CPAPtalk.com

garyland wrote:Is your Pro the M Series? Any chance that at one time or another you got water from the humidifier tank into the Pro? The M Series integrated humidifier has a "reputation" and since your Pro is 3 1/2 years old that is something to consider.

It is possible that i may have gotten water into at one time. So what would that do? And what do you mean that it has a reputation for getting water in it?

The M Series had a potentially leaky humidifier O-ring, and was redesigned. I believe they also had the humidifiers recalled?

The humidifiers were also redesigned. Search the forum and you probably will find the M-series humidifier problem detailed! Here are a couple I found using Google...as the older forum posts are not being pulled up in the forum's Search:

viewtopic.php?t=29393

viewtopic.php?t=29811

Best wishes and happy reading.

Karen

Karen,

You may have something there. I was on Rhinocort for about a month, which did not help me. I gave it up about a week ago. If you had that smell, maybe that is my cause. As far as Afrin is concerned, I am well aware of the fact that it is not meant for long term use. I HAVE NO CHOICE. I will either breathe at night and sleep or not breathe at night and not sleep. I put up with the rebound during the day and evening because I refuse to spray more than one spray each nostril at night.

Gary

garyland wrote:Karen,

You may have something there. I was on Rhinocort for about a month, which did not help me. I gave it up about a week ago. If you had that smell, maybe that is my cause. As far as Afrin is concerned, I am well aware of the fact that it is not meant for long term use. I HAVE NO CHOICE. I will either breathe at night and sleep or not breathe at night and not sleep. I put up with the rebound during the day and evening because I refuse to spray more than one spray each nostril at night.

Gary

I use OTC med's for the same reason, starting 2 hours before bed. They kick in and with the filtered XPAP air, i'm good till morning then I suffer all day and do it again. Jim

garyland wrote:Karen,

You may have something there. I was on Rhinocort for about a month, which did not help me. I gave it up about a week ago. If you had that smell, maybe that is my cause. As far as Afrin is concerned, I am well aware of the fact that it is not meant for long term use. I HAVE NO CHOICE. I will either breathe at night and sleep or not breathe at night and not sleep. I put up with the rebound during the day and evening because I refuse to spray more than one spray each nostril at night.

Gary

Gary,
If you did not find that Rhinocort helped you, may I suggest that you try another prescription spray? I tried several before hitting on Flonase as the one that worked and was acceptable to me as well. (Rhinocort might have been one; I don't recall now which ones I tried other than Nasonex.)

I understand that we all do what we have to do to get our precious sleep! However, I thought that rebound was a 24/7 phenomenon? There should be a better answer, shouldn't there?

Best wishes and I hope that we all find good answers for truly GREAT sleep.

Karen
Who heartily endorses breathing

Karen,

I have been taking Afrin at night for about a year now. I could be wrong and time will tell, but most people, I believe that get hooked on Afrin type sprays, will spray 2 to 3 times in each nostril as it says on the bottle. Then they spray 12 hours later, some time during the day 2 to 3 times. I only spray each nostril ONCE a night. So I think that I go thru the cycle of rebound and recovery every day. Just a theory. I do think that if the Afrin stops working for me I will be totally screwed because I cannot breathe thru my mouth under air pressure for some reason. Anyway, don't let me dwell on that or my OCD will kick in.

The Rhinocort used to work for me ok for a stretch of about 5 days at a time. Saline spray MAY help for an hour if I am lucky.

Gary

Gary

I use a mist of nasal saline before bed. The clean air clears my nostrils right up. It's the dust in the morning that makes my nose run for about an hour until I get used to it again.

fwiw- Afrin & the other OTC sprays will raise your BP.

DreamStalker wrote:Did your HH run out of water?

Can't tell you how many times this has happen to me with the exact description of the odor you speak of...

My sleep doctor had a fit a few years back when I had a very bad cold and was using Afrin for 6 weeks. He explained that it is not for long term use no matter how little you use nightly.

One of the warnigs with Afrin listed in the medical jounal states:
"Do not use oxymetazoline (which is what Afrin is) nasal for longer than 3 to 5 days. Longer use could cause damage to your nasal tissue and lead to chronic congestion."

I was prescribed Flonase and I was finally able to stop using nasal spray all together, it doesn't have the "have to use or I'm still stuffy" effects that Afrin does. Afrin is a no win situation. You won't get better and major damage can be done. You need to talk with your doctor and get medical recommendations to find what's best for you.

Goofproof wrote:Do not let wet dogs sleep near the intake of your XPAP. Jim

Yeah Riiiight! Blame it on the DOG.

I would get a D9 CAT and cut a firebreak around your house, you don't want any flames spreading.

Gary, I don't know the answer to your original question. I do, however, feel for you for the constant nasal congestion! I have been severely addicted to Afrin several times. I have tried flonase and other prescription stuff to no avail. The ONLY thing that works for me is Breathe Right strips. I do not work for them, but I could do commercials for them. You do have to wash the area first before applying it or it will not stick right. Make sure you have the right size. If you haven't already tried them, do, and btw, the off brand ones did not work for me.

For the poster who admitted to forgetting to fill the humidifier, I finally had to post a note directly on the machine reminding me! Stupid, but necessary.

Margaret

About the smell: Check your electrical outlets. I had this smell intermittently in our kitchen. One was going bad and I finally found it. It was all charred and the wall around it was warm. This may be happening to one in your bedroom, maybe the one closest to your CPAP. If so, replace the outlet NOW.

Sam

garyland wrote:Last night I could smell what seemed like a burning and/or foul odor thru my mask. The odor would come and go during the night. That is the best description that I can come up with since I was half asleep during each episode. Any ideas?


Gary

Gary, if I were you, I'd get a new machine ASAP. I've worked in the electronics industry for years, and suffice to say that there are plenty of volatile organic compounds used in electronic products. Heating increases the rate of release of these compounds. The same goes for the plastic tubing. The compounds aren't _too_ harmful so long as there is no burning involved.

I've long suspected a link between xPAP use and cancer for this reason, although I have no data to prove it. Of course, the longterm cancer risk needs to be weighed against the (probably more) dangerous risk of stroke or heart failure due to _not_ using an xPAP (or getting corrective surgery).

One the minus side... the newer the machine, the higher the rate of emission of volatile organic compounds. If you've ever bought a new laptop, you know that when you opened the box it came in, it probably smelled like a chemical factory for just this reason.

Sadly, I suspect that all of the xPAP manufacturers are too lazy and/or ignorant of this issue to address it, by coating their electronics in safer materials. In fairness, it's not immediately clear how they should change their materials to be less carcinogenic without creating other problems.

You may try using a sinus rinse/flush, not just a saline spray. I had severe sinus problems for years, improved slightly by surgery. Almost all of my congestion cleared up after using a saline flush regularly.