CPAP when you're congested

FWIW, I am also a FFM-in-a-drawer person.

Never used it, but am glad to know it is there, just in case.

Come to to full-faced-mask side of the force.

Bookit wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 26, 2018 1:34 pm

As a fairly new cpap user, I'm learning the tricks right now. My whole family is sick.

I am using Dayquill/Nyquill, saline nasal spray, and occasionally Afrin (one nostril per night).

You can successfully use afrin in both sides... but only at night, giving your nose time to recover from it during the day prevents you from becoming dependent on it.... as you would when used "as directed" (twice a day).

Got that tip from a clever ENT some years back.

DreamDiver wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 26, 2018 2:44 pm

Come to to full-faced-mask side of the force.

My first mask was nasal. It lasted two nights. I about choked to death. So I’m a certified mouth breather with a full face mask. My wife even said I sound like Darth Vader.

But I dread my first night with allergies or a cold.

lilou wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 26, 2018 11:17 am

Do you keep using or take a break with your CPAP when you're sick- sore throat, runny nose and congested?

I kept at it the first three days but woke with an even sorer throat and it was hard to breathe since I have a runny nose. I've heard some people just don't use their CPAP during being sick and congested because it also adds more germs to the CPAP device and they feel worse from not sleeping well.

What do you all do when you've got a runny nose, congestion and sore throat from being sick? Keep at the CPAP? Take a break? Make modification (if possible)?

Do whatever to medicate before turning in . For me , even more reason to strap in when Congested. Like others have said, i would be lost without my cpap

The only nights I ever missed in the last nineteen years were during power failures and overnight flights.

JJR wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 26, 2018 4:20 pm

My first mask was nasal. It lasted two nights. I about choked to death. So I’m a certified mouth breather with a full face mask. My wife even said I sound like Darth Vader.

But I dread my first night with allergies or a cold.

For sinus allergies, since we have a filter on most cpap's maybe that's less of a problem. My nose clogs up less from allergies than prior to using cpap for that reason, I suspect. I've had a cold a couple times. It wasn't so bad. Hopefully it won't be too difficult for you either.

Best of luck!

Chris

I haven't had a problem with breathing, but sometimes I have issues with sneezing and runny nose. I try to take a cholortrimeton (or two) early enough that it stops in time for sleep. Other allergy meds don't work for me. I did have trouble with coughing spasms, but I found that if I raise my minimum by two, I can get through a coughing spasm without wanting to rip off the mask. And once I fall asleep, that seems to clear up. I am also very good at cheeking cough drops, and yes, I sleep with a cough drop in my mouth sometimes. It helps with a sore throat, and I normally sleep with my jaw barely open even though I mouth breathe. I have done this for years at work since I am working with food and customers. Cough is an absolute no, and I am not supposed to have food or candy in my mouth. So I cheek it. I can talk normally, and the cough drop does its job.

Now, if I am thinking I will vomit, I will take meds for that. If I concerned that I might while sleeping, I will set an alarm for an hour or two and go to bed without the cpap. Hopefully, I feel better by then and can use the mask. I have gotten sick once while wearing the mask. I got it off in time, but not away in time. I had to wash it before I could use it again. That was back when I started, and I did not have a backup yet.

Hi Lilou,

I've been on CPAP now for almost 3 years and have had one cold during that time that I picked up on an overseas trip with family and friends. All of us got this same bug, including my husband, and the two of us brought it back with us to Canada.

I was worried about how this nasty cold would affect my CPAP use, and like you I came here to seek advice.

Based on the advice I received here I continued to use my nasal pillows, (so glad I ditched the idea of a FF mask which I'd used for a short while the first night of the cold, and was not a good idea, it made things worse for me)

I used a range of APAP instead of my normal straight pressure until the bug resolved. This helped me a lot.

I was out and about, running and on the road, feeling perfectly fine again a short while later, and yet the others who picked up the same bug were still hacking and sniffling weeks later. Poor them, they didn't have XPAP.

jnk... wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 26, 2018 1:42 pm

My position on the wisdom of skipping CPAP for a URI is that it depends on how severe the OSA is. In my case, I believe I would be risking my life to go without CPAP in supine REM for even one night. But for someone with a very low untreated AHI, I mostly agree with the suggested approaches in the following info from ResMed: https://osahub.resmed.com/using-your-cp ... realsleep/

You'll get nowhere trying to use common sense like that.

I mean, are you actually suggesting that heart attacks and strokes don't take time off for colds?

old dude wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 27, 2018 7:30 am

jnk... wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 26, 2018 1:42 pm

My position on the wisdom of skipping CPAP for a URI is that it depends on how severe the OSA is. In my case, I believe I would be risking my life to go without CPAP in supine REM for even one night. But for someone with a very low untreated AHI, I mostly agree with the suggested approaches in the following info from ResMed: https://osahub.resmed.com/using-your-cp ... realsleep/

You'll get nowhere trying to use common sense like that.

I mean, are you actually suggesting that heart attacks and strokes don't take time off for colds?

Now I know why I haven't gotten anywhere!

For the very severe, the damage from one skipped night could be sudden and profound. For the very mild, though, the damage is generally thought to be mostly cumulative. So if someone with very mild sleep issues with a severe cold is planning on staying in the next day anyway, I would not give him a hard time if he decided to skip a night. Circumstances vary, so no rule of thumb can cover every situation. Even hardline CPAP evangelists like me have had to dial back the everyone-must-use-it-always dogma in order to maintain some semblance of credibility.

jnk... wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 27, 2018 8:00 am

old dude wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 27, 2018 7:30 am

jnk... wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 26, 2018 1:42 pm

My position on the wisdom of skipping CPAP for a URI is that it depends on how severe the OSA is. In my case, I believe I would be risking my life to go without CPAP in supine REM for even one night. But for someone with a very low untreated AHI, I mostly agree with the suggested approaches in the following info from ResMed: https://osahub.resmed.com/using-your-cp ... realsleep/

You'll get nowhere trying to use common sense like that.

I mean, are you actually suggesting that heart attacks and strokes don't take time off for colds?

Now I know why I haven't gotten anywhere!

For the very severe, the damage from one skipped night could be sudden and profound. For the very mild, though, the damage is generally thought to be mostly cumulative. So if someone with very mild sleep issues with a severe cold is planning on staying in the next day anyway, I would not give him a hard time if he decided to skip a night. Circumstances vary, so no rule of thumb can cover every situation. Even hardline CPAP evangelists like me have had to dial back the everyone-must-use-it-always dogma in order to maintain some semblance of credibility.

Which is exactly why I will not let myself miss a night, even if it comes down to drinking coffee to stay awake.

With an untreated AHI of 131 at diagnosis I'm afraid to do otherwise.

old dude wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 27, 2018 8:06 am

With an untreated AHI of 131 at diagnosis I'm afraid to do otherwise

Wise man. I'm with you. My diagnostic AHI was 114.7.

jnk... wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 27, 2018 8:00 am

So if someone with very mild sleep issues with a severe cold is planning on staying in the next day anyway, I would not give him a hard time if he decided to skip a night.

How will that person know it's going to be mild apnea the night of a cold? With a cold, the entire airway passage is often swelled due to irritation and/or inflammation. Mild might be severe.

Valid point, well made.

However, I would answer by asking, How does a person without OSA know he doesn't meet OSA criteria when he has a severe cold? He doesn't. But I similarly won't give him a hard time for sleeping without CPAP that night either.

Perhaps I overbalanced in the way I made my point. But I firmly believe that people should always make their own decisions and draw their own lines for themselves based on individual circumstances, to the extent their knowledge allows them to.

On a side note, my overall point in my posts in this thread is that not every CPAP user, or non CPAP user, is the same. Individual variables always play a role in personal health decisions. Therefore, it is my opinion that it is generally best to dignify questioners coming here by our providing information, perhaps along with some personal views, while still respecting the questioners' rights to decide for themselves, and without their being called names.

It's what we expect from medical professionals; it ought to be what we expect from one another in a medical-equipment forum.

Hey, just me.

But I will defer to super-brain CPAP expert Dr. Rapoport who probably gave the definitive answer to the question of whether to use CPAP during a cold when he said:

"I recommend patients use the CPAP through a cold, possibly with a decongestant medication. It might be helpful despite nasal blockage. If not, it's no worse than not wearing it at all."-- https://www.health.com/health/condition ... 36,00.html