Am I alone?

[SleeplessInNY]

I choose not to use nasal sprays (steroid or afrin) and will periodically get stuffy during the night. If lucky I sleep thru the night. If not, I might get up at 3am for example, go downstairs to read or watch TV and wait for my nose to open up on its own or with the help of saline. Full face and mouth masks are not an option. So, do others do this or am I alone? Just curious?
Sleepless

[Slinky]

The good Lord helps those who help themselves. You're set your own standards and ruled out some options others have benefited from. So .... work w/what you are willng to work with. Be innovative. Become a lab rat. Make it work.

[nate fry]

Yep, I did just that for about 6 years. Now I have lost my sense of smell. Which is not a good thing for a lot of not obvious reasons. I had a deviated septum.I decided to have it fixed so I could sleep without afrin. I had a septoplasty then they did some radiofrequency procedure to shrink the tissue in my nose and turbinate procedure. I am still swollen somewhat from the surgery 5 weeks ago. But the swelling is going down and I am starting to sleep really deep. I really wish I wouldn't have waited so long to do this. Maybe then I would still have my sense of smell. But I had other stuff done to. After I went to get my nose fixed the insurance company wanted another sleep study. Without my machine I sleep terribly. So I told the surgeon to fix everything. I had my tonsils out, uvala reconstructed and tongue procedure where they like move your tongue forward and sew it down, in a nutshell.If you have any questions drop me a line. I can tell you about it. The only part that was really bad was the tonsil removal, that hurt. nate

[ozij]

Have you tried nasal rinses -on a very redgular (twice a day, every day) schedule?
Do you have a heated humidifier? Try using it with minimal heat - or none at all.
I manage to have on nostril open, and sleep through the night.
O.

[SloDozin' Willie]

I too have sinus issues at night mainly due to nasal allergies. I use a full face mask. The air pumped through the machine is filtered and and I normally clear up within a few minutes of breathing filtered air and breathe well the entire night. Within minutes of removing the mask, my sniffles return. May be worth a try.

[Hawthorne]

I use a saline nasal mist spray called "Simply Saline"( 3 shots in each nostril) about an hour before I go to bed every night and, with no or minimal humidity (depending upon the time of year), I stay "unstuffed" all night. I have seasonal and other allergies- not too severe and don't use any steroid sprays or Afrin. Sometimes, in allergy season I do this during the day as well. I do use Claritin, an antihistimine as well, but only in allergy season.

I'd just as soon do this simple routine before bed than be awakened in the middle of the night to deal with it.

Don't know if it would work for you but might be worth a try.

[roster]

What you are doing is not a good way to spend your nights. We only live here once.

Plenty of successful ideas from members and also see this discussion - viewtopic.php?f=1&t=36738&start=0

[CorgiGirl]

I'm not sure why you say that a full-face mask is not an option for you. I have allergies and sinus issues and get stuffed up sometime during the night every night, so a full face is a godsend for me. I would not be able to use my APAP without it, really... If it's a comfort issue and the ones you've tried haven't worked for you, try some others. I really like the F&P 432, but others are very happy with the Resmed UltraMirage or Quattro. And there are others.

Would you be open to an anti-histamine nasal spray? Astelin is the only one I know about, but there might be others. It's prescription only and it works well for me and for several of my friends. It tastes nasty, but you get used to that.....

I agree that getting up in the middle of the night to wait for your nose to clear up is not good for you. Getting a whole night's sleep without disruptions is the point of xPAP therapy! Hang in there, you'll find what works for you.

[Jere]

You are definitely not alone.

My issues with nasal blockage problems predate my apnea by many years. My first defense was using afrin, which I continued to use until it made the problems far worse. I agree with your anti-Afrin stance!

I finally went to an ENT and found out my septum was severely deviated. I had the surgery done (survived the packing misery) and eventually my breathing freed up .... somewhat. After everything healed and the swelling went down, I went back to the ENT and he suggested that I needed a second trip to the OR (my septum, he said, was a mess) and that in his career he only had go back in a second time maybe 5 or 6 times. I endured the second operation and things got much better, but I still was not happy. Five years later I went to a new ENT and he suggested that I have my turbinates reduced. So, trip number 3 to the OR. Once I healed from this procedure, things were much better. I can breath 100% on the left side and about 75% on the right. I also learned about saline rinsing (a godsend) and have made a habit of rinsing before bed.

Sorry for the long story, but my point is that you can seek a permanent solution to your problem (even if does not work the first time!). These procedures are routine and the need for the dreaded packing has been reduced from when I had the work done. My son, for example, had his septum fixed on a Thursday and was out partying by Saturday.

BTW, what kind of mask do you use? I use a nasal mask. Having all of the air blowing directly into my nose acts to force open the nasal passages (at least it does for me).

Good luck!