Nasal or nasal pillow mask with chronic pm congestion?

[LaCansada]

Hi everybody. So glad to have found this wondeful support community. You-all are helping me both take charge of and navigate my new CPAP treatment. I suspect I do not have a genious of a respiratory therapist as he is unableto answer most of my questions. A nice guy though who at least tries to help. I am due to swap out my REMStar Plus w/C-Flex for the REMStar Pro tomorrow as I currently have no ability to check data and know where I stand. But this is my question: I almost always get some mild to moderate congestion at night. I do not use Afrin as I was once badly "addicted". If I cannot breath well through both nostrils is the CPAP still able to keep my airway open? I tend to be congested in one nostril or the other and not both unless I am ill. But, I have noticed that I feel better in the morning using my FFM's despite the fact that I have leaking that I have to fix once or twice during the night. I seem to get a great seal with the nasal gel mask and also the LT for her but I just don't feel as well in the mornings on these. I do use them with a chinstrap. Is it possible my airway is not opened as a result of this congestions? I am using a nasal saline sinus rinse and my GP gave me some Flonase to help with this. What say the experts on this issue? Thanks. Lisa.

[Husky Lover]

You sound similar to me. I've been on CPAP nearly a year and have three masks, now four, later about that. I settled on my original nasal mask as my favorite. Recently I've had PM congestion too and have been using OTC sprays which have done the trick. However, I now have a cold and the sprays only work for less than an hour. I decided to buy a full face mask so I can breath through my mouth. I'm trying to get off of the sprays. But my first night saw my pressure increase by four cm and my AHI go to 15 from my average of around 4 to 5. I'm hoping that it is just from the cold, but I see no other way around withdrawing from nasal spray other than a full face mask.

One other thing I noticed is I can crank the humidity way up without the resulting noise from the mask vent or "rain out" condensation. The mask I bought, a Quattro, really seems to vent the air in greater quantities than my nasal masks. I could hear the machine working where I didn't with the nasal masks.

[BlackSpinner]

If you are using only a nasal mask and get congested then you are probably breathing through your mouth. A chin strap does nothing to keep your lips closed. Even a leaking full face mask is better then loose lips.