Deviated septum and CPAP

rhynes1 · Post by **rhynes1** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 3:33 pm

I have been using a CPAP for about a year on 8 pressure. I was diagnosed with mild to moderate apnea. Using the CPAP has helped a small amount. However now I feel like I did in the beginning...low energy and even low level headaches.

After seeing an ENT doctor, he told me I have a deviated septum. The first question that popped into my head is...did the CPAP mask CAUSE the deviated septum??? Has anyone else ever heard of something like that? I use a Swift with nasal pillows. I don't believe I put the mask on very tightly each night, just enough to keep the air from leaking out.

Has anyone seen improvement with a CPAP after getting a deviated septum taken care of? I can breath through the "bad" nostril fine during the day, no idea what goes on at night.

JeffH · Post by **JeffH** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 5:25 pm

It took me t-boning a bread truck at 60 mph to deviated my septum. I really don't think using a CPAP mask could possibly do that. BTW, he pulled out in front of me, I didn't hit him....LOL

dataq1 · Post by **dataq1** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 10:42 pm

I just had septoplasty to correct my deviation LOL.
Seriously, breathing thru my left nostril was fine, but the right was restricted. The result was increased effort to inhale, in order to pass enough air volume.
The theory offered by my doc is this: When you inhale (the chest rises etc) causing the pressure in your lungs to fall below that of atmospheric pressure, that difference in pressure cause air to move to the area of least pressure (your lungs).
Now imagine you are sucking on a straw (in air) . As long as the straw is not clogged (restricted) it's fairly easily for air to pass thru the straw.
Now start to close off the end of the straw by covering the free end with your finger (or begin to squeeze the end) causing a restriction. As you create more restriction the effort to suck the same amount of air thru the straw increases. At some point the straw will collapse on its self and cause a complete obstruction.
That obstruction can be relieved by blowing into the straw.
But as long as you try to suck against the obstruction, the straw collapses more and more.
(actually the atmospheric air pressure on the sides of the straw is less than the pressure in the straw.. causing the straw to collapse)

BAD, rural firefighters are well experienced in this. Drafting from a pond or pool MUST be done with very rigid (Hard) suction hose.

Back to the story... your air passages are much the same, depending on the amount of fleshy material in the air passages, a restriction in the passages (like a deviated septum) coupled with effort to get "enough" air can cause some of these passages to become obstructed.

So I had the surgery last tuesday, and am looking forward to use my xPAP again as soon as my nasal linings shrink from their swollen state.

Then I see how effective the septopalsty was (for me).
Cheers,

racefan · Post by **racefan** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 12:15 am

rhynes1 wrote:I have been using a CPAP for about a year on 8 pressure. I was diagnosed with mild to moderate apnea. Using the CPAP has helped a small amount. However now I feel like I did in the beginning...low energy and even low level headaches.

After seeing an ENT doctor, he told me I have a deviated septum. The first question that popped into my head is...did the CPAP mask CAUSE the deviated septum??? Has anyone else ever heard of something like that? I use a Swift with nasal pillows. I don't believe I put the mask on very tightly each night, just enough to keep the air from leaking out.

Has anyone seen improvement with a CPAP after getting a deviated septum taken care of? I can breath through the "bad" nostril fine during the day, no idea what goes on at night.
________________

CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): cpap mask, swift, CPAP, Nasal Pillows

Man that describes me to a T! My ENT has me doing a nasal rinse & some nose squirter stuff(all to no real avail)He said the other option was to have my deviated septum fixed. Kinda hate to spend the money & find out I still have problems at night.From what little I've read it can be caused by an injury or sometimes just with age.

frapilu · Post by **frapilu** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 12:31 pm

You can also be born with a deviated septum. The ENT told me that it's very possible that my nose was broken during birth and that it happens to many people.

I'm going for a septoplasty on April 30 and I hope it helps. I hope dataq1 will continue posting how his/her recovery is doing and how it helps. There's another thread called "septoplasty yesterday" that dataq1 started on this.

France

frapilu · Post by **frapilu** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 12:32 pm

By the way, great description dataq1.

France

snork1 · Post by **snork1** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 3:12 pm

I was born with a deviated septum from "birth trauma".

I think it would be interesting to do a poll on how many people with apnea have some significant degree of nasal/sinsus obstruction, versus those that don't. It SEEMS like a pretty high percentage from my observations over the years on the apnea forums.

I got my nose working again through surgery and it made CPAP work a whole lot better.

sinus/nose surgery will NOT CURE apnea, but it can make it a lot easier to treat.

sharlan · Post by **sharlan** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 11:03 pm

I have a deviated septum and enlarged turbinates that make it difficult to breathe out of the left side of my nose, add chronic sinusitis and a narrow throat to the mix.

I have been using rhinocort for a week now, it really helped with the congestion.

On Thursday, the dr is going to burn the inside of my lower turbinates in an effort to shrink them. I'm not planning on surgery for the septum unless I really have to.

frapilu · Post by **frapilu** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 5:03 am

Snork1,

Yes, that's what I'm hoping for with my septoplasty. I'm hoping it will make my cpap more effective. I'm especially hoping to get rid of my FF mask and go back to my wonderful HC406.

Sharlan,

Good luck. My doctor has never said anything about turbinates so I assume mine are ok. I'm not even clear on what a turbinate is.

France

Rafe · Post by **Rafe** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:24 pm

During my initial split-night sleep study, I could not tolerate any mask or nasal pillow interface. I felt like I was suffocating. I got referred to an ENT, who diagnosed a deviated septum and enlarged turbinates. Not sure how I got the deviated septum, but I had the septoplasty and turbinate reduction procedure.

Went for the titration. For some reason, I didn't care for the nasal pillow and used some full face mask. No problems breathing, but had aerophagia. Slept great. Went to the DME. Didn't like the several FF masks I tried, but the RT suggested the Swift. I liked it a lot more than the FF and adapted to the Swift overnight.

I guess the bottom line is that if you have a deviated septum, a septoplasty will probably make CPAP therapy a LOT easier to get used to. Recovery was pretty quick and no real pain after the first day or so. I think some people who have this problem are hesitant to get the surgery because of their fear of pain. It really wasn't that bad, at least for me.

frapilu · Post by **frapilu** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 1:54 pm

Rafe,

That's good to hear.

Thanks.

Mask

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Deviated septum and CPAP

Deviated septum and CPAP

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