Terrified and don't know what to do...help!!

jnk wrote:List of stores that should have it:

http://www.neilmed.com/usa/netipot_adwo ... 3godiw4pJQ

Be forewarned that some of the long-time posters can be a little protective of the format, and rightfully so. A lot of group-think went into how it landed.

As for me, I'm not gonna suggest any changes till I've been here a year or two. Even then, I fully expect to get chewed out for suggesting it.

So, again, I applaud the thought. I'm just saying "duck" as a heads-up. I think I saw some eggs and tomatoes being passed around in the front row, and there's no chicken-wire in front of this stage.

Remember - you will have eggs and tomatoes thrown at you if you try to express your opinion again.

You might try Passionflower to help you sleep. It iwll help with anxiety.

garyland wrote:Snoredog,

Can I get that Neil med stuff at a local drug store? How is it different from the saline sprays that I have been using?

Gary

Gary, if any OTC spray you buy contains anything more than simple salt and water you shouldn't use it. In addition to salt and water many have a preservative, but the preservative only gives the product a longer shelf life. The Neilmed stuff contains pre-measured packets of salt and sodium bicarbonate (salt and Arm & Hammer baking soda). Non-aerosol sprays you buy have to contain some kind of "preservative" so they can sit on the shelf at the drug store for long periods without going bad.

There is an sterile aerosol version of a saline rinse called Simply Saline, it comes in a can with a special spray nozzle that allows you to insert it deep into the nares. If you use that one before bed you give yourself a squirt (it is a measured squirt) in each nare it moistens things up.

The whole idea behind using a saline rinse is to flush out the smog, dust, and other allergens out of your nasal passage so the irritation to the nasal tissue is removed. Continued use several times per week and you should notice your nose is less congested and less sensitive to allergies. Your nose also becomes more resilient to allergens. It is like going swimming and clearing your nose, or taking a hot shower and clearing your nose. The purpose of the sodium bicarbonate is the break down dried mucosa and flush it out, so the rhino wash works much better than without.

Nasal steroids are no panacea either, they also carry their own side effects. If you have polyps on the inside of your nose that is caused from chronic nasal inflammation, the polyp itself can contribute to nasal congestion, they can also contribute to nasal snoring.

The rhino wash I am suggesting is similar in pH to eye tears. If your tap water has a lot of chlorine you may want to use bottled or distilled water as chlorine may be also irritating your nares. The neilmed kit comes with a neti-pot so you can flush out your nares. You put a packet in water in the neti-pot then flush out your nares over a sink, this flushes out the allergens over several days use your nasal tissues begin reducing the inflammation and the swelling goes down. If you can elevate the head of your bed by 3-4 inches that can help with nasal congestion when you lie down.

Maybe you should consider a HEPA filter in your bedroom, dust mites are big for causing allergies. The air is filtered when you use the machine but not before and after.

Hey Gary,
The neti pot is going to feel kind of weird the first time or two you use it.....Just lean over the sink and let it flow.....

In all you've described, one of the most important is to get off of those OTC's......Bad news!!!!
You may want to seek some treatment for the OCD also!!! It is a vicious circle once you're in it.....Break out dude!!!!!

Good luck -- keep us up on how you're doing!!!
Take care
cheers
goose

hi gary -- i've read that CPAP does not work as effectively orally, so maybe you actually need a higher pressure with the Oracle mask? Just a thought.

echo wrote:hi gary -- i've read that CPAP does not work as effectively orally, so maybe you actually need a higher pressure with the Oracle mask? Just a thought.

Now there is an interesting thought. I could not figure out how I could not breath thru my mouth under pressure, but maybe that would work. Only problem was that I had condensate and saliva spurting out the Oracle all over the place when I tried it last time.

Gary

He's right , it takes about 3 weeks till you can use cpap. I had all the surgeries. You must have other problems too. I had a tongue operation where the move to forward and run threads threw it to keep it from falling into my throat. I had my tonsils out. I also had septum surgery, turbinate surgery and radio frequency in my sinus tissue. I was afraid I couldn't breath after surgery. But it is funny how your body makes changes to survive. I started breathing threw my mouth. I didn't think I could since I trained myself to keep my mouth shut for cpap. I am still swollen 5 weeks after surgery but it gets better every day. I will admit I still use nose spray sometimes because of the swelling but know that soon I should be able to quit forever. I would have the Eng check out your throat as well . If you have large tonsils that will hurt breathing. If your tongue chokes you that's like the worst thing. Can you sleep on your back and if your on your back can you feel your tongue fall into your throat where you choke. If so you need to tell your eng. I told him to look at the whole picture and what he thought would improve my situation. Look, the whole reason I did this is all the men in my family died of some type of sleep apnea problem. They just didn't know about apnea years ago. I was afraid of the same thing happening to me. I am 46 and I told my dad I would do what I could to break the record. It is 65 in my family. If you don't think your rent is really sharp I would go to someone else. I am in San Jose and know that some of the larger cities have more experience and better care of this problem. If you have any questions feel free to ask, We're all in this together.I didn't go to this doctor but thought he had a good site where you can see different procedures. Good luck. n8
http://www.sleepapneasurgery.com/

Is this a recent problem? There's a bug going around, and I have it, that seems particularly good at drying you out at the back of the throat and nose. This is in addition to relatively typical cough and runny nose you might get with a cold or flu.

I was getting at best, 90 minutes on my CPAP a night before the back of my nose area was too dry and irritated to continue. That was even with me disposed to mouth breathing.

I spotted some NeilMed NasoGel which does have things in it like aloe vera and glycerin in it. I would normally agree about avoiding anything that isn't just saline, but after 5 nights of just an hour of CPAP or none at all it didn't seem like such a bad idea. It gives me about 4 hours of sleep before the irritation and dryness wakes me up and I have to quit CPAP. I'm only using it every other night.

I have the same problem ever since starting this CPAP. The only thing that seems to work is sudafed but the sleep doctor told me don't use that it could keep you awake...I have trouble staying asleep anyway. So I'm not sure there's anything that can help