Loosing oxygen at night due to stuffy nose?

[Harry]

I thinking have finally figured out why cpapis not working well for me. I bought ine if the little finger meters to show blood oxygen level. Of ourselves it only works if your wearing it. I keep it right on the night stand now. I had my usual wake me up episode and immediate snapped it on to my finger. Piles was up and oxygen was at 82 seconds after I woke. I have had a suspicion for over a year this was happening.
Today when visiting my sleep doc we discussed the reason this ohld happen. One is a stuffy nose and she says I have a deviated septum, to make matters worse. I'm really worried that the drops in oxygen are harming my health. Another sleep study and evil as well as a trip to ear nose and throat guy in the works but will take time. I am tired and concerned about waiting. What should I do that I haven't lready.
Has anyone else had this experience. What did you do?
Could really use some input.

Thanks
Harry

[Harry]

Few typos in there. One of the little finger meters

Of course it only works


Wake up episode

Reason this would happen

And a trip to the ear nose and throat

Haven't already

Try fitting those into the problem areas

[zonk]

Has anyone else had this experience. What did you do?
Could really use some input.

Thanks
Harry

For me too much humidity make nasal congestion worse but everyone is different
Sinus rinse (neilmed squeeze bottle) saline nasal washes twice a day does help.
I would try a nasal mask first see if it can get any better before trying full face mask
Few weeks ago had septoplasty surgery and would suggest try other options first before seeing the ENT specialist

[Harry]

What is septoplasty?

Should I try Cpap without the humidifier. I'm convinced it's congestion.

Harry

[PaulaO2]

Try turning the humidity down a tad. Like if you have it at 80, move it to 70. Do this for at least 5 nights. If that doesn't work, turn it off for 5 nights. Too much humidity can cause stuffiness. Too little can cause it too. Depends on where you live, existing humidity, etc.

Which S9 do you have? If it does not have Escape in the name, it is data capable. Meaning it puts the data on a memory card. You can use ResScan and/or SleepyHead to view it.

Is your oximeter capable of storing data for the entire night and viewing it the next day?

[Harry]

I am data capable with the machine but I'm not terribly Good at the software
My docs printouts from the chips say everything is ok. But she suspects stuffy nose,or central apnea.
Last night at your suggestion I took the humidifier off and then took a Benadryl a suggestion made by doc. Went back to sleep and strangely awoke 4 hours later , having slept better, but the mask was off by morning. I don't know when.
I know super sleeper mentioned he does not use the humidifier at all. I think my issue is congestion.
Do you think it's possible thats all there
is to it. I'm going to experiment with the humidity and antihistamine
Figuring if I sleep better that way it's probably congestion
I'll also try the nasal rinses
Do you just use warm shower water with those. I had heard tap water was not sanity for that but I travel for my job and warming other water up on the road is harder than you think
All input is encouraged as I believe you have already helped me gain an insight
Into this. I'll have my sleep study a week from Friday but won't talk to doc about it until 2 weeks after that. I'm just not sure what I'll do for the test, no humidifier,with Benadryl etc?

[mjbearit]

warming other water up on the road is harder than you think

Actually warming other water up is not that difficult. Get a zip lock bag, pour enough water in it to perform the nasal rinse, seal it, toss it in the sink and turn on the hot water tap for 5-10 minutes. Go in from time to time and move it around. Eventually the water in the bag will reach a comfortable temp.
And especially while traveling I would not use tap water! You have no idea how clean the water in different municipalities might be, JMHO!
Mike

[Harry]

Thanks for the tip on the water. I'll do that

Does anybody know the easiest to use oximetry machIne.

I'm going to have a test tonight but I want to track my oxygen long term.

I hear there are two popular machines but on one the software is easier to use.

Please advise

[w7sot]

I had a similar issue - with the whole nose thing when I first started CPAP, I was still in my compliance time, so I could not afford not to wear it until the nose got better, so I just went to a full face mask - basically to bypass the whole stuffy nose thing - and worked great. The one I have just covers your mouth and nose - nothing up on your forhead or anything - so it really is not a lot different than the nasal mask I was using, so if you can't the issue fixed with the humidifier (which made no difference in my case) - then doing the FFM would be worth a shot.

Scott

[SuperSleeper]

What is septoplasty?

Septoplasty - Surgery on the nasal septum (the partition that divides the nasal passage).

source: Apnea Board Wiki