POLL Less congestion with nasal pillows?

[newyorknative]

I went to a new ENT today to discuss Turbinate Coblation. He suggested switching from my nasal mask to nasal pillows for my congestion. Does anyone here feel that nasal pillows cause less congestion at night.

[M.D.Hosehead]

Voted "yes", but congestion isn't the word I'd choose. When I have to "suck" air in through my nostrils, the walls tend to collapse. Watch your nose in a mirror to see whether that happens to you. When the air is "pumped" in, the nostrils don't collapse, so I don't need Breathe-rite strips. Congestion due to allergies doesn't go away.

[chunkyfrog]

My nose hardly ever stops up at night; but it sure used to. (allergic rhinitis)
I noticed improvement with all of my masks--maybe a tiny bit better with pillows, but I said equal.
The best thing is no more dry nose full of dehydrated 'woogies'.
My nightly mucus production is easily blown out in the morning after a few sneezes.
All clear and ready for the world--I love it!

[LoQ]

What this forum needs is more explicit descriptions of what people are going through.

[Janknitz]

I had chronic nasal congestion before CPAP and now, NONE.

It's a blessing and a curse. My sense of smell has become more sharp, but for the first time in years I realize how much people STINK!

[robysue]

I had to chose "less" congestion in the poll, but want to explain what I mean by that.

In bed at night I have much less congestion wearing my nasal pillows than I had before CPAP. However, about 30 or 40 minutes after I get up, my congestion level returns to what it was prior to CPAP. Which means, during the day, I've got some congestion, but not any more than I've been dealing with all my life during allergy seasons and with head colds anyway.

[Uncle_Bob]

I need a voting button for "I'm still trying to figure it out dam-it !"

nyn - my ENT suggested that he humidification plays more of a role in congestion as does the use of over the counter decongestants, they can end up causing congestion.

I'm trying to deal with congestion even after a setoplasty and terbinate reduction. I think mine may be allergy related. I use the allergy filter on my machine and i shower right before bed to rid myself of any pollens etc. I've tried juggling with masks and I don't find a nasal verses full mask to be the cause of any of my congestion, I do however find that i can sleep through it with a full face mask as i can breath through my mouth.

[newyorknative]

Why do you think that pillows cause less congestion?

[Muse-Inc]

I had less congestion wearing my pillow mask for my first 22 months yrs of CPAP therapy. On my FFM the past 15+ months, I have more congestion...I get rainout in my Hybrid pillows and sometimes in the mask itself (tho not in the hose go figure) at the humidity settings I used with my OptiLife so I dropped the humidity & the rainout stopped. Could be that I need more humidity via a heated hose but on unemployment (again) that's not in my budget

[LoQ]

Could be that I need more humidity via a heated hose but on unemployment (again) that's not in my budget

A heated hose is not the only way to increase humidity while preventing rainout. You can do it with things you most likely have lying around the house. First, insulate your hose. There are a lot of ways to do this, if nothing else, just tie some fabric around it.


Second, if you have a heating pad or another small source of heat, heat up the air before it goes into your machine. I do this by make a little tunnel for the air to go through on the way to the machine. The air must pass over the heating pad or heat source. Don't impede the air, it doesn't have to be airtight. In fact, when I get to the intake of the machine, I just drape a small handtowel over the tunnel and the machine so that the warm air doesn't escape. The "bottom" at that point is completely open to the room, but heat rises, so it's not really a problem keeping the air from going down, you just need to prevent it going straight up once it leaves the tunnel. In other words, you only need a ceiling, not a floor for the little distance between the end of the tunnel and the machine intake.


Heated air has a greater capacity for holding water vapor, so it will have to cool a lot further before rain out occurs.

[BlackSpinner]

I use a hybrid which is both nasal pillows and a full face mask. I have found it opens my nasal passages by forcing the air through. My ENT suggested it, I thought he was crazy but it worked. I always have my humidity on high, if not it hurts.
I find that in total during the day my nose is more open and usable then it has ever been, only when I have a cold do I switch to the Quatro because then I can't get enough air through my nose. The hybrid does allow me to breath through my mouth but the quatro just feels nicer when I am sick.

[Muse-Inc]

...heat up the air before it goes into your machine. I do this by make a little tunnel for the air to go through on the way to the machine. The air must pass over the heating pad or heat source....The "bottom" at that point is completely open to the room, but heat rises, so it's not really a problem...

Great idea! Will try building an 'airway' over a heat source, cardboard oughta do it. I have a thick microfleece hose cover all scrunched up (fair bit longer than the hose).

[nosenabook]

CPAP in general helped me, but the pillows have helped more.

[Uncle_Bob]

...heat up the air before it goes into your machine. I do this by make a little tunnel for the air to go through on the way to the machine. The air must pass over the heating pad or heat source....The "bottom" at that point is completely open to the room, but heat rises, so it's not really a problem...

Great idea! Will try building an 'airway' over a heat source, cardboard oughta do it. I have a thick microfleece hose cover all scrunched up (fair bit longer than the hose).

Hello Muse-Inc

If you already have a fleece hose have you considered running a repti-cable inside it.

http://www.amazon.com/Repti-Heat-Cable- ... 654&sr=8-1

Its pretty inexpensive at $15. I used to use one on my hoses when i had my S8, it allowed me to go two settings higher on the dial.

[img]http://i994.photobucket.com/albums ... .jpg[/img]

[Muse-Inc]

...If you already have a fleece hose have you considered running a repti-cable inside it...

Seems I can't quite forget the pics posted by someone here who melted the hose's plastic...just left the spiral cords Good suggestion tho.