RERA/UARS / blocked nose success stories and the best CPAP setting

[reinvigorated]

Hi all,

Can someone please share what machines, masks, and settings (pressure, EPR, humidifier, etc) worked best for those people who were diagnosed with RERA/UARS and/or experience nasal congestion (due to vasodilation - not mucus).

Have you found anything else outside of CPAP particularly helpful? E.g. lifestyle factors, diet, caffeine intake, unusual supplements, etc

Thank you!

[ChicagoGranny]

lifestyle factors, diet, caffeine intake

Don't you (we) already know these answers? We just don't want to practice them.

unusual supplements

I'm following this thread just to laugh at the nonsense people will post.

nasal congestion (due to vasodilation - not mucus)

Have you had a consultation with an ENT to discuss your problems including sleep-disordered breathing, CPAP and airway condition?

[tan]

Hi all,

Can someone please share what machines, masks, and settings (pressure, EPR, humidifier, etc) worked best for those people who were diagnosed with RERA/UARS and/or experience nasal congestion (due to vasodilation - not mucus).

I can tell you mine, which doesn't mean they will work for you: VPAP I:E 13/8, very high trig/cycle settings. Passover humidification, cool room temperatures, this is super individual, of course. FFM, partial mouth taping, nasal strips breatheright. RERA 18, AHI 5. when lying down, one nostril is always closed.

Yoga has no positive influence on me, though I do it anyway for other reasons, but a bit higher intensity exercise in the evening does help. As for caffeine, I stopped drinking coffee and tee, including green, a month ago. BP has dropped to below normal levels, but it alone has had little effect on my sleep.

in Jan of 2015 I was about to go under the knife after visiting ENT, but fortunately found a solution that has since worked for me.

[reinvigorated]

Have you had a consultation with an ENT to discuss your problems including sleep-disordered breathing, CPAP and airway condition?

Yes, I even did two turbinate cauterization procedures but they did not seem to help. Aside from that, I was just advised to try sprays (Fluticasone and Azelastine) and maybe Sudafed pseudoephedrine. The only thing that really helps is oxymetazoline in one nostril but I've been trying to break this habit for the last 5 weeks or so.

[reinvigorated]

I can tell you mine, which doesn't mean they will work for you: VPAP I:E 13/8, very high trig/cycle settings. Passover humidification, cool room temperatures, this is super individual, of course. FFM, partial mouth taping, nasal strips breatheright. RERA 18, AHI 5. when lying down, one nostril is always closed.

Yoga has no positive influence on me, though I do it anyway for other reasons, but a bit higher intensity exercise in the evening does help. As for caffeine, I stopped drinking coffee and tee, including green, a month ago. BP has dropped to below normal levels, but it alone has had little effect on my sleep.

in Jan of 2015 I was about to go under the knife after visiting ENT, but fortunately found a solution that has since worked for me.

Thank you for the response!

Is my understanding correct that VPAP I:E 13/8 means that you use the pressure of 13 for inhalation and 8 for exhalation and that the pressure is not changed based on events at all?

Also, have you tried nasal pillow masks? Did they not work for you?

What about lower pressure settings? I was prescribed pressure of 4 to 9, EPR is off by default. It doesn't seem to be helping though. I use ResmEd AutoSet 10 For Her with P10 Nasal Pillow.

Also, what is passover humidification? Are you saying that you disabled the heating? Mine is on by default, set pretty high (relative to the cold room temperature) - I wonder if I should try adjusting it.

My RERA was 9 and AHI was 0.4 during the diagnostic study but the machine usually shows AHI of about 4 for some reason (probably due to less accuracy).

Thanks again!

[reinvigorated]

To be honest, after trying CPAP for a few nights I've been feeling like my sleep was actually worse than without it. Without CPAP, I'd get an occasional day of really crappy sleep and would feel horrible but most of the time it's ok. According to Fitbit/Oura trackers, I would be awake for about 1hr, on average and 1.5hr on bad nights. With CPAP I was awake for more like 2hrs and felt really bad.

So I'm trying to decide whether I should return the CPAP and try to address the issue with some other methods or whether I should brace myself up for more experimentation and clearly prioritize variables that I should experiment with. For example, pressure settings, EPR settings, humidification level, humidification temperature (currently 27C = 80F), chin straps, etc.

Here is a recent night:
https://www.evernote.com/l/AAVUPbVymeRI ... Lkjcm50D2k

Interestingly, it seems like higher pressures were not necessarily more effective.

[reinvigorated]

Also, has anyone tried oropharyngeal exercises described in this study from 2009?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19234106

Full text here: https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/full/10 ... 0806-981OC

Thank you, all!

[reinvigorated]

By the way, this community is amazing! I'm so grateful for the information and guidance!

[reinvigorated]

One more observation: it's interesting that the machine is not registering any RERAs but is registering lots of clear airway apneas and some obstructive apneas. This is strange because my RERA index was 9.5 and AHI was only 0.4 during the disagnostic study.

It's also interesting because the pressure of 4-9 was sufficient to get my RERA to around 2 during the CPAP trial in the sleep lab. Here is the brief summary of the studies:
https://www.evernote.com/l/AAXuUzhFqTNE ... DC7Z9KgCDQ

[reinvigorated]

I wonder: if my nasal congestion is caused by vasodilation (which seems to be the case), would that mean that I should I use the lowest temperature possible for my humidifier in order to facilitate vasoconstriction instead? It's currently set at a high temperature of 27C = 80F. My room temperature, on the other hand, is 65F. What do you think?

Actually, is it even possible to change this setting on Autoset For Her? For some reason, I'm not seeing the Climate Control settings option - neither in the regular menu nor in the clinical menu.

PS I'm using the default tube. Do I need to buy a tube of certain type to access these settings? Like this one? https://www.resmed.com/us/en/consumer/p ... e-air.html

[reinvigorated]

Don't you (we) already know these answers? We just don't want to practice them.

For me personally, discipline is not a problem at all, I could follow anything if I saw a clear impact on how I feel and on the numbers. It's more about finding out about things that actually work. Frankly, I think that most generic advice is not all that impactful. Everyone knows about cold room temperature, not drinking coffee after noon, avoiding blue light, not eating late dinner, not exercising late, and making sure that your room is dark but how much of a difference has it made for you? What I'm more interested in is whether anyone found anything less well-known and more impactful than this common sense advice. For example, specific food sensitivities that cause nasal congestion.

[ChicagoGranny]

Also, what is passover humidification? Are you saying that you disabled the heating? Mine is on by default, set pretty high (relative to the cold room temperature) - I wonder if I should try adjusting it.

High humidity settings cause congestion in some people. Everyone is different. You have to try different settings to find what works for you.

BTW, a number of forum members, including myself, don't use a humidifier at all. Others want high humidity.

[reinvigorated]

High humidity settings cause congestion in some people. Everyone is different. You have to try different settings to find what works for you.

BTW, a number of forum members, including myself, don't use a humidifier at all. Others want high humidity.

Thank you, ChicagoGranny! Do you have any thoughts on the other questions above? Thanks again!

[ChicagoGranny]

I don't want to research your other posts, so are you using Sleepyhead software to manage your therapy?

Please fill out your equipment profile - https://www.cpaptalk.com/ucp.php?i=prof ... pment_info

[reinvigorated]

I don't want to research your other posts, so are you using Sleepyhead software to manage your therapy?

Please fill out your equipment profile - https://www.cpaptalk.com/ucp.php?i=prof ... pment_info

I was only referring to the posts in this thread.

Yes, I am using Sleepyhead.
Here is a recent night: https://www.evernote.com/l/AAVUPbVymeRI ... Lkjcm50D2k

Done. I've updated my equipment profile, thank you for pointing me to the right place!