CPAP Night 2 Notes

[aelfie]

Used the full face mask again. I only had .5-1 nostril fully functioning.

I slept fine from 11:30(?) to 5 this morning. That was the first time I had to wake up to blow my nose. Then I was up and down from 5 until I got up at 8. It wasn't the nose blowing that was causing a problem. The problem was that the machine kept ramping up the pressure. So I'd fall asleep, 20 minutes later the pressure increased to the point that the mask was literally blowing off my face and breaking seal. I'd have to blow my nose again, reposition, and tighten down the straps. Wash, rinse, repeat for 3 hours. At 8 my back hurt too much to sleep anymore.

So how do I feel? Tired. When I woke up at 5, I felt pretty good. But the three hours of constant adjustment wasn't very restful. My jaw hurts because I had to pull the straps so tight. And I have a headache due to the mask pressing into my face.

I think my sinuses are rebelling at being forced to function. I've had a constant runny nose since I woke up yesterday, that only cleared up after swimming for about 45 minutes. How is the CPAP supposed to get a true reading when its working against clogged sinuses?

Oy.

Comments

[allanh.livejournal.com]

Once or twice a week, I still have to use a sinus spray containing Oxymetazoline Hydrochloride (a/k/a "Zicam", although I use the generic Rite Aid version) to clear my sinuses enough to sleep.

As I said previously, After a week, I turned off the ramp function on my CPAP. The increase in pressure kept waking me up. When I started out with full pressure, I could adjust the mask properly, and more often than not, enough of my sinuses opened up for me to fall asleep.

OTOH, I've been called a total freak for turning off the ramp function. Hey, it works for me ...

[rfrench.livejournal.com]

I agree. I can't use the CPAP with clogged sinuses. I usually take a Claritin-equivalent if I'm having trouble. When I'm actually sick I use Oxymetazoline HCl as well. Or more often I just don't use the CPAP and suffer through it.

Only Zicam "intense sinus" has a real drug in it. The other versions are just homeopathic gels. Afrin is the more common version of Oxymet.

I don't use the ramp function, but then I only have a pressure of around 6.0. The ramp wouldn't do much for me.

[aelfie.livejournal.com]

I loved Claritin-D. That was a great drug. I was really annoyed when I developed a tolerance for it and it quit working.

As stated above I take sudafed and zyrtec everyday just to survive. I need to find out if I can add more drugs.

As long as I have one nostril working the CPAP seems to be working well. It will be interesting if I can ever get both clear at the same time.

[aelfie.livejournal.com]

I'll have to check with my Doctor if I can take that on top of all the other allergy drugs I take. I use a 24 hour version of sudafed and zyrtec, every day. Its the only way I can survive the allergy season.

Maybe I should switch to a nasal steroid for allergies...but I'm not sure that will help the clogged sinuses when I lay down problem.