Congestion and Cough

[dustinwillis1983]

I started using the cpap since the beginning of August. I use the resmed 10. I have a heated tube and the tube temp was set at 74. Recently I watched a video that showed the tube temp needs to be higher to get more humidity. My tube temp is now set at 86. I use a nasal pillows mask P10 and it works amazing, I sleep so easily. I have issues with using a full face mask. I sleep soundly and when I wake up to pee, I fall back asleep instantly. My humidity is manual and set at 5 now. Empty distilled water daily.

However, in the middle of August I've developed an intermittent but consistent dry cough. My throat started to hurt and my PCP gave me allergy pills. I also developed narly congestion and mucus. At the beginning of September, my throat was super irritated, swollen and my uvula was enlarged. The urget care doc gave me mythilpredisolone (a steroid) and my cough went away for almost 2 weeks and my throat felt better and my congestion too!

However the throat, congestion and cough came back and then I upped my humidity with tube temp and my throat only feels much more normal. In early October, an ENT scoped me and said everything looks good and referred me to a sleep specialist, but that's not until April. I still have my chronic dry cough (but slightly less chronic), usually cough at least once to three times an hour, sometimes more an hour and sometimes less. Some days less and some days more.

All 3 doctors see evidence of post nasal drip, my lungs sound / look good. I clean my cpap every other week!

My pcp gave me montelukast and I didn't notice any difference so I stopped taking it, and my ENT told me to use a saline spray 3x at night in each nostril before bed, but I have yet to try it.

Is this a permanent issue that I'll have to deal with? Any suggestions?

I used to get horrible headaches, weird pain in my head, and vertigo, and now my head feels amazing! It's better having chest congestion, mucus and cough, over headache and the negative effects of osa over time. I'm a 41 year old male, never smoker!

[Spadin]

I'm no expert but maybe two things :

- Do you have mouth leak ? Could explain the dry throat

- To help with the congestion you can use a saline solution to wash your sinuses, don't know where you are from, but I use a rhino horn (https://www.somamed.com/usa/) two times a day, and holy shit my congestion vanished after this

[robysue1]

My humidity is manual and set at 5 now.

Have you tried upping the humidity past 5?

My nose really prefers the humidity set all the way to the maximum of 8.

You might also want to try a lower hose temperature. Yes, cooler air holds less actual water vapor, but the relative humidity is higher with the same amount of water vapor. Maybe what your nose and throat wants is a higher relative humidity with a lower hose temperature.

[Janknitz]

Am I reading correctly that the congestion and cough came after you UPPED the humidity? Perhaps that's what's irritating things, even if it does seem to feel more comforting. Sometimes there is a "sweet spot" between too little and too much humidity. You might try going down incrementally and see if it helps.