Green Flem - is that natural?

[Disco]

Sorry for the gross topic. Getting used to the humidifer, and I've noticed that I'm coughing up green flem in the morning (yuk I know). It's like when you have a chest cold. Is anyone else getting that? I've changed to using de-mineralised water in the humidifier, instead of boiled tap water, and it seems to be helping. I'm assuming it's the type of water that's used which is causing the flem build up, but I'm not sure. The humidifer is cleaned everday with new water added, so clean water isn't the issue, and I don't have a chest cold. Any thoughts anyone?

[Wulfman]

How long have you been using CPAP therapy? (you're showing a "new" S9 machine in your profile)

I would suggest using distilled water instead of de-mineralized (if it's available in your area).

Where do you live?

Did you experience this phlegm in the past?


Den

[Disco]

I'll try using distilled, and see if that helps. I live in Australia and had therapy for only 2 months. Only had the flem using humidifer recently & when I had a chest cold some years back.

How long have you been using CPAP therapy? (you're showing a "new" S9 machine in your profile)

I would suggest using distilled water instead of de-mineralized (if it's available in your area).

Where do you live?

Did you experience this phlegm in the past?


Den

[Wulfman]

I'll try using distilled, and see if that helps. I live in Australia and had therapy for only 2 months. Only had the flem using humidifer recently & when I had a chest cold some years back.

Some thoughts......
Could it be sinus drainage you're swallowing during the night?
Do you do nasal rinses/cleansing before bedtime?
Do you use heated or cold/passover humidity with your CPAP?

I don't know if the phlegm is directly related to your CPAP therapy (that's not really "normal"), but if it continues, you might want to check with your doctor and see what they suggest.


Den

[LSAT]

An alergist told my wife that yellow or green mucus usually means a sinus infection. I'm in the same camp as Den. I think it's your sinuses draining into the back of your throat.

[LinkC]

I'll join the chorus! I don't think phlegm (of any color) is related to--or caused by--CPAP and/or what you put in the humidifier.

I'm betting you have a cold or sinus infection unrelated to CPAP. But it's more problematic now that you're on CPAP.

[fidelfs]

An alergist told my wife that yellow or green mucus usually means a sinus infection. I'm in the same camp as Den. I think it's your sinuses draining into the back of your throat.

I agree with LSAT and cpap is providing some humidity that is allowing your sinus to drain. You will need to clear the mucus in your sinus to prevent a major problem.

[BlackSpinner]

Any time it is not clear mucus it is time to hustle over to your favourite Medic before it becomes worse, green or yellow means infection somewhere.
Not caused by CPAP!

[Jersey Girl]

I will join the chorus with my friends. Anything green coming out of your nose or throat - indicates infection - you should see a doctor - may need antibiotic.

I use only distilled water in my humidifier and use distilled vinegar mixed with water to clean it each week.

Hope you're feeling better soon!

Jersey Girl

[torontoCPAPguy]

This is your sage advice for today, repeated by one who knows by experience. Here it is:
ANYTHING that even remotely hints at an infection needs to be tended to without delay. I am shouting this at you. I am screaming the following at the top of my lungs: Anything that even remotely hints at an infection in your head, lungs, vital organs needs to be seen to immediately. Not tomorrow. Today. I spent three weeks this past summer on FULL LIFE SUPPORT as the result of a minor infection that made its way into my lungs and literally exploded overnight into the worst case of pneumonia that they have seen anyone survive in years. My respirologist MD gave me a stunned look, apologized and said he had never seen an xray like mine with a survivor. Period. End of story. It was NOT a great experience and here we are, months down the road and I am STILL recovering. I will not EVER return to full capacity as my lungs are now scarred. Fortunately, I did survive two code blues and was revived. I had multiple veinous taps in my left arm and across my chest; three arterial taps in my right arm; 15 bags hanging over my head and was unconscious for three weeks. It was four MONTHS after waking up before I could roll over in bed.

I was eating dinner with my family at 7 p.m. on Wednesday night. On Thursday morning at 7 a.m. my wife woke up, looked at me trying to suck in air and dialled 911 instantly. I was lucky. The ambulance must have been waiting for my call... they were here in 90 seconds, threw me onto the stretcher and the last thing I remember was going down the front steps and someone inside the ambulance tearing open a bag with a green balloon in it to bag me. I died going down the front steps of my home in front of my wife and kids who followed the ambulance to the hospital expecting to find me with a sheet over my corpse. They revived me enroute. I will leave out the nasty details of the continuing story but suffice it to say that MY problem started out as simple wheezing and we looked after it immediately and it was still not fast enough.

Don't mess with this stuff.... if you don't have your health you have absolutely zero. Your life is fragile as an eggshell as I have learned. Take the good counsel you have received from your friends on this forum and RUN, do not walk, to your nearest clinic, emergency room, GP, whatever. But have it attended to without procrastination. If it does not look right and YOU don't know what it is for certain, take care of it.

I messed around a thouand times before the big one. Funny thing is that the 'big one' is the one time I can say FOR SURE that we did not waste a second having it tended to my professionals.

Sorry to be so blunt but as a member of our community that has experienced almost exactly what you are describing first hand and the potential aftermath I cannot overemphasize the need for your action. Perhaps it is nothing and the body has a miraculous way of healing itself 99% of the time... do not let this be the 1% of the time that you should have taken action and did not.

End of message and I climb down from my soapbox.

[DoriC]

Toronto, I'm so glad you're here with us to give this warning to others. This resonates with me because when the surgeon was discharging my husband a few weeks ago after a very deep wound incision, the most urgent instructions he gave to me and wrote on the RX for the Visiting Nurses was to notify him IMMEDIATELY if the drainage changed to a greenish or even yellowish color. So better to be safe than sorry.

[diboja]

Green mucus/Phlegm and sinus infection

To keep the sinus cavities healthy, mucus and air must be constantly moving from the nasal to the sinus cavities through tiny openings in the latter. If it doesn't, for whatever reason, the mucus will accumulate, stagnate and become a breeding ground for bacteria. In days the sinuses will become infected. There will be at first clear mucus coming through the nose--sometimes called drainage--later changing color to yellow. Then, in some cases, green mucus will follow. The latter indicates that a bacterial or viral infection has set in. This is especially true when the green mucus is accompanied by bad odor or bad breath. Phlegm in the chest area can also appear. Most sinus infections are viral. Green mucus is usually thicker than yellow mucus, thus it tends to create sinus congestion, and sinus pressure. When that happens sinus pain, also called "sinus headache," may also appear. Phlegm accompanies a sinus infection to help the immune system cope with the infection overload. Phlegm, however, does not form in the nasal cavity. Coughing up yellow mucus may precede some of the above symptoms.
http://www.mysinustory.com/green.html

I would get to a Doctor if I were you......just to be on the safe side...

[torontoCPAPguy]

Dori:
Thank you for your kind words. My wife volunteers at the hospital (she's there now) and every time I go over they come over and hug me with tears in their eyes. I am actually one of the FEW that managed to survive this thing after being sent to the 'critical care' unit; where, as you will probably know, there is no modesty nor dignity - only dedicated doctors and nurses (if you are lucky) who want you to survive. It is a numbers game and when I regained consciousness I could not sleep and spent my nights watching them wheel corpses out the door onto the elevator to the basement. All sorts of reasons but the reason that I noted, needless to say, were those that were the victims of simple infections that blossomed overnight... and with H1N1 the immune system is weakened and if you are left with bacterial pneumonia and you can't fight it you are dead in a matter of hours. Literally. The lungs will fill up with fluid and you die. I did. Twice. But am here to tell the tale. And loving every minute of life. Every second of life is a blessing regardless of the hardships.

Thank you again. I am so very happy to be here. You have no idea when you are in the hospital that you are actually at risk and I did not have doubt at any time while I was in there... even while on life support... that I was going to survive. And I did. By my whiskers (which went from salt and pepper to all white by the way - I have shaved off my moustache as a result).