Bad Cold Tips?!

[eviltim]

Oh hello cold thread. I have a cold and have been absolutely miserable the last two days with the pressurized air seemingly causing an intensely sore throat (it seems fine throughout the day, only when I wake up in the wee hours of the morning after getting 2-3 hours of sleep I'm hacking, coughing and in no small amount of pain). Today I just gave up after 3.6 hrs and slept without it. Not advisable but for me I turn into a miserable excuse for a man when I've only had a few hours sleep. I guess the lesson here is don't get sick!

[Mark Douglas]

You'll be fine, and yeah...ramp is for pussies, and neti post users should hand in their man card.

I'll give up my man card before I give up my neti pot

+1!

[JVinNE]

Haven't had a cold to contend with yet (knock on wood), but when I get one (inevitable with 3 kiddos) I'll probably just use my aromatherapy and try to clear it that way. As far as Neti-pots 2 deaths in one state in 2011, maybe water quality there should be challenged, but hey I'll take my chances. Something's gotta take me out, and why not an amoeba

Use distilled water only in Neti pots for safety.

[Mark Douglas]

Haven't had a cold to contend with yet (knock on wood), but when I get one (inevitable with 3 kiddos) I'll probably just use my aromatherapy and try to clear it that way. As far as Neti-pots 2 deaths in one state in 2011, maybe water quality there should be challenged, but hey I'll take my chances. Something's gotta take me out, and why not an amoeba

Use distilled water only in Neti pots for safety.

Absolutely correct!
Naegleria fowleri seems to be untreatable if it becomes a brain infection.

[SideSleeper]

I haven't had to deal with a cold yet, but I do have a chronically stuffy nose. I use the Sinus-Rinse, not the neti-pot, faithfully every night, and so far it has kept me breathing. The minute I turn off the CPAP in the morning I stuff up. I raised my humidity to 4 which also helps some with my dry mouth--I have a heated tube. This time around with the Sinus Rinse I read the warnings and I use distilled water, wash out the bottle every morning with my CPAP mask and tubes, and disinfect it in the microwave for 1 minute. I wish I had stock in a distilled water company--with two CPAPS and the Rinse we make a gallon jug disappear quickly.

[Possum]

A horrible cold has struck my house.
My teens brought it home and it has infected everyone.

Cough, congestion, aches, sneezing, drainage....blah!

I have had to go through quite a ritual to clean out my
sinuses before attempting cpap at night. Last night,
I hacked (I know, I know, but it makes me feel special to say hacked...humor me) into my ResMed S9 AutoSet and jacked it up from 9 to 13.
I don't have any ramp set (ramping is for pussies!).
I turned it on and BAM, I could finally breath with it.
I fell asleep and woke up with a lot less congestion.
I am going to repeat this tonight and see if I can get similar results.

I am also taking Mucus Relief DM and Nyquil.

I am trying my best to use cpap even through this horrible cold.

Any advice are much appreciated.

I know some of you are going to suggest the Neti pot thingy,
I prefer not to have my brains eaten out by amoebas,

I realize this is an old post, but thought I'd put in my two cents. I do not recommend changing pressure, as I believe that can put added stress on your sinus membranes that are already inflamed from the cold, and/or force virus / bacteria deeper into your sinuses or, worse, into your ears. Instead, what I do is increase the humidity as well as maxing out the temperature of the heated hose (if you have one). The extra heat and humidity seem to keep my sinuses open whenever I have a cold.

If rainout occurs, I just deal with it and empty out the hose in the middle of the night. Once the cold is over, I resume my usual humidity and heat temperature. Also, as obvious as it sounds, be sure to wash the hell out of your mask and hoses.

[49er]

A horrible cold has struck my house.
My teens brought it home and it has infected everyone.

Cough, congestion, aches, sneezing, drainage....blah!

I have had to go through quite a ritual to clean out my
sinuses before attempting cpap at night. Last night,
I hacked (I know, I know, but it makes me feel special to say hacked...humor me) into my ResMed S9 AutoSet and jacked it up from 9 to 13.
I don't have any ramp set (ramping is for pussies!).
I turned it on and BAM, I could finally breath with it.
I fell asleep and woke up with a lot less congestion.
I am going to repeat this tonight and see if I can get similar results.

I am also taking Mucus Relief DM and Nyquil.

I am trying my best to use cpap even through this horrible cold.

Any advice are much appreciated.

I know some of you are going to suggest the Neti pot thingy,
I prefer not to have my brains eaten out by amoebas,

I realize this is an old post, but thought I'd put in my two cents. I do not recommend changing pressure, as I believe that can put added stress on your sinus membranes that are already inflamed from the cold, and/or force virus / bacteria deeper into your sinuses or, worse, into your ears. Instead, what I do is increase the humidity as well as maxing out the temperature of the heated hose (if you have one). The extra heat and humidity seem to keep my sinuses open whenever I have a cold.

If rainout occurs, I just deal with it and empty out the hose in the middle of the night. Once the cold is over, I resume my usual humidity and heat temperature. Also, as obvious as it sounds, be sure to wash the hell out of your mask and hoses.

Possum, as an FYI, a relative's sleep doctor recommended changing pressures when someone had a cold. He advised patients to experiment by upping and lowering the pressures to see what was comfortable.

I don't totally disagree with you as for some people, changing pressures might not be useful. However, when I have woken up in the morning with sinuses that are so congested I can barely breath, the only thing that helps is to slightly up the pressure. If I don't, I will get apnea clusters as demonstrated on my past data. And adjusting the humidity doesn't help.

49er

[Mosquitobait]

I know some of you are going to suggest the Neti pot thingy,
I prefer not to have my brains eaten out by amoebas,

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/12/...er-warning

The neti pot amoeba thing was the result of someone using untreated water from a well. You can certainly boil the water, cool it and use it that way if that is your concern.

As far me, haven't yet had a cold with my device yet. Most of the studies I've seen on the net about pneumonia and cpap recommend keeping your tubes and masks scrupulously clean during the cold and flu season. So, I guess I should step up my game on that.

[SuperSleeper]

FYI, NetiPot demonstration video:

http://www.apneaboard.com/Neti_pot.htm