Fall/Winter Cpap Users

[BoomersRock]

Re: Humidifiers - we used to use a room humidifier in the bedroom only prior to being treated for sleep apnea. Don't need it now which is great as they were so cumbersome!

[VVV]

Wow, that is a tough problem and you deserve some relief.

I already do all that, plus the neti pot, saline spray, nasonex, and zrytec!

Would you consider stopping all of that for 48 hours and turning the CPAP humidifier down to 1? If you do it pick some days when you do not have to work.

I'm sneezing my head off, then blowing gunk all day long. This started roughly around the mid to end of Oct. when we fired up the lodge stove (wood). I actually started with two days of horrific nose bleeds,

Is the flue exhaust working well? Does any exhaust come into the house when the stove door is opened for refueling? How "tight" is the house? Is there adequate ventilation from the outside to ensure a good flow through the stove and out the flue?

How far do you sleep from the stove? Same room? Next room? Opposite end of house?

What is the temperature in your sleeping room? In the room where you spend the most time?

[archangle]

Consider immunotherapy. Get an allergy test, and get shots with what makes you allergic. I did this chasing a throat problem years back. I went in and got tested, it showed me allergic to a number of things. I took the shots for about 5 years and no longer need shots.

It didn't actually fix the throat problems I was trying to fix, but I discovered that after a while, I could actually breathe through my nose in the morning. I kept thinking something was wrong with my car because I would smell a burning oil smell whenever I stopped at a red light. I finally realized I was smelling all the oil dripped on the road where cars stop at the redlight.

I never realized how much allergy was affecting me year round until I got "cured."

[Gaga58]

VVV...I actually did turn the humidifier down, thinking I was getting too much moisture, since house air was drier...that's when I ended up off work 2 days! So, I went back up. All the rest, flue, venting, ect. is good...hubby does get careless sometimes when removing ashes, but me yelling at him usually takes care of that pretty quick!! And while I'm sure my house could stand to have more cleaning to it than I get done, I do vaccum and dust regularly because of the interior wood heat.

I had been sleeping on the couch, to be closer to my Mom who I take care of...and yes, the room was a lot warmer (we do keep it warmer because of her) and I prefer the cooler sleeping, so finally moved back to the bedroom and hooked up a monitor for Mom. That did help some! I've always used Claritin-D for my seasonal bouts, but it just didn't cut this...I found the samples of zyrtec and was vast improvement overnight. I think if I can ever get it reasoanbly under control (which I think I may almost be there) THEN I could have a better idea of where to set the humidity...with so much sneezing and drainage going on at once, it's been hard to tell any difference accept for when I took it too low.

Allergy shots would be my very last resort, but I really think it just requires some tweaking on the machine's w humidity to get it right. I had no problems at all at the first when it was air conditioning, or when we were finally able to throw open the windows and do fresh air. I've got hubby checking in to getting me a humidity gauge as well as a whole house humidifier...