Stuffy nose

[phantomdaz]

When I put my mask on at night, I have no problems breathing but during the night, I wake up with a stuffy nose. I am able to breath thru it but it is uncomfortable.
I sometimes go thru the entire night without waking and have the stuffy nose then as well but then sometimes I wake and all is ok with no stuffy nose

It is not a dry nose, nor a runny nose.....hard to explain. Humidifier is on, water is being evaporated (distilled water)
after removing the mask, the nose clears up in about 15 minutes but is a little on the runny side
Can anyone point me in the right direction as to a possible cause?

Thanks

[Pugsy]

First thing that comes to mind is the humidifier setting. Some people experience congestion when there is not enough added moisture to the air and some people experience congestion if there is too much moisture added to the air..
Which one are you? Unknown really. About all you can do is play with the humidifier settings a bit....go up or down and check out which way seems best for you. If your setting is already rather on the high side...go down with the setting. If it is already on the low side then increase the setting. If you are already pretty much in the middle...toss a coin but from what I have read, if playing the odds, try a little increase first.

[RandyJ]

I have the same problem. In my case, it did not seem to be related to humidifier setting. I could go to bed breathing relatively well through my nose (I have a deviated septum) and then wake up at 2 a.m. feeling like I am breathing through a straw.

If it's too bad, I wear my full face mask so I can breathe comfortably. I do regular (nightly or every other night) nasal irrigation with NeilMed bottle and saline solution prepared with distilled water. I recently complained to my ENT about it and he prescribed Nasonex nasal spray, which I am using at bedtime. It seems to be helping a bit after being on it for a week.

Good luck... I think that the solutions to this problem are very individual and what works for one does not work for all. You just have to keep modifying your approach to solving it until something, or combination of things, works.

[-tim]

Allergies?

Get the hypoallergenic filters. I've got a s9 and I put one behind the normal filter. The normal filter stays white while the hypoallergenic one is grey in a few weeks and I start getting clogged up. I replace the filter and things are great for a while.

If your someplace where they don't stock the hypoallergenic ones, get the 3m filers for window air conditioners and cut out a small section. They seem to be ok folded twice or 4 times but my research is continuing.

As far as the humidity, record your current number, crank it one way one night and the other way the other and see what works best. Then pick a number half way in between and try again. Once you find that, write it down with "best humidity for summer is x.x". Repeat when the seasons change.

[Suzjohnson]

I have noticed that with the full face masks I have been trying, they have a tendency to slip down a bit (medium headgear too large??) and end up partially pinching my nose shut. Doesn't happen every time but enough to wake me up and change masks.

Suz

[phantomdaz]

Thanks for all the replies
I have played with the heater in the past but will try again

I do have allergies, I will see about the filter you described. I hadn't thought about that

[Pugsy]

If you do have a history of allergy related symptoms and we are in prime allergy season for some people.
Might try being a little more pro active at bedtime in doing things that help relieve those symptoms.
Nasal rinses or netipot or just a good dose of something like simple saline and/or talking to your doctor about nighttime treatment with a bit of FLonase or something similar if playing with humidifier setting offers no help in figuring things out.

[Slartybartfast]

Saline nasal spray works great for me. Doc said to use it every night whether you need it or not.

[phantomdaz]

Saline nasal spray works great for me. Doc said to use it every night whether you need it or not.

Can't do nasal sprays. Tried them for allergies although I hear they are the best delivery system for allergies