Nasal Congestion

1. Nasal rinses
2. Proper humidification + the heated hose
3. A fine particle filter

Those three made the problem practically go away for me.

O.

I have the same problems as most replies in this thread. I've been "hooked" on Afrin (or generics) for many months now, and and have been dealing with the rebound effect simply by using more spray. I've tried the heated humidifier a few times, but the thickness of the air combined with the temp and general humidity of it just kills me. The first time I used the humidifier, I woke up with chest congestion, even though there is no condensation or rainout in my mask (Resp ComfortGel) or in the hose.

After almost eight months of not using the humidifier and worsening sinus congestion/nasal swelling issues, and after reading about it helping a lot of people here, I tried it again on the medium heat setting. This time, not only did I get the chest congestion, but my sinus symptoms got about 10x worse!

I'm still at a loss, and now it's getting to a point where I'm having to wake up after five or six hours to fire in some more spray to clear out my nose. I think after the humidifier experiment, I picked up a full-blown sinus infection with a side order of head cold.

Any suggestions? I'm thinking about trying the sinus wash thing, but I'm thinking, if I can't even get air up there, how will water even manage?

One question I did have, without getting into the whole flamewar thing: In place of the water in the reservoir, I thought about placing a small capful of mentholatum in the bottom, without the heat of course - technically, the airflow would pick up the menthol without transmitting any of the actual petroleum. Can anyone think of any reasons why this would be bad, health-wise?

Ive tryed the sinus rinses and they do not work. It is very frusterating, I know. yesturday my dr decided to put me on a series of new medications. Nesanex, clarinex, & singliar. Going to try this today hopefully it will work

hecate wrote:

Denis wrote:I have been struggling with the closing nostril dilemma since I started CPAP 6 months ago. I'm a side sleeper and the down side nostril always shuts completely. Worse yet, after a 2-3 hours the other nostril is about half shut, making a nasal mask useless. I tried going from a nasal mask to a full face mask, but it didn't work out. Last night I just discovered if I lay on my back, the nostrils both stay open!!!! I have never slept on my back and I will need to teach/force myself to do it, but I think I have found the solution.

Same here, but unfortunately on my back I have more events my pressure goes up and I get leaks out my mouth. Chinstraps don't work for me. I'm loathed as a congested person to tape my mouth up. I would love to try the F&P oracle, but I've not heard good things about it to spend my own money on. My main concern is my oxygen level going down when i have sever problems so I'm going to try getting another prescription of a oximetery test.

Hecate, dsm, Lee Lee and others (too long to name everyone).
Why don't you try the new Hybrid mask? If the nose is congested, you can breathe through the mouth. the Hybrid has nasal pillows, so they do help clear up nasal congestion.

I suffer with this problem too. Since using the Hybrid was the last 2 weeks, I don't get congested that often (I think it is because of the nasal pillows directly blowing air into by nares). When I do get congested occassionally, the Hybrid allows me to breathe with my mouth.

This had been a big problem for me up until a few weeks ago. I was having to use decongestant sprays almost every night. My doctor said that there is an ingredient in those sprays that causes the rebound. It causes damage to the cilia inthe nose and is generally permanent. That scared me! But, I use saline spray all the time, Flonase makes my nose bleed, and decongestants just don't do the trick. So, pc_5150, it's really important to get off of the spray ASAP.

My ENT prescribed a Grossan Nasal Irrigator. You can buy the whole get up or just the tip that goes on a water pic if you have one. It took a day or two to get used to, but I'm now on the bandwagon of this thing. It fully flushes out your sinuses. My post-nasal drip has decreased dramatically, and with the combination of Rhinocort and decongestant, my AHIs are under 1 as long as I irrigate before I go to bed.

So, I highly recommend irrigation as a primary treatment for the congestion. Here's more info
http://www-surgery.ucsd.edu/ent/Davidso ... IRRIGATION

Thanks for the replies. About a month or so after that last post, it was to the point that the sprays were only really lasting for a few hours, and taking longer and longer to become effective. So I went to my general doctor, and had him give me some prednisone (steroid) for the swelling, an antibiotic for any possible infection I had, and he offered me a variety of steroid nasal spray trials.

Literally, two days later, I had no nasal/sinus swelling to think of. I finished off the scripts and after just a week, I was able to sleep (using the humidifier on 3) all night without even an issue in either side of my nose. After a month or so, I decided to go with the NasaCort AQ spray and I use it every day at least once. I occasionally have stuffiness problems, but the usual OTC allergy meds take care of those, and even that's not very often.

I approach the OTC nasal sprays now like a reformed alcoholic approaches a drink. Never. I don't have any in my house now. You'd think there would be some sort of regulation on that stuff. They say they're not "addictive" per se, but I know my body had to detox off of them violently for a day or two, and that was only with a moderately high-powered steroid that had side-effects on its own.

It's great to breathe free though, and to go somewhere without having to wonder if I have my spray with me. Now if I could just do something about my iPod!

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