nose pain!

[napgirl]

hi -

i've been blissfully using my cpap with nasal pillows for a few months, with minimal problems. but in the last few weeks, the insides of my nostrils have been sore, and now they are scabby and in pain when i wear the mask. i have my humidifier on medium, with an aussie hose, so there's no rainout. the weather is dry -- is that the problem? i didn't have this initially in the fall...

thanks for any help.

[breathright]

I would try to increase your humidity level first. I have also found that size of the nose pillow can cause this. I was using a large and switched to a medium and that cleared it up. Good luck.

[Lee Lee]

Hi,
I had the same problem. There is a post by me back in December that has a lot of replies and advice. (search Lee Lee)
I did go to the Dr and I found that I had a terrible bacterial infection. After about 5 or 6 rounds of meds, it calmed down, but the pain still comes back every now and then.
The only way I found to make the pain go away was to turn up the warmth and humidity on my machine. I hate heated humidified air, because it makes my asthma worse, but I will deal with that to avoid the searing pain in my nostrils.
I hope you find the answer and soon.

[Ms.Snuffleupagus]

When I use nasal pillows, I always make sure to use NeilMed's saline gel before and after using. It keeps nares moist and helps prevent scabs from forming. There are other saline solutions/gels that you can also use. And as breathright said, this can also happen if the nasal pillows are too large. In the meantime, if you have another mask, you may want to use it to give yourself a chance to heal.