Cpap and sinus problems...Please help!

[Brenpbb11150]

Hello,
I have been on Cpap for 18 months now and for the last few months I have noticed a huge change in my nasal passages. I am always stuffed up and always have a lot of mucus drainage and hard to swallow. Feels like a constant drainage problem. I have changed settings on my humidifer. I use a saline nasal spray. I have chaged to different masks and nothing seems to help. I have mild headaches most of the time from this. My question is? Could this all be caused from my Cpap machine in the constant blowing of air in my nose...My sleep Doc says no but I am going to make appointment with my ENT next week. This is becoming unbearable for me. Please if you have any information that might help me I would appreciate it so much. I read this forum all the time and so many helpful people on here.
Thanks
Bren

[Pugsy]

Do you nasal passages clear up by bedtime only to start all over in the morning? Do you do any sort of nasal rinses with the netipot type of thing? What settings have you tried on the humidifier? Higher or lower? Any change that you noted with either? Better or worse or no change?

You might google vasomotor rhinitis for tons of information.
Scroll down a bit till you see the part about vasomotor rhinitis.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinitis

[robysue]

Hello,
I have been on Cpap for 18 months now and for the last few months I have noticed a huge change in my nasal passages. I am always stuffed up and always have a lot of mucus drainage and hard to swallow. Feels like a constant drainage problem.

...

This is becoming unbearable for me. Please if you have any information that might help me I would appreciate it so much.

Bren,

Lots of CPAPers have issues with nasal congestion problems. Getting serious about nasal hygiene is important with CPAP. I've written about what works for me on my blog at Nasal Congestion and problems with CPAP and you might find some useful tips over there.

But since you also think that there's been a change since starting CPAP, we need some information about your particular problems. Can you answer these questions for us?

During the daytime do you breath through your mouth or nose?

How severe is your DAYTIME congestion?

Any history of nasal allergies? If so, what are you allergic to? What do you do to tame the nasal allergies when they are acting up?

Does your congestion get worse when you go to bed? Did it get worse when you went to bed BEFORE you started CPAP? If you've always had problems with night time congestion being worse than daytime congestion, what did you do to help with the night time congestion BEFORE you started CPAP?

When you take a hot, steamy shower does your congestion get WORSE or BETTER?

If you sit under a fan for a long period of time, does your congestion get WORSE or BETTER? And before you started CPAP how did your nose react to sleeping under a fan all night? More congested in the morning or less congested?

Has the ENT ever told you that you've got a deviated septum? If so, is it only mildly deviated or is it severely deviated?

As for what to try to help deal with your current nasal congestion, that really depends on the answers to a lot of the above questions.

There's a chance that you just need to be more dedicated to properly treating your allergies if you have them. But there's also a chance that what's causing your congestion problems is something called non-allergic rhinitis---a fancy name for "allergy symptoms that are not caused by allergies." Lots of non-allergy things can trigger non-allergic rhinitis, including something as basic as moving air----being outside on a windy day or sitting directly in the path of a fan or using a CPAP all night long. Two of the best sources I know for ideas on how to tackle congestion and CPAP problems are:

Nasal Breathing Video Series, which is from Dr. Barry Krakow's web pages
Unstuff Your Stuffy Nose, which is from Dr. Steven Y. Park's web pages

Both of these talk at some length about non-allergic rhinitis and have ideas on how to manage non-allergic rhinitis so that you can better sleep with the CPAP machine. And both of these sources point out that as odd as it sounds, over use of allergy treatments for non-allergic rhinitis can make the non-allergic rhinitis worse rather than better.

Best of luck

[Brenpbb11150]

Thanks Robysue and Pugsy...I will read the information and see what I am missing here with this..Thanks so much for taking time to help me with this.
Bren

[scooter133]

I am always stuffed up and always have a lot of mucus drainage and hard to swallow. ... I have mild headaches most of the time from this.

Do you clench or grind your teeth at all. I know this is part of the cause of my stuffieness and headaches. I wear a night mouth guard and that helped with the headaches.

Scott<-

[DannyPh]

Mucinex and simply Saliine at bedtime.