dried blood in nose each morning

This is a new one on me. Just passed the 1 month mark in using my machine, and the last few days I've gotten up in the morning with my nose feeling somewhat dry, and that sort of crusty feeling you can get when a cold is ending. I have the humidifier on, I use a bit of the ayr gel at night, my numbers are looking good - mask leak is less than 1 percent, and my puff index is only a few times per hour - less than the 2 previous weeks. My mouth doesn't feel dry. The first morning I did a sinus rinse, and washed out some blood scabs, and the same the next couple times I blew my nose (the rinse always gets my nose dripping). That night I increased my humidity heating a step up - Ive had it on the same setting since day 3, and did the rinse before I went to bed. Same thing the next 2 days. I tried one more step up in the humidity heating last night. Same thing this morning - more dried blood scabs, and a little bit of fresh blood when I blew my nose after the rinse - but no real nose bleeding. I slept really poorly last couple nights because the air stream was so warm. And its been humid and raining often here this last week - so needing more humidity didn't make sense from an environmental standpoint. I clean everything once per week, and did an extra cleaning after the second night of this. DI water only in the humidifier. Could it be too much humidity that somehow causes this? I'm open to any ideas or thoughts at this point - I"m not looking forward to that hot hair blowing up my nose all night tonight!

I sometimes get the same results. I believe it happens when I get my pillows too tight, and they rub the inside of my nose. I make sure they are a little looser on the following night. Earl

Try measuring how much water you are using at night. Use a measuring cup to measure the water when you add it to the water chamber, then in the morning dump the water from the water chamber into the measuring cup to see how much was used. You can get a good idea that way if the humidifier is working properly.

That's the first thing I checked - I use about 1/2 the water in a night. And I pulled it out after a few hours, and its definitely warm. I tried turning the humidity down last night to 1 step below what was my "usual", same result. After over a month with this mask, I can't see that being the problem itself. The pillows aren't real tight - certainly no where near the first week, when I was suffering the "piggy nose". I don't see any blood on the pillows themselves - so its not like a bad bleed. My only hypothesis right now is the first night this occurred was just happenstance, and now the air rushing in through my nose each night is just irritating the "wound" enough to cause minor bleeding? (My Ipap is 13). Really need to figure this one out... or else go see the doc or buy a hybrid or face mask, so I can breath through my mouth instead... at least long enough to see if that clears this up. Anyone else have ideas, please?

IndyDave wrote:... is just irritating the "wound" enough to cause minor bleeding? Anyone else have ideas, please?

To promote healing, I have applied Lansinoh® HPA® Lanolin on a Q-tip to lightly coat the inside of my nose. Earl

Perhaps you have the mask a bit too tight OR even though your numbers look good the pillows might be the wrong size.

Poppi2 - thanks, I'll pick some up this afternoon. Do you apply once per day or more often?

Pap4life - The thing is, I haven't adjusted my straps for awhile before this started happening. I'm using the medium pillow... it doesn't go too far in my nose. The large is definetely too large, the small is too small. The DME recommended the medium after having me try each in the office, and then the first week I was continually swapping around the different sizes each night trying to find the most comfortable and best fitting, and finally concluded the medium was the best. The only issue I have is it seems like my nostrils are closer together than the natural width of the medium - my straps are loose enough that as I shift around at night, I'll start getting a small side leak from the outer edge of one nostril or another, and I have to flex the pillow to get the offending pillow reseated. I actually did try the small pillow for an hour last night, while I was reading... and just didn't feel right at all, like somehow airflow was being restricted. Maybe I should go see my doc, and have him take a look and see if there's a polyp or something that's been irritated...?

IndyDave wrote:Poppi2 - thanks, I'll pick some up this afternoon. Do you apply once per day or more often?

I just apply once per day, usually early in the day. Maybe twice a day if I have a bad case.

Good luck, the treatment for for OA isn't easy for some of us. Earl

IndyDave wrote:Poppi2 - thanks, I'll pick some up this afternoon. Do you apply once per day or more often?

Pap4life - The thing is, I haven't adjusted my straps for awhile before this started happening. I'm using the medium pillow... it doesn't go too far in my nose. The large is definetely too large, the small is too small. The DME recommended the medium after having me try each in the office, and then the first week I was continually swapping around the different sizes each night trying to find the most comfortable and best fitting, and finally concluded the medium was the best. The only issue I have is it seems like my nostrils are closer together than the natural width of the medium - my straps are loose enough that as I shift around at night, I'll start getting a small side leak from the outer edge of one nostril or another, and I have to flex the pillow to get the offending pillow reseated. I actually did try the small pillow for an hour last night, while I was reading... and just didn't feel right at all, like somehow airflow was being restricted. Maybe I should go see my doc, and have him take a look and see if there's a polyp or something that's been irritated...?

Yes, I think it's time to visit your doc so you can get this problem done and over with.

Suz

I just got back from buying some lanolin cream, so I'll try that until early in the week, then give my doc a call if things haven't improved. We should make our own blend of this stuff specifically for cpap users, in smaller tubes, and give it a more pleasant scent! If I do go the route of having to change masks because its too much air blowing through my nose, even for the short term, do you folks think I can get away with the innomed hybrid, or should I go full face - though I have no clue which one to try? I have to buy out of pocket.

IndyDave wrote:I just got back from buying some lanolin cream, so I'll try that until early in the week, then give my doc a call if things haven't improved. We should make our own blend of this stuff specifically for cpap users, in smaller tubes, and give it a more pleasant scent! If I do go the route of having to change masks because its too much air blowing through my nose, even for the short term, do you folks think I can get away with the innomed hybrid, or should I go full face - though I have no clue which one to try? I have to buy out of pocket.

The hybrid is the same as nasal pillows only it has a mouth cover- still shooting air up the nose. You will probably need to go to a regular FFM at least until things heal up.

The first week I had nasty sinus pain. I expect stuff was clearing out and after a few months I felt like my sinus were clear for the first time in years.

If things get worse or fail to get better soon, talk to a doctor.

I'm thinking that my last guess as to a membrane injury that wasn't allowed to heal due to the air flow might have been right. I liberally coated my nostrils with lanonlin last night, and this morning things were much better. No blood - at least until I went out to get the paper and had a strong "sunshine" sneeze, and then felt a bit runny in one nostril, and wipe away a small smear of blood. I'll guess the sneeze dislodged some scab material, which is what the bipap was doing each night, and probably also blowing the small amount of blood into my airway.

So I'll keep this up for now and see if things stay the same, rather than rush to make an appointment with my MD. Of course, I'll have him check things out on my next regular visit, which is in 3-4 weeks, even if it stays improved.

Thanks everyone for your help and advice!

IndyDave wrote:I'm thinking that my last guess as to a membrane injury that wasn't allowed to heal due to the air flow might have been right. I liberally coated my nostrils with lanonlin last night, and this morning things were much better. No blood - at least until I went out to get the paper and had a strong "sunshine" sneeze, and then felt a bit runny in one nostril, and wipe away a small smear of blood. I'll guess the sneeze dislodged some scab material, which is what the bipap was doing each night, and probably also blowing the small amount of blood into my airway.

So I'll keep this up for now and see if things stay the same, rather than rush to make an appointment with my MD. Of course, I'll have him check things out on my next regular visit, which is in 3-4 weeks, even if it stays improved.

Thanks everyone for your help and advice!

An ENT would be able to cauterize it. Others have reported this done.