Sinusitis

[lcrater]

I have sinusitis and find that CPAP therapy aggravates the condition. I'm thinking I should stop CPAP therapy until this condition clears up. How have others dealt with this?

[Hueffenhardt]

I use a neti pot. It is a little plastic tea pot that one puts non-iodized salt in with warm water, then pours into one nostril and out the other. It is basically a saline wash for the sinuses. It feels good and kills bacteria.

[Julie]

Try a full face mask. Try turning down your humidifier. Try turning it up if it's very low. And if you get antibiotics, take them. But don't stop using your machine.

[bap40]

I do the saline nasal rinses also. It definitely helps me esp when congested.

[Marvinvwinkle]

Have had it and still have it. It's chronic and I have to have it treated periodically or it goes to the chest. I use nose pillows and it doesn't seem to have a negative impact on me. Good luck on getting it treated.

[Jersey Girl]

I have suffered from sinus problems for many years. I do the following:

1. AYR nasal saline nasal rinse before bedtime
2. Astepro prescription nasal spray - 2 sprays in each nostril before bedtime
3. Zyzal - prescription or zyrtec, non-prescription - helps keep sinus clear so that allergies do not make a bed for infection
4. Experimented with humidifier - in my case I turned up my humidity so that it was between a 2 and a 3 in the wintertime on my s8. I need less humidity in the spring/summer, but more in the winter time when the heat is on. Even hot water baseboard heat can really be irritating to the sinus.
5. Multi-vitamin and vitamin c every day.
6. A tiny dab of AYR nasal gel in each nostril before bedtime.

Usually I use a Swift FX with nasal pillows, but when I have a sinus infection, I found the nasal pillows to be irritating to my enflamed nasal passages. So, then I switched to a nasal mask. I also have a full face mask on stand by just in case I have to breathe through my mouth with a severe sinus infection. However, I ALWAYS use my cpap, even when I am sick. I don't want to compound my illness with more apneas because then I would feel even worse.

Best regards,

Jersey Girl

[Muse-Inc]

30+ years chronic sinusitis (foreign body removed, still have sinusitis ), likely damaged nerves in nose from chronic problems, respiratory allergies, gustatory rhinitis (in my case, when I eat too much grain, amt varies so I avoid grains), vasomotor rhinitis...here's what I do.

• Generic Claritin nightly
• Nasonex in mornings if I'm congested
• Saline rinses serveral hrs before maskup. During the day too if congestion occurs.
• If really, really congested, I start taking the 12-hr Mucinex (not the decongestant version) 2 times/day with lots of water
• When I simply can't breathe from the blasted swelling, I drag out my Grossan nasal irrigator and use it with his saline solution
• Hadda give up my pillow mask for the Hybrid Universal FFM (pillows and oral cushion) which allows me to mouth breathe when congestion occurs and blocks my nostrils when I'm asleep, no losing air via mouth
• Pillow mask required a lot of humidity (max setting in winter dryness). Hybrid requires a lot less humidity: about 1/3 max in winter, passover in warm weather. Depends of the relative humidity too because moist air means I don't need as high a humidity setting.
• Warm showers so I breathe warm moist air and lots of it first thing in the morning
• Astepro worked for about 3 months, now actually increases my congestion...must be something in it that I'm now sensitive to
• Hot steamy beverages I sip breathing in the warm moist air
• Still experimenting with XClear, a nasal spray with xylitol (starves the bugs that cause inflammation & infection)...so far mostly seems to help
• A short bit of exercise will sometimes make congestion disappear...sometimes just a walk from one end of the house to the other, 5-10 mins on exercise bike, always worth a try.

[WontGiveUp]

I've had the same problem. If my humidifier is too high or too low (relative to room humidity) it causes me problems. Too high or wet basically causes high production of mucus. Too low or dry irritates the nasal passages resulting in inflammation and of course mucus as well. Also, to reduce potential irritation from potential pollutants in the water I exclusively use distilled water. Also, since allergens can always be the problem too, I make sure the stand I have my cpap on stays dust free (I'm allergic to dust mites) and the cpap is a pretty good vacuum as well. Lastly I make sure my filters are changed often, I use a foam and fine filter. Doing all these things keeps my nose pretty clear at night. I use a neti pot also on occasion when my sinuses are blocked before bed, I find I have to be very careful with it though because if you don't use the proper methods to dry out your sinuses right after your nose will behave like sinusitis and get blocked for up to a couple hours. My nose seems to be very sensitive to different salts (pure sea salt is the best, 1 teaspoon per 500ml) and I also only use distilled water in the neti pot because the crap in tap and bottled water and make sure the water is the same temperature as your nose, I mix everything in a plastic bottle and press the bottle to my nose just before I use it. If your nose doesn't like the ratio or impurities in the salt or the water is too hot or cold it will treat it as an irritant and act like sinusitis.

Remember your nose is just reacting to allergens and irritation and it can be irritated by a lot of things. Good luck, don't give up. it can take awhile to get everything right, but I believe it's all worth it.

One last thing: I'm not a Doctor and I'm not advising you to stop any medication without consulting one, but for me anyway too much over the counter and prescription allergy pills/steroids, etc can make matters worse if used for too long (way worse).