I Have Developed Incredible Sinus Dryness In The last Few Days

[Meditator]

Newbie here. First time I have posted. i am looking forward to the wisdom of experienced CPAP users. I have been diagnosed with severe sleep apena so I am trying my best to use my machine (the ResMed Auto Sense 10 with Climate Line hose. I have been at it for 3 1/2 weeks and the results have been great and far as energy and less of being tired. i have used the machine on average seven hours a night but the last five days have been a challenge. I have the pillow mask and last night I couldn't breathe through my nostrils(they just closed up) until about 3:00 in the morning. I did get about three hours in on the machine though. Today I have had incredible dryness in my sinuses. It's has been get worse over the last four or five days. I have tried going back to the basic hose and turned up the humidity, and I have tried a manual setting on the Climate Line hose. I'm getting desperate. Please help. Thank you.

[Pugsy]

What humidity setting are you using?
Humidity setting and hose air temp setting are 2 totally different settings. Changing just the hose air temp or going to a non heated hose doesn't change the humidity setting.

Are you experiencing any other symptoms besides the congestion? Like drainage, itchy, sneezing, etc. Is it possible you are coming down with a cold? Do you have a history of seasonal allergies.

[Meditator]

Thank you for your reply. For the Climate Line Hose the default is 4 on the humidity which is 85%. I have tried 5 and 6. The Climate Line also allows you adjust the temperature. The temp default is 80. but you can adjust it from 60 to 86 degrees. With the regular standard hose the default humidity is 4. I have tried 5 and 6. I was told to be careful of "rain out". Any suggestions? Thanks again.

[Meditator]

In the beginning I had a little congestion when I first woke up but that only last for a very short time. It was weird any nearly three weeks with no issues it seemed like my sinuses just closed up on me. I have used saline nasal spray and a neti pot that helped some but the sinuses keep closing up. I don't have a cold or any other symptoms of a cold.

[Pugsy]

Are you experiencing any daytime congestion at all?
Is your main complaint just the dryness? Or both dryness and congestion?
Do you take any medications of any kind? If so, what?

Has anything changed within your household like more furnace use or anything like that?

It's really odd that this problem started a couple of weeks after starting therapy. Usually if someone has a problem with humidity setting it's apparent from day one. So this makes me wonder what changed to cause a problem now.

When you used 5 and/or 6 humidity setting did it help at all or make things worse or no change?

[Meditator]

I am experiencing dryness and congestion at the same time if that makes any sense at all. At the moment incredible dryness and partial blockage in both nostrils. I have try saline without much relief. I take no medications. The weather has change some here in San Diego lately. I set my furnace to 64 degrees at night and it's getting cool enough to kick on just a little, probably in the early morning hours. It's 64 degrees in the room when I get up. I am wondering if the coolness in the room is making it hard for the Climate Line to keep up the temperature. I read a little about "rain out" in my manual but doesn't explain much. What is that sensation of "rain out" What is the problem it causes?
i am going up the humidity tonight. I am not sure if I should use the Climate line or the standard hose.

[Julie]

Rain out is when condensation caused by cold room air and a heated hose combine to keep water in the hose... and it helps of course to have the machine located below your head so it doesn't run to you, but back to the machine. You may want to experiment with either/both to see what works best, also keeping ambient humidity in mind (where you live, what hum. in the room is like, etc. etc.).

[Pugsy]

Rain out is just condensation in the mask or hose. It won't hurt you but it is highly annoying.
When the water is in the hose it makes a horrible racket and when in the mask sometimes it comes out the vent holes and you get a cold shower.
Condensation is just physics in action.
See posts number 2 and 3 here for various options in dealing with it.
viewtopic/t94035/Pugsys-Pointers-3Deali ... -road.html

Definitely use the heated hose tonight at max temp setting if you plan to use a higher humidity setting.

Sounds like you have some vasomotor rhinitis or cpap rhinitis and we don't know exactly what the culprit is. You can google both and read up on various things to try.
I can tell you what I would do if it were me....Simply saline...tiny bit of Afrin (just for tonight) and get some Nasicort or Flonase tomorrow and start using it as directed. Flonase or Nasicort won't give the immediate relief that Afrin will but we don't want to use Afrin very much. I would also get something like Ayr nasal gel which can be put up the nose to help hydrate the nasal mucosa.

Your nasal mucosa is unhappy for some reason and the reason isn't readily apparent.
If more humidity doesn't help....try less.
Unfortunately to fix a problem we first have to identify the problem and in your situation it's not so easily identified.
Nasal mucosa are highly individualized in terms of their preference in terms of moisture. Some people need lots of humidity and some people actually do better with minimal to none added moisture. It does sound like you are needing more as opposed to less though.

Oh...speaking from experience...the machine being lower than the bed won't help much. It doesn't prevent condensation from happening for one thing and while the idea is for gravity to help let the water drain back into the water chamber....it doesn't work so great with the AirSense 10 machines due to the way the hose connects to the humidifier at the back of the unit. It just won't drain well.
Been there and done that and even extending the hose totally vertical in an effort to get the water out of the hose doesn't work so great. I have a lot of experience with rain out...I prefer a high humidity setting and a cold bedroom which of course is pretty much a guarantee for rain out/ condensation in both the mask or hose. A while back I upped the humidity but forgot to up the hose air temp and had the window open and it got cold. I woke up from the noise of the water in the hose...hubby woke up from the noise and the poor dogs and cats thought there was a freight train in the bedroom. That's when I stood up and held the hose totally vertical to try to get the water to drain down into the water chamber and it simply wouldn't drain enough.

Now other brands of machine that have a different hose to humidifier attachment (like Julie's machine) the gravity thing helps a lot but not with the AirSense/AirCurve ResMed machines.

[Julie]

Do you stay up all night learning all of this stuff?

[Meditator]

Thanks for all your help Pugsy. I really appreciate it. I will try your
setting ideas. Too late to go out and get those items tonight but they will be on my list for tomorrow!

[Deborah K.]

I find that Lanisoh (name brand for lanolin) works very well to prevent dryness brought on by pap use. I put a tiny amount on the end of each pinky finger, then spread that from the opening of each nostril to as far as I can reach.

Lanisoh is sold in the baby areas of any drug store or stores like Walmart or Target. It comes in a purple tube and lasts for an extremely long time.

[Meditator]

Do you stay up all night learning all of this stuff?

Pugsy I did have a better night. Less dryness last night with a setting of 80 degrees on my temp and humidity on 5. Though I did wake up about an hour and half after i laid down for the night with my heart pounding a little hard than normal. Bought some NeilMed Saline (power) Rinse and some NeilMed NasoGel with helped some when I got up this morning. Still dry but way better than yesterday. I thought I had this down after three weeks but I see there are going to be adjustments.

[Meditator]

I find that Lanisoh (name brand for lanolin) works very well to prevent dryness brought on by pap use. I put a tiny amount on the end of each pinky finger, then spread that from the opening of each nostril to as far as I can reach.

Lanisoh is sold in the baby areas of any drug store or stores like Walmart or Target. It comes in a purple tube and lasts for an extremely long time.

Thank you Deborah. I must buy tomorrow.

[Meditator]

Does anyone ever feel hyper or overcharged from the PAP theory? I have from time to time (like today). It's like I got too much from it. I have from the start try to get seven hours of time on the machine at night.

[Pugsy]

Does anyone ever feel hyper or overcharged from the PAP theory?

No, I am still waiting and hoping for that one....been 11 years now and I am still not superwoman despite wanting it so much.

In all seriousness...you aren't the first to mention this but we don't know why it seems to happen to some people.
I suspect it might have something to do with the brain being used to the old sleep deprived way of life from the apnea events and now the apnea events have essentially quit and sleep is better and the brain needs to adjust to the new normal and doesn't have to try to fix things as often with very likely extra adrenaline to keep us moving. Just my own theory though. No proof.