Stuffy nose

[sleepyhead63]

I know its gonna be a bad night when my nose is stuffed up and don't even bother to put the mask on because I will only get frustrated and be another failed attempt to get a full night on cpap.I know this is a silly question but what do most do in this situation, I hate to use those nasal sprays because I hear the more you use them the more you become dependant on them. As far as taking anti-histamines they make me feel jittery and I can't fall asleep.

[bdp522]

I have only had a stuffy nose once since being on xpap. I used a full face mask and slept fine. Many here use a saline nasal rinse to clean out the sinuses. My husband(a non-hosehead) uses a nasal rinse most nights and loves it. He likes the AYR Saline Sinus Rinse Kit. Some use netti pots, and some mix their own solution and use a nasal 'bulb'. You can check out the following link;

http://tinyurl.com/34j448

Brenda

[ozij]

Nasal rinse with saline solution - you may need to do it twice daily the first week or two, once daily later on, and evetnually twice a week may be enough. Some people keep it up on a daily basis.

It's a great feeling to have your nose so clear.
O.

[Pickwickian]

I recommend that you ask your doc to write you an RX for Flonaise. It works great! I use it every night and it keeps me "open" all night.

[robbieh]

In addition to what the others have said, there are a lot of things you can try to relieve a stuffy nose at home. If these don’t work, you need to see your doctor and possibly an ENT.

Over the counter (OTC) oral antihistamines will help relieve nasal allergies. These will work better than decongestants. You need to pay close attention to and heed the warnings on the package. Do not take these if you have high blood pressure or glaucoma. If you have questions, ask the pharmacist or your doctor before taking them. Also, some of them can be very sedating so don’t take them before you drive until you know how they affect you. Pseudoephedrine is now difficult to buy in many states because it is one of the ingredients that drug dealers use to make meth. Some of these work better than others:

• Tavist (clemastine fumarate)
  Sudafed (pseudoephedrine)
  Claritin (loratidine)
  Chlor-Trimeton (chlorpheniramine)
  Neo-Synephrine (phenylephrine)

There are some nasal sprays that have no side-effects that may work:

• Saline sprays (best without preservatives and come in several varieties)
  Nasal Crom (takes up to a week to work and have to keep using)

There are some nasal sprays that immediately unblock your nasal stuffiness by constricting the blood vessels in your nasal tissues. You should not use them more than a couple days because you will get “rebound”. In other words, once the spray wears off, your congestion will be worse than it was before the spray causing you to need more and more spray. You can also cause sores in your nose from prolonged constriction of the blood vessels which causes the tissue to die. There are some ways to prolong the amount of time it takes to get rebound. I use Afrin (oxymetazoline) spray that I dilute half and half with saline. You can also spray one side one night and the other side the next night. You get rebound if you use the spray more than 2 days in a row on one side and it is dose dependant, meaning the more concentrated, the sooner the rebound. A little bit goes a long way so diluting it will help the stuffiness without as much side-effect.

There are prescription drugs and sprays that help as well. I use a nasal steroid (Flonase) that helps some. If you have a regular problem, do see your doctor and get help before you cause yourself worse problems and to get the most out of your cpap treatment.

[cflame1]

Something that I've been using lately... comes from my ENT and it works well for me. It's a compounded solution of gentamycin in saline. It's like a saline nasal wash but with a kick.

[andyomega]

Drug Free
Breath Right Nasal Strips work really well.

I use them almost every night.

They sell in Walmart 14 dollars for 30 of them.
Just make sure you wash your face and dry it well before using.

small/medium is fine for me, i thought my nose was big but the big size is huge.

[gasp]

I know its gonna be a bad night when my nose is stuffed up and don't even bother to put the mask on because I will only get frustrated and be another failed attempt to get a full night on cpap.I know this is a silly question but what do most do in this situation, I hate to use those nasal sprays because I hear the more you use them the more you become dependant on them. As far as taking anti-histamines they make me feel jittery and I can't fall asleep.

I started out using Ayr, but decided to look for another product without chemical preservatives and one that was more natural. My health food store recommended Xlear http://www.xlear.com/xlear/ Yesterday I couldn't use a nasal mask because my nose was so stuffy so I used this product. Today I am clear. So far I like this product and especially the fact that it is non-addictive.