Nasal congestion early morning

[Ptee8899]

Hi, I know there are tons of threads on this in the search, but I still don't know what to do here. I consistently get nasal congestion early in the morning (like anywhere from 4am - 5:30am). I wake up and take off my CPAP, if I'm wearing it that night. 

I'm not sure what to try to change to fix this. I use a breathe right strip every night and spray my nose with flonase, though lately I've been moving to Xlear. I have a air purifier in the room. 

Yea, I could play around with the CPAP humidity settings, but does anyone else have any insight into this problem? I've seen reflux/LPR floated around. How do you know if you have that? There is also the suggestion of putting dust mite covers on everything. I do have a dust mite allergy. 

Hope someone can help. Thanks in advance.

[Deborah K.]

I fight with nasal congestion all the time.  With my pap machine, I find that sleeping on my back helps as gravity allows my sinuses to drain properly while I sleep.  That solves the problem for me.  I know that most advocate side sleeping to avoid positional apnea, but for me side sleeping makes it worse as I tend to sleep with my head tipped forward which causes PA.

[G. Szabo]

I have similar issues. High humidity (with a heated hose ) mitigates my problem. In addition, I found the following three things beneficial as well:

[Product Review] Relaxus Snore Free Air Flow Nasal Vent Insert for nasal congestion

[Product Review] HylaMist nasal spray against nasal congestion

[Equipment] Always use a hypoallergenic filter instead of the standard one.

[Ptee8899]

I fight with nasal congestion all the time.  With my pap machine, I find that sleeping on my back helps as gravity allows my sinuses to drain properly while I sleep.  That solves the problem for me.  I know that most advocate side sleeping to avoid positional apnea, but for me side sleeping makes it worse as I tend to sleep with my head tipped forward which causes PA.

I already mostly sleep on my back. I do have a mattress elevator as well though, that I haven't really seriously tried yet. I don't know if that can help.

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I have similar issues. High humidity (with a heated hose ) mitigates my problem. In addition, I found the following three things beneficial as well:

[Product Review] Relaxus Snore Free Air Flow Nasal Vent Insert for nasal congestion

[Product Review] HylaMist nasal spray against nasal congestion

[Equipment] Always use a hypoallergenic filter instead of the standard one.

Thanks for the feedback, I'll look into these. for HVAC, I thought it wasn't good to use finer filters, since that might mess with the airflow and the intake. Would using a separate air purifier in the room be any different? also do you know if getting duct cleaning does anything? The previous owners of my house had lots of pets so I wonder if there is any pet hair still in the ducts somehow (I am very allergic to cats and dogs)

[G. Szabo]

Thanks for the feedback, I'll look into these. for HVAC, I thought it wasn't good to use finer filters, since that might mess with the airflow and the intake. 

The "experts" also told me that I should not use a high-efficiency HEPA filter for my air circulation heating because it reduces the recirculation rate. But when I thought it over, I realized that my health had a higher priority than the furnace's efficiency. Indeed, a lower air flow rate can increase the temperature at the heat exchanger (HE) and reduce its lifetime. But my lifetime has a higher priority. Therefore, I use the maximum HEPA filter rating available. 

It is definitely worth performing a duct cleaning when pets are in the house. I have done it once already. What you should look out for is the HE of the AC unit installed above the furnace's HE. While the latter is a robust set of tubes, the former has fine aluminum lamelles. The brute tech doing the duct cleaning directed the compressed air on them, which deformed them considerably, reducing the exchange capacity of the AC unit.   

However, once you settle and get rid of the pet hair, there is not too much point in repeating the duct cleaning because the settled dust forms a steady-state layer in the ducts, and what comes in comes out. It is better to use highly rated HEPA filters and replace them more frequently than officially recommended. Increased humidity (if you have a humidifier) also helps the filter to capture the fine dust. 

Having a HEPA filter unit in your room makes little sense unless it is on a maximum filtration rate, which makes it very noisy. Just consider the heating system's injected air rate. All the injected air should go through the room's HEPA unit. How can you arrange that?

[ejbpesca]

I have a continuous struggle with airflow through my nose and severe allergies to airborne particulates.  Fortunately, the CPAP filter usually keeps my nasal congestion to a minimum during therapy. 

Azelastine nasal spray has helped me to some degree along with Flonase.  Azelastine opens my nasal passages, flushes mucus, and desensitizes reducing allergic reactions for 1 to 8 hours.  It is expensive but my insurance covers it.

Starting a few months ago my nasal passages began completely closing at times.  It has been many years since I've experienced this.  I resorted to Oxymetazoline (Afrin) spray to open them for PAP therapy.  It works very well.  I know the bad rap it gets but the benefit outweighs the risk for me

I can go from breathing okay to full-blown symptoms in seconds.