Follow-Up Appt, Rainout, Headaches and Cold Questions

[smurfyabs]

Tomorrow is my first follow up with the pulmonary clinic that set me up with my cpap and later prescribed my machine. I know they want to download my data. Should I take just the SD card or the whole machine? If I take the whole machine, do I take my mask too?

As it's been getting warmer here our A/C has been running more and I've started to experience mild rainout here and there. The machine is about 1 1/2 feet below my head. I just started running the hose between my sheet and blanket. While it seems to help, I notice that the air gets warmer and feels a little too stuffy to breathe. Of course if I leave it out, the air gets painfully cold (even with the humidifier all the way to five) on the tip of my nose. I plan on making a hose cover, I just haven't had the time yet.

I've had a migraine for about four weeks now, I will be telling the pulmonary doc tomorrow, but was wondering if there could be any relation to starting cpap therapy? My pcp couldn't prescribe migraine preventative meds because of interference with another medication I am currently on.

Any tips for cpap therapy with a cold? I do not have access to a FFM at this time, only the mask listed below and a Swift Fx. I woke up with my mouth open several times last night or feeling like I couldn't breathe because of nasal congestion.

[Pugsy]

Do you have some old socks? Cut the toes out and slide them over the hose and secure with rubber band or bread twisty tie.
Not real pretty but effective hose cover. I used some of my husbands old tube socks that were headed for the trash can until I got fixed my first homemade hose cover out of a piece of fleece which I just wrapped around the hose and used scotch tape to hold it together. Didn't even bother to sew it. Anything can be a hose cover. Wrap an old scarf around the hose.

You can always add a stand alone heated hose. It works and doesn't make the air feel like it is coming out of a sauna.
Just enough warmth to limit the rain out without feeling like hot air.

I have had 2 colds in 3 years on the machine. I used my nasal pillow mask both times. Just treated the symptoms like I normally would....oral decongestants, cranked up the humidity on the machine, lots of simple saline during the day, and some Nyquil at night...and if congestion really bad...just a wee bit of Afrin to get me through the night.
Slept about as well as anyone does when they have a cold. My personal choice long ago not to get a FFM because I knew I wouldn't use it. I don't like them.

Normally DME or doctors only need the SD card for data. No need for the machine or mask.

Headache for 4 weeks...needs to be discussed with the doctor. Many possible causes and some mimic migraines but aren't.
I used to have some killer headaches that came from my cervical spine.

[avi123]

Tomorrow is my first follow up with the pulmonary clinic that set me up with my cpap and later prescribed my machine. I know they want to download my data. Should I take just the SD card or the whole machine? If I take the whole machine, do I take my mask too?

I would take the whole machine and the card too, and the mask too.

As it's been getting warmer here our A/C has been running more and I've started to experience mild rainout here and there. The machine is about 1 1/2 feet below my head. I just started running the hose between my sheet and blanket. While it seems to help, I notice that the air gets warmer and feels a little too stuffy to breathe. Of course if I leave it out, the air gets painfully cold (even with the humidifier all the way to five) on the tip of my nose. I plan on making a hose cover, I just haven't had the time yet.

I keep my bedroom temp at 75 F, and the Humidifier on #5 and have no rainouts.I don't use the climate hose.

I've had a migraine for about four weeks now, I will be telling the pulmonary doc tomorrow, but was wondering if there could be any relation to starting cpap therapy? My pcp couldn't prescribe migraine preventative meds because of interference with another medication I am currently on.

I would ask the Doc

Any tips for cpap therapy with a cold? I do not have access to a FFM at this time, only the mask listed below and a Swift Fx. I woke up with my mouth open several times last night or feeling like I couldn't breathe because of nasal congestion.

I would skip treatment as long as you have the cold. I tried the Swift FX and got rid of it.

[Guest]

Be careful if you wrapp a climate line the manufacturers recomend against it.

[locust78]

For me, going without a humidifier resulted in some pretty nasty symptoms: runny, runny nose; bad sinus headache; bleary, watery eyes; among other things. These symptoms would hang on for days. Since I started using humidification year-round, the instances of these problems has nearly stopped. I did however run into serious rain out. The solution for it was buying a heated Aussie hose. I thought that it was a little pricey at first, but it was worth it to keep a dry face during the night. Here's a short article on rain out: http://www.betterrestsolutions.com/Why- ... _b_13.html

[robysue]

I've had a migraine for about four weeks now, I will be telling the pulmonary doc tomorrow, but was wondering if there could be any relation to starting cpap therapy? My pcp couldn't prescribe migraine preventative meds because of interference with another medication I am currently on.

My sympathies on that migraine.

I too suffer from chronic migraines and when I was just starting out I do think the machine contributed to some of the migraining. In my case, sensory overload is a major migraine trigger. And sensory overload is exactly what I experienced every time I slapped on the mask for the night. So if sensory overload is one of your triggers, then yeah, adjusting to the CPAP may be aggravating the headaches in the short term.

It does get better---eventually. Eventually the body figures out that all this new "stuff" is the new normal and that it allows the body to sleep better during the night.

You say that your pcp couldn't prescribe migraine preventative meds because of other medication you are using. What about prescription migraine relief medication----ie medication that you take just as the headache is starting to relieve the pain (and possibly knock the headache out)? I have a prescription for Maxalt that I take maybe 1-3 times a month when I feel a migraine just getting started. It usually eliminates the baby migraine in 10 to 15 minutes. But its not something that can be taken on a daily basis.

As for preventing migraines: My neurologist had me on trials of topamax, lamictal, and depakote in Spring 2011. I could not tolerate any of them, although they all did an excellent job of eliminating the migraines. His PA eventually suggested a gene test and vitamin therapy. The gene test showed that I have a mutation on my MTHFR gene, and hence do not metabolize folate efficiently. So I was put on a prescription vitamin called Deplin that contains the metabolized version of folate. The PA also prescribed a megadose of vitamin B2 (riboflavin) and a daily dose of magnesium. The combination of the Deplin, riboflavin, and magnesium has just about eliminated my formerly daily migraines. For the first time in decades I am headache free most days----as in I can go a week or more between even rather minor headache pain when my allergies are not acting up.

So you might want to talk to your PCP about whether it would be ok to try a vitamin approach to managing the migraines.

[chunkyfrog]

Actually, Re$med does say you can use THEIR cozy on the Climateline.

[smurfyabs]

Thank you for all the replies! I will certainly be asking my rheum next week to refer me to a neuro doc about the headaches. Even if it is just sensory overload, it would be good to have something on hand to help when the headaches come. I've had them before the cpap so even if I do adjust, it's safe to say they'll come again. I too could not tolerate Topamax, though I did not have a headache at all during that time.

Appointment went ok. He didn't have any comment about the headaches. Really the only thing he had to say was "Whoa you're wearing this a lot!" Because I'm still soooo tired and am still napping. I sleep about 10 hours at night and then another 1-4 hours during the day. Granted when I'm awake I do have more energy and the sleep I'm getting is deeper. It's just still early in treatment and I've had a problem a long time. My AHI is down to 0.8 though, so that's good. And he wrote a new prescription for a mask so I can get what I want next time.