upper respiratory problems with CPAP use

After a severe bronchial infection last year my sister now has COPD. She's being tested for OSA. Her RT told her that if she does need a CPAP that that will also help improve her COPD.

Thanks for the helpful reply Janknitz. Some really good points!

I wanted to share that I have been using my c-pap for about a month. Started off really carefully cleaning everything on cue as directed.
But for the past week I've been really busy and did not think to clean anything. The past couple days I have had sturnum pain, right down the middle, from about mid-chest to just below the throat, whenever I breath in deeply. I have asthma and allergies so am used to all kinds of lung issues, but have never felt anything quite like this. It's not a real intense pain like pleurasy was, but it is noticeable at the top of a deep breath. I'm also having diminshed peak flow meter results. I called the dr. (pulmonologist) and he said to treat it like asthma, increase albuterol use, and start on prednisone. That was over the weekend, so I will try to get in to see him tomorrow. I have a feeling it is a small infection. I am taking Sambucol (black elderberry juice) to try to get over it more quickly in case it is a bug in there. So now of course I am paranoid that it is from not cleaning the water. And in reading some of the other posts it seems like a possibility. So I will be more diligent and see if it goes away.

As for my nose, I put a thin layer of olive oil inside my nostrils before going to bed. And this keeps my nose very comfortable and the nose pillows seem to fit snugly against this as well. I stumbled upon the olive oil thing after years of nasal steroid spray use and finally ending up with some bad bloody noses. After getting off nasal steroids and tired of weaning off of afrin several times, I experimented with olive oil. The olive oil serves 2 purposes for me - it provides lubrication and prevents bloody noses, and it seems to act like a mild anti-inflammatory inside my nose, slightly decreasing the stuffiness (not like Afrin does, but also w/o the re-bound). It may sound gross but I just wash my hands good before and after and it's no problem. I use extra light olive oil so it doesn't have a noticeable odor. I just use my finger-tip instead of a q-tip as it's safer. As a caution I will share that my ENT said not to go up very far inside the nostril, but as my dryness seems to be at the top of the nostril inside, I actually very carefully coat the entire inside of the nostril. just go very gently with a small finger with well clipped nails (if you have long nails this may not work for you). FYI - I've told various doctors that i do this and none of them expressed any concern so I take no news to be good news or just something they don't know about so they don't comment. Just wanted to share in case it helps anybody else. I try to avoid unneccessary chemicals in my life and since olive oil is all natural I felt good that it wouldn't cause me any harm. I've been doing this for a few years and so far so good. Talk to your doctor about it just to be sure.

I was expecting my asthma to be better while on this machine. And it doesn't seem to be that way. I don' tthink it is worse. But I'm sure it's not better. I usually cough up a little clear phlegm each morning. And with filtered air and a little humidity I would think that would make things better. I get dehydrated easily and it seems to help prevent me from waking up so dry feeling so that part is good. I don't use the heated water, and am a little worried it will make me feel too hot, as I get overheated easily too. In fact, due to my paranoia of things growing in the gallon of distilled water I keep the jug of water in the fridge. So at the beginning of the night the water is ice cold, and I can't even tell that it is cool by the time it gets up to my nose. Do other people refrigerate the distilled water jug? My trainer said it wasn't necessary but that didn't seem logical to me since she also said I have to change the water frequently to prevent things growing in it.

I also have plans to contact the manufacturer to find out what % humidity each number on the dial corresponds with. This information it not anywhere in what I was given or on their web-site which I find quite frustrating, and my trainer said it is not known. I find it hard to believe that the manufacturer would not have had to explain to the FDA during the regulatory review process for this device what each number corresponded to for the humidity, so I bet they have the research one of their engineers did somewhere. I'm using the new model of the ResMed cpap, and it's dark now (hubby sleeping) so I can't see what the model number is.

I am thinking about ordering the gadget to keep the tubing off of my body. Since I use the nasal pillows I have to string the tubing across my body, otherwise if it just hangs off the side of the bed it pulls my pillows sideways. It's kind of annoying to have the tubing strung across me but I eventually drift off to sleep after adjusting the nasal pillows 52 times to get what I think is just the right fit lol. It's such a process! They started me on the medium sized nasal pillows but I eventually tried the small and finally moved down to the extra small and it seems to work much better.

All the fun things we get to experiment w/ new c-pap use lol!!

Your chest pain could be due to gastric acid reflux (probably from the elderberry juice), but could also be a serious cardiac problem as it happens when you breathe, and you don't want to be diagnosed by strangers on a forum, but by a doctor - go see one now. And nothing will grow in your distilled water as it's pure to begin with, except of course once in the hum. tank, you should keep that clean routinely. And you're responding to an out of date thread here - start a new one please if you have questions.

There's no numbers for humidity (on your machine) because it's a sliding scale thing - you just turn it to where it works for you at a given time, not to a number that someone else has decided on. It's not 'therapy', but a comfort/convenience thing you use if needed, and not if it isn't. Having numbers on the dial wouldn't change anything, though I suppose if you wanted to you could use nail polish or something to make your own numbers on it.

Thanks for your concern Julie and for your ideas, I do appreciate it. FYI -as shared, before I did the post, I had already had a conversation with my pulmonologist and he lead me to treat it as an asthma-related issue, and it is responding to this therapy. The pain is gone and my peak flow meter and breathing are coming back up. FYI - My heart had been given a clean bill of health after a recent work-up, because I'm getting to that age, so I knew it wasn't that (I was able to share w/my pulmonologist the things they checked on my heart recently and he used this as part of his processing). I do have reflux and know what that feels like so I knew it wasn't that. The pain started before I started the black elderberry juice so I knew it wasn't that. The black elderberry juice by the way (I use Sambucol brand) if you are not familiar with it is a syrup, 10 mL, and I just dilute it with a few parts of water, so it's only a few sips; not like drinking a big glass of juice. There is research to support it increasing immune response and helping people get over the flu more quickly. I've started using it when I feel signs of illness and it really helps me to get over things faster without everything turning into bronchitis, so I am very thankful for that. So not sure if the pain was due to some minor infection that was starting, because of junk in the cpap or some other unrelated virus, or just due to breathing in too much pollen (it was a thick day of cottonwood). But I've washed all parts of the c-pap machine thoroughly too just in case. The item I was looking for on the humidifier setting was to correspond with % humidity, not a particular number. As my pulmonologist recommended a certain level of humidity for my general good lung health I wanted to try to keep it in that range. So one day when I have the time I will be resourceful and have a chat w/ the engineers to figure this out. I suppose it's a valid comment to start a new thread if one is old; I responded to this one as the topic I was searching for and interested in came up with this one; probably the same topic will come up for others who are interested as well, regardless of the age of the thread; but admittedly I'm not a great techy person so I tend to go for what I can find at the time. Thanks again for your thoughts and have a good one.

jazzmom wrote:The item I was looking for on the humidifier setting was to correspond with % humidity, not a particular number. As my pulmonologist recommended a certain level of humidity for my general good lung health I wanted to try to keep it in that range.

What machine brand are you using and are you using a heated hose. There are a couple of brands that have humidity % documented when the heated hose option is used.
You may already have one of those machines and all you need to do is maybe add a heated hose to get more control over the humidity.
Example...the Respironics 60 series machines offer separate settings (done in the setup menu) when their heated hose is attached. A setting of 1 is equal to 70%, setting of 2 is 80% and setting of 3 is 90%.
ResMed...offers something similar with their heated hose systems.
So it may be possible to find out that information fairly soon if you have one of those machines.

The chest pain could have been muscle strain due to learning to breathe out against pressure. I remember experiencing that at first. Exhalation pressure relief may not be sufficient at first. Now I don't use it at all ( it's quieter without it).

I have been on a cpap since 2015. never had any problems until last year. I have an airsense 10 machine with heated tube and humidifier, and a full face air touch f20 mask. last November I developed a cough that last at least 6 weeks, went to the doctor and was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection, give antibiotic, steroids and cough meds, negative for covid. It came back a couple of weeks ago and is hanging around. already did the same thing, antibiotics, steroids, cough meds. I dump my chamber and let it air dry every day, change the filter, clean the tube every week with a brush and let air dry for a week, clean the chamber good every week and let it air dry for a week, wipe the mask out every day with cpap wipes and wash one a week and let air dry. has anyone else had this problem and if so is there something I should be doing to help with this cough? don't run a fever and not much phlegm other than a runny nose. I do live in the Blue Ridge Mountains and it has been raining quite a bit.

Zombie thread alert folks.
Watch the dates and who you might be replying to.

bed159 wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 31, 2022 12:13 pm

I dump my chamber and let it air dry every day, change the filter, clean the tube every week with a brush and let air dry for a week, clean the chamber good every week and let it air dry for a week, wipe the mask out every day with cpap wipes and wash one a week and let air dry.

All that cleaning and air drying could be making you sick.

True, it's a zombie thread, but Bed's post is new and should be addressed. In many forums people are criticized for starting a new thread when the topic has already been discussed. Bed is new here and doesn't know that we encourage new threads here.

Bed, you have NO evidence that the CPAP is causing your problems, and it's highly unlikely that it is.

First, Has your doctor checked you for a sinus infection (post nasal drip can cause coughing)? Those tend to hang on and rebound for a good long time.

Second, it may not be an INFECTION at all, but a lung inflammation called bronchitis. Contrary to popular belief, bronchitis is usually not an infection, it's an inflammation of the bronchioles in the lungs (little air sacs) that follows a virus or other trigger. There is a form of bacterial bronchitis, but it's not very common. Since bronchitis often follows a viral respiratory infection, a lot of people think the bronchitis IS the infection, rather than the aftermath. Bronchitis can be chronic, in that it lasts for a long while and keeps recurring.

CPAP does not cause this.

But you need to talk to your doctor, and probably need another round of steroids to tamp down the inflammation. Antibiotics won't do much, unless your doctor actually sees evidence of a bacterial infection (sometimes, bronchitis can lead to pneumonia because the mucous in the lungs pools and makes a nice warm growth medium for bacteria to flourish), and overuse of antibiotics is the primary reason we have so many antibiotic resistant infections nowadays. You may need to be on a maintenance dose of inhaled steroids for some time to keep this chronic inflammation under control. This is a discussion to have with your doctor.

Folks when I give a zombie thread alert it usually means someone new has resurrected and old thread.
I usually have just approved a brand new account post and I note that the thread is very old.

Doesn't mean something bad or that I am complaining.
It's just a warning so that someone doesn't go responding to a post made many years ago and there's a good chance that the poster hasn't been back here in a while.
No sense in wasting time typing a response to someone last here maybe 10 years ago.

This happens often when newbies post and I okay the new post....so the alert isn't meant for the new person who resurrected the old thread but instead for the members who post replies to posts and don't pay attention to the date of the post.

But if you all want to reply to a post made in 2005 or whatever by a guest account and that person hasn't ever been back....go ahead.