Switch to nasal pillows while congested

This EncorePro chart shows that I breathe better when congested if I use the Breeze instead of the ComfortGel. http://jerrylester.com/posting/Daily%20 ... 1-2006.pdf

Put your cursor on the yellow balloons to see my comments.

I've had nasal congestion and drainage for the last few days and have found that the Breeze will dilate my nasal passaged for better breathing. My theory is that since there is pressure only on the inside of the nose and not on the outside, too, as with nasal masks that cup the nose, that the internal pressure dilates the nasal passages.

Jerry

My congestion was reduced last night, so I used the ComfortGel all night. Look at the results: http://jerrylester.com/posting/Daily%20 ... 1-2006.pdf. AHI and SI were back to normal. Leakage was practically zero.

BTW: The REMstar Pro II knows when DST arrives. Note the one-hour gap.

Jerry

I don't have the software, but I do have narrow nasal passages and find that nasal pillows absolutely keep my nose open, even when I have a cold/allergy/sinus congestion. Much better than a breathe right strip! The benefits of xpap never stop!

.

I use Innomed NasalAire II prongs rather than pillows....great exp .... seasonal allergies and stuffiness just don't happen anymore and w/the heated humidifier neither does winter "dry crusty" nose. T

if you really want to open up when congested, put on the nasal interface, and then open your mouth and do a major mouth leak on purpose or a couple of minutes.

And use that opportunity to practice turning that air flow off and on with mouth open by just using your tongue, either the front or back of the tongue. Its a very good exercise for reducing mouth leaks.

Plus it WILL clear out your nose.

snork1 wrote:if you really want to open up when congested, put on the nasal interface, and then open your mouth and do a major mouth leak on purpose or a couple of minutes.

Plus it WILL clear out your nose.

I eat a Chinese garlic/shrimp dish and do this at home every six months. It saves the cost of an exterminator.

PLEASE share your recipe? Must be cheaper and better than prescription meds!

rooster wrote:

snork1 wrote:if you really want to open up when congested, put on the nasal interface, and then open your mouth and do a major mouth leak on purpose or a couple of minutes.

Plus it WILL clear out your nose.

I eat a Chinese garlic/shrimp dish and do this at home every six months. It saves the cost of an exterminator.

naaaawwwww, even better is a good spoonful of wasabi and then do the fire breathing trick. Clears sinuses and you can burn the bugs out of their hiding places..........

snork1 wrote:naaaawwwww, even better is a good spoonful of wasabi and then do the fire breathing trick.

I find good hot mustard even better than wasabi for cleaning the sinuses. Man, is it quick! I suppose the ultimate would be a wasabi and hot mustard combination.

FWIW, picante sauce doesn't come close to having the punch of hot mustard. (And don't tell me I can't get good picante sauce up here, either. I'm a native Texan, for crying out loud.)

Regards,
Bill

NightHawkeye wrote:

snork1 wrote:naaaawwwww, even better is a good spoonful of wasabi and then do the fire breathing trick.

I find good hot mustard even better than wasabi for cleaning the sinuses. Man, is it quick! I suppose the ultimate would be a wasabi and hot mustard combination.

FWIW, picante sauce doesn't come close to having the punch of hot mustard. (And don't tell me I can't get good picante sauce up here, either. I'm a native Texan, for crying out loud.)

Regards,
Bill

Bill,

I'm guessing that you shouldn't try this upon waking in the middle of the night? Seems it might take a while for the shock to wear off.

Jerry

Jerry69 wrote:I'm guessing that you shouldn't try this upon waking in the middle of the night? Seems it might take a while for the shock to wear off.

ROTFL. Hadn't even thought about that, Jerry. The only time I eat hot mustard is when I go to a Chinese restaurant. For something a little less potent, Korean restaurants have hot Kimchee, which doesn't have quite the kick of hot mustard, but still gets the job done.

Regards,
Bill

Jerry,

I noticed your chart shows you are running on CPAP. I enjoyed the series you shared this last winter about titrating yourself with APAP and the software. I have done that myself, but I now have a narrower band of pressures I use nightly, running APAP.

My question is....Do you get better therapy running at your ideal pressure at CPAP than you do running a narrow band of pressures at APAP?

HP wrote:Jerry,

I noticed your chart shows you are running on CPAP. I enjoyed the series you shared this last winter about titrating yourself with APAP and the software. I have done that myself, but I now have a narrower band of pressures I use nightly, running APAP.

My question is....Do you get better therapy running at your ideal pressure at CPAP than you do running a narrow band of pressures at APAP?

HP,

Mine is a CPAP, only, machine. In my topic, "Doing My Own Sleep Study - Surprising Results": viewtopic.php?t=6234&highlight=, I just varied the CPAP pressures to arrive at the optimum pressure for me, which was 9 cm. I left the pressure at 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, each, for a few nights, and then used MyEncore to see the trend of pressure vs. AHI. I was titrated at 6 and am using 9 cm, now, as 9 gave me the lowest AHI, even slightly lower than 10 cm. I am consistently under 1.0 AHI, with a few nights at 0 AHI. I am very fortunate that my condition is not severe.

There were a lot of posts on my topic about APAP and how the machines work and how effective they were, so maybe that's how you got the idea that I had an APAP.

I don't know whether a narrow band of APAP is better than CPAP, but it seems to me that if you can tolerate the highest pressure in your APAP band at a constant pressure, why not? The constant pressure would seem to prevent all SDB events that might occur with APAP operating at a lower pressures? Perhaps you could do a study and give us the results?

Jerry