How many of you continue therapy with a cold?

[Jaylee]

I neti pot if I am congested. As long as I can breathe, then I will do the BiPap. Only once since I have had it was I congested to the point where I could not use the mask. Nothing came out with the neti pot. I finally broke down and took a decongestant- not good since I have high BP- and about 4 hours later I was able to wear the mask again.

[Linus]

Oh...I forgot to mention. Someone here mentioned a product called "Alkalol". It can be added to a netipot. It helped me a lot with my last sinus trouble.

[Autopapdude]

Do you have a full face mask to use when the nasal passages are clogged?

BTW, Cranking up the humidity can be counterproductive. I would keep it at the same level used without a cold.

I don't own a full face mask, as this doesn't happen often enough to effect therapy. I've found them too claustrophobic, and have always been able to keep the nasal passages clear enough with saline irrigation and Nasacort. As regards humidifiers, I rarely use one, as I live in a very humid climate--a room humidifier does more for me than one attached to the machine. Experimented with both over the 11 years. Thanks for the tips, though.

[BlackSpinner]

I had a cold the first week I got my cpap and it was the easiest cold I have ever slept through. Just cranked up my humidity and took some tylneol nite time meds.

Right now I have a mild but dragging on version of the flu and I feel much better when I have my full face mask on breathing humid air.

I can't see where xpap therapy would make things worse - it is not "blowing air" into your lungs - it provides more pressure to keep your passages open. The only way to keep the bactaria from "coming in" from your snot is to stop breathing.
It seems to me that not using xpap therapy would be counter productive as you would be sleeping badly, reducing your oxygen and stressing your body when it needs all it reserves to heal you.

[Autopapdude]

I can't see where xpap therapy would make things worse - it is not "blowing air" into your lungs - it provides more pressure to keep your passages open. The only way to keep the bactaria from "coming in" from your snot is to stop breathing.
It seems to me that not using xpap therapy would be counter productive as you would be sleeping badly, reducing your oxygen and stressing your body when it needs all it reserves to heal you.

I agree completely. As far as bacteria, it gets filtered through the nasal cilia anyway. Generally, the act of using the xpap actually clears the nostrils from the air being forced through them, and does act to dry things out. Sorry you'e had the flu, and hope you feel better ASAP.

[tseefl]

Regarding using XPAP humidifier when you have a cold. I live in the desert: very low humidity. I don't usually use my humidifier. Well now I have my first cold since I have used a CPAP. The dry air (using no humidifier) seems to making this nasal and lung congestion worse. I, too, have been using the netipot. But today, in Prevention magazine I noted a study done where the scientists experimented with both humid and dry environments . They found that after 1 hour in the dry environment: 80% of the virus survived. But in a humid environment, only 10% of the virus survived. Even though I have a bacterial and not a viral infection, I am going to use my humidfier on my APAP tonight and see if it helps!
Thank you everyone for all of your suggestions!

[roster]

Regarding using XPAP humidifier when you have a cold. I live in the desert: very low humidity. I don't usually use my humidifier. Well now I have my first cold since I have used a CPAP. The dry air (using no humidifier) seems to making this nasal and lung congestion worse. I, too, have been using the netipot. But today, in Prevention magazine I noted a study done where the scientists experimented with both humid and dry environments . They found that after 1 hour in the dry environment: 80% of the virus survived. But in a humid environment, only 10% of the virus survived. Even though I have a bacterial and not a viral infection, I am going to use my humidfier on my APAP tonight and see if it helps!
Thank you everyone for all of your suggestions!

You are misunderstanding something if you think not using the humidifier will create the kind of dry environment they are talking about in the study. In the study, when they speak of a dry environment, they mean dry. If a human's airway or lungs is ever that dry, they will be dead.

A CPAP humidifer is a comfort feature for dry conditions. I have found it of no benefit (even for comfort) when the relative humidity of the bedroom is 45% or higher. Below 40% R/H, the humidifier provides some benefit.

[Autopapdude]

A CPAP humidifer is a comfort feature for dry conditions. I have found it of no benefit (even for comfort) when the relative humidity of the bedroom is 45% or higher. Below 40% R/H, the humidifier provides some benefit.

Agreed on this. Since I have humidistats on the central air and heating, it NEVER gets below 55% humidity here. I have found a humidifier to be of no benefit for me--during heavy air conditioning season, and during the few days when the heat is on, I run a room humidifier rather than face "rain outs."

[chronic]

Yes, I just got over a bad cold about two weeks ago. I was able to use my new machine every night. Now that I am better I am really starting to like my n6 years and I am tiredew machine. Actually, I have been on cpap for 6 years and except when we had an ice storm and week long power failure have used it every night. I slept sitting up in my recliner for that week.

[torontoCPAPguy]

[quote="BlackSpinner"]I had a cold the first week I got my cpap and it was the easiest cold I have ever slept through. Just cranked up my humidity and took some tylneol nite time meds.

Right now I have a mild but dragging on version of the flu and I feel much better when I have my full face mask on breathing humid air.

I can't see where xpap therapy would make things worse - it is not "blowing air" into your lungs - it provides more pressure to keep your passages open. The only way to keep the bactaria from "coming in" from your snot is to stop breathing.
It seems to me that not using xpap therapy would be counter productive as you would be sleeping badly, reducing your oxygen and stressing your body when it needs all it reserves to heal you.[/quote]

I was in the hospital this summer on life support for almost a month.... bacterial pneumonia. And come to think of it, they intubated me in order to let me rest and heal and thus saved my life. Bravo for hitting the nail on the head.

I should kill my recentl thread/poll. It is already all here.

[Penelope7]

My son keeps getting bronchitis and his sleep specialist tells him not to wear his CPAP when he is sick which seems counterintuitive to me. After reading the above posts, it seems like none of you would quit the CPAP when sick. Can anyone point me in the direction of an article/study by a sleep specialist who does not recommend stopping CPAP with bronchitis so I can show him? Thanks.

[BlackSpinner]

My son keeps getting bronchitis and his sleep specialist tells him not to wear his CPAP when he is sick which seems counterintuitive to me. After reading the above posts, it seems like none of you would quit the CPAP when sick. Can anyone point me in the direction of an article/study by a sleep specialist who does not recommend stopping CPAP with bronchitis so I can show him? Thanks.

My flu this february turned into bronchitis and pneumonia (very mild version) I changed to my Quatro and used that because my nose was also sore. I had the same thing 3 years ago pre-cpap, awful awful time sleeping - my tongue was like a giant dry sponge - I had to sleep half reclined. This time I hardly knew I had it at night - it was a blessing to put my mask on and breath the warm humid air. I am recovering much more quickly too compared to last time.

[Muse-Inc]

...keeps getting bronchitis...

To break my cycle of bronchitis back in the mid 80s, my doc put me on water..yes, water. I didn't drink water, plain ole water at all. So, she put me on at least 64 ozs/day. It worked! Stopped this cycle: allergies-->sinusitis-->sinus infection-->upper respiratory infection-->lower respiratory infection-->bronchitis. Oh, and, she said no more cold food or beverages when I had any sort of upper respiratory 'thing' going on as it was theorized that they somehow increased the possibility of 'bugs' moving from the head to the lungs.

Now, I'd also get my vit D levels checked to ensure they were in the optimal range (>60) as this pro-hormone is intimately linked with a string immune system. I use the European Stoss protocol (whooping doses of D3) when I get a virus as it stimulates the release of the body's endogenous antibiotics.

I always use my equipment; it helps me breathe well regardless of congestion.

[roster]

My son keeps getting bronchitis and his sleep specialist tells him not to wear his CPAP when he is sick which seems counterintuitive to me. After reading the above posts, it seems like none of you would quit the CPAP when sick. Can anyone point me in the direction of an article/study by a sleep specialist who does not recommend stopping CPAP with bronchitis so I can show him? Thanks.

If you will sign up and repost in this thread as a member, I will PM you some information.

[Wulfman]

My son keeps getting bronchitis and his sleep specialist tells him not to wear his CPAP when he is sick which seems counterintuitive to me. After reading the above posts, it seems like none of you would quit the CPAP when sick. Can anyone point me in the direction of an article/study by a sleep specialist who does not recommend stopping CPAP with bronchitis so I can show him? Thanks.

Got Google?

I just did a brief search on "using CPAP when sick" and found:

http://www.pennmedicine.org/sleep/servi ... A-faqs.pdf

http://www.fphcare.com/osa/clinical-and ... a-faq.html

The only issue I can recall where one may need to suspend use is during a severe sinus infection. However, when diligently and properly used, CPAP therapy should lessen those types of infections and colds in general. At least that's what most of us have experienced.

If your son is using lots of (CPAP) humidification, it might be better to turn the humidifier down or off and use it in "passover" mode (water in the tank but no heat)......but that's just my opinion. Distilled water is recommended by most manufacturers for use in the humidifier tanks.


Den