Humidfier conundrum...

[Aludj]

I've been using my ResMed AirSense 10 with nasal pillows. As of late, I've been having some issues with the humidifier/climate control.

When there's water in the humidifier tank, I develop a cough that's coming from the lungs, not from throat. My breathing becomes wheezy, almost like whistling after 3-4 days. Leaving the humidifier tank empty makes the coughing disappear in couple of days and breathing returns to normal. I've tested this couple of times and works like clock work, produces the same results.

When there's no water in the humidifier, I have an itchy nose and sneeze for a half a day or so. Usually by noon it goes away. I've asked my  pulmonologist about it and he stated, that "It's strange". Have you guys/gals ever came across this issue as described above?

My AS10 climate was set to "Auto", that I've changed changed today to "Manual" with hose temperature of "73F" degree and humidity level to "2". Not certain why the temperature had been set to 83F? That's too hot, especially with no water in the tank.

TIA...

[SarcasticDave94]

I don't have an answer about your illness. I can say make sure you're turning off the humidifier if there's no water in it.

[car54]

Aludj, 

Do you have any other lung conditions and does the cough last all day? I have a similar cough but I have asthma and COPD. I think I will try turning the humidifier off just to see what happens. Its worth a try. 

Maybe for the itchy nose you can try a nasal spray.

Ill respond in a few day as to weather I stop coughing without the humidifier.

[Ratchick]

By inhaling moister air, it may cause mucus to loosen in your airway, so you need to cough it up, like inhaling steam to loosen blocked sinuses. The itchy nose might come from the mucous membranes being dried out without the extra humidity.

The only other option is to make sure your filter and water tank are thoroughly cleaned, that you don't have any soaps or whatnot leaving residue etc.

[Aludj]

Thank you all for your suggestions...

I don't have any lung condition, other than aging and being abused during the aging process.

My cleaning process of the CPAP accessories is pretty much standard. Hose, water tank and nose gear and pillows washed and rinsed thoroughly on a weekly basis. The water is changed on a daily basis, after rinsing the tank out. The nose pillow changed every 2-3 days and washed on a weekly basis; yes, I do have 6-8 nose pillows.

The "inhaling moister air, it may cause mucus to loosen in your airway" sounds interesting, albeit, I suspected too much moisture in the lung causing a minor Pulmonary edema. I guess the difference between the two is like potato, potato. In either case, would that be considered "rinsing out the lung"? Probably not and just curious...

The first night's results after switching from "Auto" to "manual climate control seem promising. No coughing and minor sneezing for a short time, but this is just a small sample. I'll keep these settings for couple of days prior to increasing the humidity settings.

[Ratchick]

Pulmonary oedema is something very different. That's where your lungs are filling with fluid being secreted from the cells themselves for whatever reason. Too much water in your airway from external sources is drowning. But the humidifier won't ever really put through enough moisture to do that. It's almost always going to condense out in the tubing or mask if the air reaches 100% capacity. If you DID inhale some water that condensed in your mask, it would no doubt wake you straight away, coughing like crazy, just as if you inhaled any water the wrong way. In fact, your airways NEED to be moist enough in order to efficiently diffuse oxygen into your blood and carbon dioxide out.

As I said, this is probably just like sticking your head over a bowl of hot water to steam your nose clear or getting into a hot shower to help shift crud off your chest. In fact, doctors and vets both use inhaled nebulised saline (saltwater) for exactly that purpose in people with disorders like COPD, chest infections, pneumonia, cystic fibrosis etc to help thin the lung secretions to make them easier to cough up.

[Deborah K.]

You might be able to avoid the itchy nose when not using the humidifier by putting a small amount of Lanishoh (lanolin used for sore nipples) in each nostril before masking up.  I put just a dab on each pinky finger and rubbed it around as far as I can reach up inside.  I don't need it anymore, but it helped me with dryness and soreness when I needed it.

[DaveCar]

What are you using for water in the humidifier ?
Well water might be dicey, perhaps some city water too.
I use distilled.

[Aludj]

Pulmonary oedema is something very different. That's where your lungs are filling with fluid being secreted from the cells themselves for whatever reason. Too much water in your airway from external sources is drowning. But the humidifier won't ever really put through enough moisture to do that. It's almost always going to condense out in the tubing or mask if the air reaches 100% capacity. If you DID inhale some water that condensed in your mask, it would no doubt wake you straight away, coughing like crazy, just as if you inhaled any water the wrong way. In fact, your airways NEED to be moist enough in order to efficiently diffuse oxygen into your blood and carbon dioxide out.

As I said, this is probably just like sticking your head over a bowl of hot water to steam your nose clear or getting into a hot shower to help shift crud off your chest. In fact, doctors and vets both use inhaled nebulised saline (saltwater) for exactly that purpose in people with disorders like COPD, chest infections, pneumonia, cystic fibrosis etc to help thin the lung secretions to make them easier to cough up.

Thank you for your correction and explanation of the difference...

I've been experimenting with the number of suggestions, thank you all, to resolve my issue with the humidifier. Lowering the humidity setting didn't help much, even at setting "1", it did reduced coughing somewhat. Completely shutting off the humidifier did help with coughing, but caused a dry nose and sneezing a lot in the morning.

The solution that had worked for me is to set the temperature to 72°F, shut off the humidifier but leave water in the tank. I may just drop the temperature further down to 68-70°F, since this is the bedroom, where the overnight temperature set to 66°F on the thermostat.

Again, thank you all for your help...

[StevesSp]

This might be fixable by tweaking your humidity settings. I need humidity, otherwise my nasal passages, sinuses and mouth become very dry, sometimes painfully so. However, if I have the humidity too high, I too get a chesty cough, which I am guessing is simply water condensing in my lungs. I find the answer to be finding your 'sweet spot' whereby the dryness is mitigated but without the cough. If you find you have to drop the humidity really low, try lowering the hose temp too. You could alternatively try using Auto mode for w while, but whatever you do, make changes only after a few nights each time, because I find the effects of too little/too much humidity vary day by day, presumably because my mouth breathing varies (I use a FF mask due to chronic sinus issues which prevent me breathing though my nose 80% of the time).

I think I have landed on settings that work for me, though because I run in manual mode, I have to tweak them when the seasons change. I nevertheless still get some dryness, but prefer that to the cough.