There IS such a thing as too much humidity

As a reformed mouth breather working hard on sinus rinsing to be able to use nasal pillows instead of the dreaded full face claustrophobia hell... I have discovered that lowering humidity can actually help keep my nasal passages clear longer.

Having slowly cut humidity level from 6 down to 3.5 on my S9 VPAP with H5i (and with climate line temp at just 65 degrees - so no heating) I am getting 8+ hours total, just one or two breaks and AHIs well below 5. Tonight I am going to try 3.0.

All the advice says raise humidity to clear sinuses - I find some dryness can actually help.

englandsf wrote:As a reformed mouth breather working hard on sinus rinsing to be able to use nasal pillows instead of the dreaded full face claustrophobia hell... I have discovered that lowering humidity can actually help keep my nasal passages clear longer.

Having slowly cut humidity level from 6 down to 3.5 on my S9 VPAP with H5i (and with climate line temp at just 65 degrees - so no heating) I am getting 8+ hours total, just one or two breaks and AHIs well below 5. Tonight I am going to try 3.0.

All the advice says raise humidity to clear sinuses - I find some dryness can actually help.

That's what I learned over nine years ago after only a couple of nights of use.
I turned my HH off (disconnected the power cord) and have used cool "passover" humidification year-round ever since.
I found that warm, humid air can actually close up the nasal passages (swelling) and the cooler air helps shrink the tissue in the nasal passages. Lots of others have found the same thing. It only makes sense.......do you breathe better with your head under a hot shower faucet or outside on a cool Spring or Autumn evening after a light rain? For me, it's the latter.

I live in a pretty dry area (relative humidity) and the air easily picks up humidity from the water vapor in the tank. There's only about so much humidity that warm air can hold and if it cools before it gets to the mask, it turns to liquid ("rainout") and causes problems/obstructions in the hoses. Heated hoses can help, but if a person is susceptible to nasal tissue swelling with increased heat and humidity, it just makes sense to back off on the heat.

Do nasal cleansing before bedtime (so you can breathe) and turn your humidifier setting down or off.


Den

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My experience is similar. After a few months, prompted by mild rain-out condensation, I removed the humidifier and I am much less congested without added moisture. Thus far, summer and winter, I am better served without it.

I am a 'low humidity' person too. I do use my humidifier, but use a setting of '1'. I use the heated hose to avoid rainout, but if I didn't have it, I might not miss it. I also use hose cozies for comfort (not for rainout, just don't like the feel of the uncovered hose). If I'm having a congested night I might go to either '0" or "2-3" depending on the kind of congestion & the level of how I'm having trouble breathing.

My hubby uses around a '3', sometimes '4', depending on his level of congestion.

I do need the humidifier, just not on full blast. I do acknowledge that some folks are just the opposite, so I think each of us has to work to find the 'right' number.

Jen

Wulfman - what's your set up?

WHERE was this thread 2 months ago when I SOOOOOO needed this advice?

I was in another forum pleading with people to tell me HOW to prevent a stuffed nose as I kept taking my mask off in my sleep and I actually had 1 or 2 people tell me to just STOP IT.... Yes, I kid you not.
I even had one keep telling me that i was suffering from fear of the mask.................even aftr I told this person several times that I was not in any way fearful of it.
I was treated like a woman with "issues"
Very much like Doctors I am told have treated woman for years, instead of treating them properly or finding the root problem, have thrown pills at them to keep them "calm" and "unagitated"


Thank you for this thread. Its imperative some people understand that it is a real deterrent to compliance and that its not a psychological issue but that the root cause of why you are becoming stuffed up needs to be found, if possible, rather than throwing meds and solutions at it IF it can be helped without any of those secondary measures!

All the advice says raise humidity to clear sinuses - I find some dryness can actually help.

EXACTLY what I am discovering!!!!!
I too have turned off my humidifier and turned down the climate control.
In fact the air is a teeny weeny bit cold being blown into my nose but so far it seems to prevent me from becoming stuffed up.
Unfortunately if I throw on the AC unit in my bedroom, it seems to work against it so I have to keep that off as well
at least this is pretty much what I am working on now and believe your message to be very valuable...



So if you are turning off the Humidifier and turning down the climate control to 68 or so, do you think its ok to use the Climate controlled hose or do you find its better just using a regular simple plastic one that is not meant to help with the humidity?
Ive been using one and it just occurred to me that I perhaps should not be using it so I am going to change it out for the cheaper one tonight.............

englandsf wrote:Wulfman - what's your set up?

If you're asking about equipment, I use the Legacy model Respironics (REMstar) models Pro 2s and Autos w/C-FLex. I own 10 of them and they were all made between 2005 and 2007. All are fully data-capable.
Standard heated humidifier (with power cord disconnected).
Distilled water.
Mask is the ResMed Ultra Mirage Full Face (UMFF).
Fixed pressure of 12 cm. - no exhale relief (quit using C-Flex a year or two ago).
6' hose.
In the cooler months I route the hose under the covers and next to my body to warm the air.

Annual average AHI for the last few years has run about 0.2 - 0.4.

Hope that answers your questions.

Den

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Thanks Wulfman - sounds like you've git it down. Shelagh, keep on trying your logic. I'm not sure what we get when we run a climate hose at a lower temp than the room. My bedroom is always at 70+ anyway, so I don't have cold air issues

englandsf wrote:Thanks Wulfman - sounds like you've git it down. Shelagh, keep on trying your logic. I'm not sure what we get when we run a climate hose at a lower temp than the room. My bedroom is always at 70+ anyway, so I don't have cold air issues

Been at it for over nine years now.

My bedroom is typically in the 60s.


Den

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Thanks. Both of you. I knew i was on the right track but i hope i don't have to adjust if 4 seasons or I will truly be a nutter by then

I can echo the observation and advice from veteran poster Wulfman Den.

I found my best results from humidifying with no heat (sometimes called )passover mode, or with no humidification at all. (AHI average for the past year = 0.2).

If I inadvertently turn on the heater, my comfort goes down, and my AHI goes up. The mental image of what happens to my sinuses and breathing passages when I over-humidify is that of steaming clams.

Some apnea patients hereabouts report having the opposite result, that needs to be said as well.

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Thanks Wulfman - Cut humidity and turned off heat last night - 8 hours, AHI below 2 and only one pee break - great night. just curious, why so many machines?

Captain Midnight, I always think of "osmosis". If the air is too wet it drives moisture INTO my nasal passages, I want it to take it OUT but only a bit... - did you mean cms on your pressure BTW? - that many inches would be very high I think and beyond most machines (20 cms or about 8 inches)

englandsf wrote:Thanks Wulfman - Cut humidity and turned off heat last night - 8 hours, AHI below 2 and only one pee break - great night. just curious, why so many machines?

Captain Midnight, I always think of "osmosis". If the air is too wet it drives moisture INTO my nasal passages, I want it to take it OUT but only a bit... - did you mean cms on your pressure BTW? - that many inches would be very high I think and beyond most machines (20 cms or about 8 inches)

Glad to hear that worked for you.

Regarding your question.......I fell in love with the "Legacy" models. Between 2005 and the end of 2007 I actually bought three new ones from CPAP(dot)COM (out of pocket) and the others I purchased from individuals (other forum members) and through sellers on the "CPAPAUCTION(dot)COM site which the sponsor of this forum ran for a few years (most of them were also private individuals). Most of the ones I purchased from individuals had less than 10 blower hours on them (so they were essentially new/unused).......and they were much cheaper than the new ones had been which were no longer available. In all, I've invested less than $2600 in those 10 machines and what came with them (a number of them had humidifiers, hoses, card readers, etc.). On top of that, they all have the same "everything" (hardware-wise) and use the same software for the downloads. Along that line, I've used a piece of software (since I started in May of 2005) which was created by a forum member at the same time (he is/was a professor at MIT)......it's called "MyEncore" and does various statistics (long-term or short-term) from the downloaded data in the Encore Pro database. If I were to have upgraded to any later models, it wouldn't have worked.
Anyway, they do what I need them to do (keep me sleeping well), they tell me how I'm doing and I should have enough of them to last me longer than I'm going to live.


Den

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Great strategy

Fixed pressure of 12 cm. - no exhale relief

may I enquire as to why not?