Hi,

I am new to this forum and this is my first post, so I apologize for its length. I was diagnosed with severe OSA in February and have been on CPAP since then. I had a deviated septum which I just had surgery on.
One of my biggest problems is breathing through my nose at night. I seem to breathe fine during the day, but once bedtime falls, my nose seems stuffy even though there isn't much congestion. This happens every night and once I'm up in the morning, within a half hour I'm breathing fine again. I still have to wait until I'm fully healed from surgery, but it was this way before and after surgery.
The only way for me to breathe through the nose at night is to use Afrin spray which I want to avoid.
Has anyone else had these symptoms? Any suggestions on what to do?
I appreciate any information.
Thanks.

BobbyV wrote:

Hi,

I am new to this forum and this is my first post, so I apologize for its length. I was diagnosed with severe OSA in February and have been on CPAP since then. I had a deviated septum which I just had surgery on.
One of my biggest problems is breathing through my nose at night. I seem to breathe fine during the day, but once bedtime falls, my nose seems stuffy even though there isn't much congestion. This happens every night and once I'm up in the morning, within a half hour I'm breathing fine again. I still have to wait until I'm fully healed from surgery, but it was this way before and after surgery.
The only way for me to breathe through the nose at night is to use Afrin spray which I want to avoid.
Has anyone else had these symptoms? Any suggestions on what to do?
I appreciate any information.
Thanks.

Hi,

I don't have that problem, sorry.  
But I do have a few  questions.  Do you have a heated humidifier?  I'm assuming you do, because most people get one.
But if you don't have one, you might get one and see if that helps.
Do you use the nose-only mask?  Have you tried the full face mask?  


Linda

Hi Bobby

      I suffer from the very same thing as you, a stuffy nose, only mine is most of the time. It is worse when you lay down because the "turbinates" in your nose swell up, closing off your nasal passage to the point of not being able to breathe thru them. The Afrin, or any OTC spray has the same chemical in it where it will reduce the swelling, of which I am also using so I can go to bed at night. One applicatin usually will get me thru the night, but it is addicting.

      I am also seeing an ear, nose ,and throat doctor for my issue now, and presently being treated for a nasal infection, by getting my right sinus cavity flushed out.(what an experience that is!)

       All this being said, I've been looking at options myself. I will say that I have reduced the temp of the humidifier on the machine and the cooler air seems to help a bit, as Linda has mentioned.

       The turbinates in your nose help to produce moist warm air when you breathe, and sometimes the humidifier can help. But in my case, my turbinates are oversized, and virtually block completely off when I lay down. There is surgery you can have done to reduce the size, but I have been told it is not foolproof, and may not work for some. Maybe you have bad allergies adding to the issue...

       Do a Google search on nasal turbinates and it will explain it better than I can. You may also find some possible solutions to your problem from other sites. I'm trying to avoid the surgery if I can, surgery being the last resort. I'm surprised they didn't do yours when you had your septum fixed.

 Good luck

Hi,

Thanks for the info. I do use a heated humidifier and had turbinate reduction done with the septoplasty on December 8. It should be completely healed in another month or so. Hopefully things will be better then.
I'm just trying to figure out why it happens only at night. It's like someone turns on a switch and my nose gets stuffed.

I have/had the same problem.

In my case, my Dr. has given me 2 different allergy medicines (flonase, clarinex) plus a decongestant he says take a night with a full glass of water before going to bed.

This seems to have solved it for me.

I also noticed that the problem seemed to go completely away when i let my sister "borrow" my cat for a month.