Deviated septum, do i need ff mask

[teacherjane]

My ENT told me that I have a deviated septum. he showed me the x-ray. He suggested a septoplasty but I do not have great insurance right now so they will not cover the procedure. Until I get a on a better plan I need some advice. If I have a deviated septun should I use a ff mask. I have been having problems w/nasal masks and I wonder if it is because of my deviated septum. Any opinions or peole who have deviated septums like me????

[chdurie2]

hi-- the answer depends on how well/poorly you breathe through your nose with your deviated septum. i have a deviated septum, and i don't know whether all deviated septums are equal, but i cannot use anything but a full face mask.

i am stuffed up a good portion of the time. with cpap, i also use a steroid nose spray and breathe-rite strips. the nose spray helps some in the beginning, but it doesn't last anywhere near all night. last night i decided that this little pre-sleep exercise of mine was ridiculous because i'm going to mouth-breathe anyway, so why bother with the nose spray and breathe rite? the result was i unknowingly took the mask off very soon after sleep onset. so my little accessories are doing something.

if you have trouble breathing through your nose, i can't see how you're going to be successful with a nasal mask or pillows. you gotta be able to mouh breathe and be successful with cpap.

caroline

[Jere]

I have a partially deviated septum and I can only use the nasal masks. The air pressure directed up my nose pushes open my nasal passages from the inside and helps me breathe better (works better than breathe-rite strips used to work before I started xpap).

However, if your congestion is serious enough that the nasal masks are not working for you, then you are probably looking at a FF. However, once your insurance situation improves, I would encourage you to get the procedure done.

Good luck!

[Vader]

My ENT told me that I have a deviated septum. he showed me the x-ray. He suggested a septoplasty but I do not have great insurance right now so they will not cover the procedure. Until I get a on a better plan I need some advice. If I have a deviated septun should I use a ff mask. I have been having problems w/nasal masks and I wonder if it is because of my deviated septum. Any opinions or peole who have deviated septums like me????

I have a deviated septum too. A real lot of people do also, but the extent of the problem probably varies quite a bit from one individual to another.
Like others here have said, I also use saline sprays, breatheright strips, etc.

In my case, I usually DON'T have a major problem with this. I have excellent results with the Mirage Activa ...BUT, there have been a few nights (when the evening temps have dropped dramatically), that I feel I could benefit from a full face mask.
Presently, I'm in the process of finding a good FF mask for those nights that I may need it.
I DID NOT like one thing about the Hybrid, so I'm now looking at the Comfortfull2. If that doesn't work, theres still several other choices.
Getting the proper treatment for your sleep apnea is absolutely critical!
Best of luck to you!

[sumguy55]

I have a deviated septum also, and I do great with using the swift nasal mask. I was going to have the operation to fix it before I started using cpap, but due to insurance problems I decided to go ahead and try cpap. I'm glad I did because the cpap is working great for me.

[OwlCreekObserver]

A few weeks before I began CPAP therapy, an ENT doc told me that I had a deviated septum. Actually, he mentioned it and then asked if my nose was ever broken. I replied that I was once in junior high school. 'Nuff said.

Anyway, I declined his offer to rip my nose apart to fix the problem. It seemed to me that since I'd been able to function quite well with it during these six decades or so, there was no compelling reason to change anything. I'm fairly certain that my deviency (deviation? Deviousness?) is relatively minor, since I normally breathe through my nose and have no problem doing so.

However, after my sleep study, I was given (sold) a full-face Respironics ComfortFull mask because I do mouth breathe at night. As much as I'd like for it to work for me, it never has, and I bought a Respironics ComfortCurve on my own. I was able to get it to work by mouth taping, as has been described countless times on this forum.

So to get back to your question regarding whether you'll have to have a full-face mask, I'd say the answer is . . . it depends. If your deviated septum is severe enough to severely restrict breathing through your nose, then obviously you have only a couple of choices: full-face mask or surgery. Otherwise, you may be able to get a nasal mask to work all, or most, of the time as I have.

OCO