' again...cuz an all day headache is...well...no fun at all. I'm fairly certain that turning off the heater and just having passover air would not be enuf moisture for me. Is there a way to have it heat it up to evaporate and then cool it down before you breathe it in?

thanks!

Wyoming isn't exactly in the "tropics" either.
Our humidity MAY get up to 30 or 40% when it's RAINING.

The pass-over humidification still works for me. The water level drops about 1/4 (or more) inch per night......which tells me I'm getting some humidity.

Den

new-to-BiPAP · Post by **new-to-BiPAP** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 10:26 pm

[quote="RipVW"]Don't know of any way to cool the heated humidified air. But, you might need two humidifiers to get enough cool moisture. This one works great--designed to force the air to pass over a much greater water surface (snakes around and around throughout the unit). Check it out:

https://www.cpap.com/productpage/respir ... -hose.html

Only drawback is that it is more of a pain to clean.

Cool...I didn't know there were ones like this...might hafta look into it...

new-to-BiPAP · Post by **new-to-BiPAP** » Thu Jun 26, 2008 3:59 pm

I think I've figured out that it is what I'm putting into my nose to prevent it from getting so dang sore. Both lanolin and KY make me get stuffy. I did turn down the humidifier also so maybe it is a combination. But...when I got stuffy and 'rinsed' out my nose to get the ky jelly out...no more stuffy! I think I will try aloe vera to see if that makes me stuffy tonight.

thanks everyone!

Mask

Additional Comments: Started CPAP June 14, 2006, pressure set at 8.0