Newby with sinus blockage

I've been sleeping up to 8 hours with equipment. however, even using saline drops and saline gel hasn't helped my right nostril. It has been stuffed due to a deviated septum. This AM I had to use my allergy spray due to excessive stuffiness. This in turn brought some bloody discharge. Not a lot but I'm wondering with mild sleep apnea ( 10 episodes per hour) if using equipment will continue to make me miserable especially with allergy season approaching.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Heather

CPAP provides pressurized air that can help expand the nostrils. I use nasal pillows and find I get considerable relief from occasional congestion and even sinus infection. CPAP therapy is filtered, so you're exposed to fewer allergens when using it if you keep filters clean. You might want to try a nasal pillow mask to see if it helps. There is always the surgical option, especially if it is something that causes apnea or interferes with treating it.

You seem to have the expectation CPAP therapy will make your nasal congestion worse. I know it can actually reduce congestion and discomfort, although you do need to use correct humidity and have a mask interface that helps.

I have the same issue with my right nostril, however, I don't know if it's due to a deviated septum or not. I guess someday I'll get that checked out.

In the mean time I have had some luck with a more aggressive nasal rinse using NeilMed Rinse bottle as opposed to the gravity type neti pot. So before I go to bed I do a good rinse with the rinse squeeze bottle mixed with their salt packet, seems to help a lot. It's weird that you say right nostril because that's the same one I have a problem with and when I do this rinse I tend to get a small amount of blood from that side and never get anything like that from my left nostril.

Anyway, we are all different with our humidity needs on cpap, but I tend to do much better with sinuses and nose when I have my humidity cranked up pretty high on my cpap machine.

On the Airsense I run it in Manual climate control and set the humidity up to 7 (8 is highest on that machine) and hose temp at 83~84. Those settings actually tend to make my nose and sinuses more clear.......it's been great for my sinuses over the long term.

Do you have the optional ClimatlineAir heated hose? What are your climate settings on the Airsense.......Auto? or Manual?

If you don't have the heated hose I would suggest getting one so you can have more control over your comfort settings, and experiment with trying more humidity, or even less if you are so inclined...........play with the settings and see if more or less humidity helps you out.

Heather R wrote:excessive stuffiness

Have you seen a good ENT/Allergist? They should scope your nasal passages down to your pharynx (Nasopharyngoscopy, see http://www.fauquierent.net/endo.htm). This can be done in a few minutes in the office on the first visit. Make sure the doctor knows that you have sleep apnea. Likely he will also want to test for allergies.

Heather R wrote:if using equipment will continue to make me miserable especially with allergy season approaching

I found CPAP is wonderful for my allergies. Breathing filtered (and humidified for some people) air with the pressure keeping the airway open all night long is da bomb.