COPD, a common cold and my CPAP

[patti.ba]

Having COPD is bad enough, but a common cold is really dragging me down. When I try to use my cpap the pressure sends me into fits of coughing. Thankfully my nose is not stopped up! Any suggestions on how to get through a cold and still getting in some time on my cpap?

[Pugsy]

What are your current pressure settings and are you using EPR exhale relief and if you are at what setting?

What is your humidity setting?

[greatunclebill]

I have copd and apnea. when my throat is irritated i take a good swig of nyquil before bed. sometimes sucking on a halls cough drop before bed coats the throat enough to help.

[patti.ba]

What are your current pressure settings and are you using EPR exhale relief and if you are at what setting?

What is your humidity setting?

I understand that those of you that have been here for a long time only work by the numbers. But my settings are fine, it is this darn cold that is the problem. I really think this group is maybe not right for me, it is a lot of numbers and information for this old brain to handle. Sometimes it seems way more complicated than it needs to be. My CPAP use is simple, but for the basics, my pressure is at 6, I took the auto settings off recently and upped the humidity a notch, it is at 5 instead of the 4 with the auto on. I have no issues with the exhale relief, I don't think I have even looked at it since I got the machine 3 weeks ago or so and the RT and I set it up together. My issue is with the air movement across my throat with being sick. The information the RT gave me says not to use when you have a cold, but my nose is not stopped up so no issues with the airflow through my nostrils. It is the "breeze" across the back of my throat that has me coughing so bad. Hard to cough with the pillows on. I have not used it for the last two nights, but I feel like I am going to have to start all over when I get rid of this bug.

[patti.ba]

I have copd and apnea. when my throat is irritated i take a good swig of nyquil before bed. sometimes sucking on a halls cough drop before bed coats the throat enough to help.

The Halls is a good idea, I will try that tonight and see if it helps.

[Pugsy]

Actually I asked about the pressures on the off chance there was something that could be done to ease the exhale and maybe be less irritating to your throat and airway so as to maybe reduce the coughing.

Humidity question...same thing. Often more humidity will help hydrate the cilia in the lungs and when better hydrated then less likely to be prone to causing a cough.

But since you don't care to investigate that avenue of things then I suggest the NyQuil to help suppress the coughing.

[Wulfman...]

Having COPD is bad enough, but a common cold is really dragging me down. When I try to use my cpap the pressure sends me into fits of coughing. Thankfully my nose is not stopped up! Any suggestions on how to get through a cold and still getting in some time on my cpap?

By any chance do you take Lisinopril? (BP med) It's a known cough contributor.

But, like others have said, I used the cough drops and Nyquil in some of the early bouts I had with colds and flu. Haven't had anything like that since early 2010.

Humidity settings?
I've always used "passover" (cool, no heat) since starting therapy. Keeps my nasal passages open.


Den

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[Jdizzle]

I'd imagine increasing humidity would decrease irritation from the "breeze". Similar to breathing dry hot hair in the desert (where I live) and traveling to a beach/humid area....the difference in feeling on the throat/lungs is insane.

Also cough drops/Nyquil like the others recommended. The drops and Nyquil might be enough to get you asleep....and increase in humidity enough comfort to not wake you up

[chunkyfrog]

Last winter, I had a bad case of bronchitis.
The only OTC relief I had were Ricola sugar free lemon/mint drops.
They even reduced my need to take the benzonatate perles prescribed by my doctor.

[Janknitz]

I have cough variant asthma so I recognize it may be different than COPD, but I get great relief with my CPAP. Sometimes when I'm having an asthma exacerbation with a cold, the only time I'm NOT coughing is when I'm using my CPAP. I will put it on during the day just for some relief.

You might try playing with the humidity to see if it helps--I usually turn mine up when I'm having coughing issues.

Also, if you have a rescue inhaler (not sure if you do with COPD, although we take the same long acting bronchidilator/steroid inhalers) then you might try using it before you put on your CPAP. That helps too.

[Darth_Rita]

Hi Patti, like you I can’t use my CPAP when I have coughing fits.
I am a couple of months off of reaching 68 and after waking my husband by snoring at around 5am every morning I had been tested for apnea and was recently diagnosed with having too many low Spo2 events and put on an airsense 10 machine. This was on September 25th 2018. Around the same time I was given the latest Flu Jab through my doctors surgery.

2 weeks ago I got a bug/virus that started with a sore throat and caused none stop coughing fits the moment I tried to lie down.
At first I thought it was my airsense machine as I have been getting bouts of soreness in the throat since I started using a humidifier so I stopped using CPAP for a couple of days and the sore throat subsided. However the bug got worse and as my husband had developed similar symptoms, but without the sore throat I started to think we both had a bug.

All the same I gave all of my equipment a thorough clean and called the apnea helpline but instead of being passed to someone who could offer advice I was told I needed to persevere with CPAP and my humidifier so I tried using it again and within 2 nights I had no voice at all, my sinuses were producing green mucus and my temperature had reached 103.5 so I stopped using the machine again. It was a good week before the bug or whatever it was to left my system but I was left with the coughing and a sinus problem. For the last few days I have been using a Beclometasone nasal spray together with Salbutamol and my asthma preventer and the sinuses are finally starting to clear up but I am still coughing mainly due to a sore tickly area at the back of the throat. Until the coughing stops I dare not go back on the airsense for fear of making matters worse so I can see where you were coming from. Did you resolve your problem and if so how?

[greatunclebill]

I too have COPD, asthma and apnea. If i catch a cold or bug it works it's way to chronic bronchitis which results in no cpap, then the dr and steroid injection prednisone with 10 days of oral antibiotic doxycycline and 10 days oral steroid prednisone. I've learned that it's best to catch it with the trip to the doc and meds before it gets to the chronic bronchitis phase.