Help! Sneezing like crazy. Irritation from nasal mask.

I was using the Quatro FX, but discovered it was ineffective because my apneas were way up. My do tor switched me to a DreamWeaver mask. After using it one night, the next day I was sneezing and had a very runny nose. I had water in the humidifier and had it set at 3. I need to wear a chin strap because I'm a major mouth breather. Even with the strap, I woke u with a dry mouth. I really don't know what to do. I want the cpap to work because I feel like I definitely need to use it. Your help would be appreciated.

Isn't the dreamweaver made of cloth? Maybe you're allergic to the cloth.

It would help greatly if we knew which machine you are using.
Dry mouth usually indicates mouth breathing (you know this) but it doesn't always mean that therapy is severely impacted. To know for sure one needs to see the daily details from software reports. For some people mouth will be dry from very minimal mouth breathing. Without software we have to assume worse case scenario though.

Sneezing? May need to increase the humidifier setting or maybe reduce it. Some people will have allergy like symptoms when the nasal mucosa dry out or get too much moisture. It is highly individual and you will need to figure out which way your body tends to be. With cooler air during fall and winter...furnaces...ambient room humidity can be much lower so your humidifier may need adjusting.

The SleepWeaver mask is like parachute material, but it may have some kind of chemical dressing in it when new. Did you wash it thoroughly in a gentle soap like Dr. Bronner's or Ivory unscented dish soap?

I had no issues with mine as far as irritation goes - just still trying to manage leaks at my eyes and mouth.

Cheers,
xena

xenablue wrote:The SleepWeaver mask is like parachute material, but it may have some kind of chemical dressing in it when new. Did you wash it thoroughly in a gentle soap like Dr. Bronner's or Ivory unscented dish soap?
I had no issues with mine as far as irritation goes - just still trying to manage leaks at my eyes and mouth.
Cheers,
xena

Howdy, Xena is right about this being treated cloth and washing it is prudent. The thing we have noticed is, being cloth, the SW doesn't hold in humidity like rubber masks do. You may need to up your level on the humidifier to get the same comfort level.
If washing it, and increasing the hum setting doesn't do it, let us know and we'll scratch our noggins a bit more. OH, have you tried any nasal spray? You are sucking in a lot more air now and may be getting more ambient allergens. Good luck.. let us know how it goes. earl

I just washed the mask. I did spray my nose before I went to bed with night with Ayrs and had the humidifier set at three. The mask may not be dry for tonight so I may have to sleep without it. I have a Remstar Pro M machine, but have no way of reading my stats of leaks, etc. I was wearing a QuatroFx for the last six months, but between the mask, my chin strap, bite plate, my TMJ problem has gotten really bad. Saw the doctor this week, and he said my Quatro even with the Padacheek liner was leaking and I was having apneas. Very frustrating. That is why he switched me to this soft Dream Weaver. I felt like cold air was blowing into my nose. That's why I turned up the humidifier. I feel like a cpap failure.

Judy,

I feel like a cpap failure.

You are not a failure until you quit, give up, throw in the towel...
As long as you keep trying you remain a strong & courageous person doing their best with a real life changing situation. Remember this is probably a life long journey for you, and that's alright. You are in good company here as most of us are in the same boat. Read through the topic links below as they will provide some perspective and also give you hope for the future, a future free from the life shortening damages of OSA -
viewtopic/t61785/Especially-for-newly-d ... hange.html and then viewtopic/t14494/Newbie-would-like-to-h ... lease.html.

Good luck to you, keep hanging on as it will get better!

John

You are all so kind with your words of encouragement. This has been a long road for me already. I've been trying to make this Cpap work for at least five years. I've had so many different masks and none has been the right answer. I even spent a fortune on a dental appliance which also killed my TMJ problem. Right now I'm actually getting Botox every 3 months to help this issue. It's helped, but hasn't cured it. Dealing with so many issues including chronic lyme, but that's another story. Didn't wear anything last night. The Dream Weaver was not dry and I couldn't imagine wearing it anyway with my poor nose running. I'm still blowing and sneezing this morning. Using NediMed Nasal Gel spray and hoping that will help. I wish I could figure out the right mask to wear. I don't know why it has to be so difficult. I'm so jealous of the people who are successful with their Cpap treatment.

Judy,

I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

You certainly have a lot on your plate. OSA/Sleep disorders are bad enough on their own without adding other medical issues on top of it. Though I can't imagine the daily struggles that you must deal with, I still feel strongly that some perspective and hope are essential to each day that you wake up and start it all over again. Sometimes you may have to search very hard to find something, anything positive and/or uplifting, but it's still there in the midst of it all! Use even the smallest change to build upon and create a platform for the next search, as it is so easy for all of us to overlook the good things when there is so much going on that is bad (either real or percieved).

Maybe it is because I have had good success so far in my treatment and have been blessed to have avoided almost all of the serious medical problems that can come about from long term untreated OSA, but my heart goes out to all of you who are bravely putting one foot in front of the other, each day, dealing with so much.

Judy, for what it is worth, I will be hoping for success, cheering for you in the background to turn the corner from your current struggles to better times and healthier days! Remember we are never alone and we are also fortunate to be able to come to this sanctuary of knowledge, comfort, and compassion called CPAPtalk...

John

Thanks, John, for all your encouraging words. I appreciate it. Last night I again sprayed my nose, put the humidifier on two, put on my chin strap and then the Dream Weaver mask. Whenever it ramped up to the ten setting,it woke me up. This happened four times. I felt like I had a cold blow torch blowing in my nose. My mouth was very dry. Just couldn't sleep like this. This mask is not going to work for me. I'm going to call my doctor tomorrow. I'm not sure he has a good answer for me. Can't help it. I'm feeling very discouraged about ever getting it right.

Judy, you've probably already thought of this and are waaay ahead of me, but - how are the humidity and air quality in your home, and is the filter in your cpap clean? The respiratory symptoms you're describing are painfully familiar to me (I just had a miserable 9 weeks of them, nonstop), but the sneezing and drainage turned off like there was a switch a few days ago, when I installed a new HEPA furnace filter and set up ultrasonic humidifiers in my bedroom and living room.

The air your cpap delivers to you comes from your home - if there are problems there, even a brand new filter in the cpap might not be enough. Just a thought, because until I decided to try installing the HEPA and to get the humidity up in the house, I was wondering if my cpap was my problem, too. Either way I hope you get to the bottom of it soon!

Hi there,
I'm a new user to cpap. I'm having problems sneezing & nose running. I can't seem to get the mask on more than 2-3 hours. How long does this last and what works? any suggestions would help.

livingstone wrote:Hi there,
I'm a new user to cpap. I'm having problems sneezing & nose running. I can't seem to get the mask on more than 2-3 hours. How long does this last and what works? any suggestions would help.

Livingstone has a thread he has created about his problem. I replied to it there.