Why do turbinates swell at night?

[1041]

Symptoms:
-90 minutes after falling asleep, I wake with clogged nostril
-nostrils were clear at bedtime
-i take antihistamines and do nasal rinses
-clogged nostril doesn't happen in daytime
-high humidity, low humidity doesn't help
-changing temperature settings doesn't help
-pseudoephedrine (Zyrtec-D) seems to reduce this phenomenon
-it is a dry congestion. no mucus.
-my bedroom is vacuumed and all my sheets are washed

I think my turbinates are swelling up at night during sleep. But why?

[RandyJ]

Can't answer the why but I had the same issue. The solution for me was a prescription for Nasonex nasal spray; I use one spray in each nostril at bedtime and my nostrils stay clear all night. Nasonex is safe for daily use, unlike Afrin.

I still do the nasal rinses a few times a week, but use pseudoephedrine only occasionally and Zyrtec a few times a week.

[jencat824]

I also have permanent allergy, stuffiness issue. I have cats. I use the nasal rinse & Nasonex, as well as Clarinex & Singulair. If you have a stuffy nose I say attack, attack, attack. You've already done the hard part - no dust in bedroom. Next use the nasal rinses. Now comes the hard part - prescription Meds. No one wants to do this, but if you need the rx meds, ask your doc, I'm sure he wants the CPAP therapy to work so would surely be able to help with this. Maybe just the Nasonex and rinsing will work for you.

[Hitomi.Neko]

To get technical.... In humans, the turbinates divide the nasal airway into four groove-like air passages, and are responsible for forcing inhaled air to flow in a steady, regular pattern around the largest possible surface of cilia and climate-controlling tissue. A rapidly dilating arteriolar circulation to these bones may lead to a sharp increase in the pressure within in response to acute cooling of the body core - the pain from this pressure is often referred to as "brain freeze", and is frequently associated with the rapid consumption of ice cream..... Ok now that the anatomy lesson is over what it sounds like to me is that the tissues are either becoming inflamed from some unknown allergen or you have a case of rhinitis either way your best bet is to be seen by an Ears Nose and Thoat doctor so that they can pin point the cause. I hope you find some relief soon.

[Pugsy]

I think my turbinates are swelling up at night during sleep. But why?

I think you are probably correct but don't know why.
When you wake up and discover they are congested are you on your side and the side that is down happens to be a lot more congested than the side that is up?
When you wake up and start your day are you congested or is your nose clear?
If congested does it clear up rather quickly on its own or do you have to help it out with something?
Vasomotor rhinitis can manifest itself in numerous ways and simple congestion is one of them. Vasomotor rhinitis is pretty much a fancy term for nasal congestion, drainage, etc issues that we don't know what the cause is.

[archangle]

I think we're beginning to realize that the turbinates have a much more active role in breathing than we used to think. There are cycles of swelling that tend to happen there and some feedback mechanisms in the nervous system involving airflow sensors in the turbinates that affect sleep, breathing, heart rate, and other processes in your sleep.

Unfortunately, I don't have any references handy, mostly some discussion about problems some people have after nose surgery.

I'm not sure any of this helps you, but I think the issue is more complicated than it seems at first.

[Sir NoddinOff]

Not that it directly relates to your question, but I was having that problem twenty five years ago and my doctor recommended I have them removed/reduced... snip, snip, then a ton of cotton packing up the snooze. It was a bloody awful procedure under mild sedation and it took nearly a month to heal. After a week or two, when the doctor pulled out that packing I literally fainted and I'm not a fainter by any means. I can't even say that it made a big difference in my sleep patterns at that time - however that was in the bad old days of nasal surgery. I hear that now with the use of lasers etc, plus new techniques for closing the wound it's virtually painless and heals up fairly quickly. Just tossing it out for comment..

[garyland]

I have your exact same problem. It has happened to me for years now. I get up in the middle of the night after sleeping for three hours or so have to come downstairs watch TV for an hour and a half or so then back to bed and maybe repeat. I haven't found anything that works. I have tried everything known to man, but it doesn't work. My only solution is surgery which I don't want to do.

[Mundy]

If you think it might be allergies, you might try this filter: https://www.cpap.com/productpage/Respir ... -pack.html

Its bliss for me to sleep 8 hours a night allergen free! My doctor prescribed it for me so Medicare covers it. Its not expensive to buy on your own either.

[1041]

I don't perceive any patterns of which nostril. The congestion disappears quickly once I'm up.

I tried sleeping sitting up last night. The middle of the night congestion didn't occur, but I still got some at 6am.

[ButtermilkBuoy]

high humidity, low humidity doesn't help

Maybe try medium humidity? haha

BTW, how can you tell your turbinates swell? Are there not other causes of stuffiness?

[1041]

It's my guess based on the lack of mucus. I wish I had an acoustic rhinometer to check.

[ButtermilkBuoy]

I wish I had an acoustic rhinometer to check.

Everyone should keep one nearby at all times.

[pyro]

Not that it directly relates to your question, but I was having that problem twenty five years ago and my doctor recommended I have them removed/reduced... snip, snip, then a ton of cotton packing up the snooze. It was a bloody awful procedure under mild sedation and it took nearly a month to heal. After a week or two, when the doctor pulled out that packing I literally fainted and I'm not a fainter by any means. I can't even say that it made a big difference in my sleep patterns at that time - however that was in the bad old days of nasal surgery. I hear that now with the use of lasers etc, plus new techniques for closing the wound it's virtually painless and heals up fairly quickly. Just tossing it out for comment..

I had a septoplasty and turbinate reduction last year. Mine were so bad that my nose was completely shut at times, and at best I had trouble actively forcing air through my nose. I had tried OTC medicines, nasal rinse, and prescription allergy medicines. When I went to an ENT, as soon as he looked at the inside of my nose, it just took him seconds to say I needed a turbinate reduction.

I will say it was amazing. Waking up post surgery, all the dried/drying blood, plastic in my nose, and gauze under my nose to catch blood, and I could still breath better than I had in years.

It's definitely changed since then. They only had 2 plastic splints put in my nose to help my septum heal right that came out a few days later. And when they pulled them out, I was seconds away from passing out. The nurse said that was actually very common from the sinus pressure or something like that. I think it took about 10 days to start using CPAP, and while using a nasal rinse, I kept getting blood coming out for about 20 to 25 days, though near the end it was very little.

[-tim]

Try taking pseudoephedrine two hours earlier. Also get something that is just pseudoephedrine and not a mix of anti histamines.
If you exercise at night, try to adjust that by an hour and see if that helps.