CPAP and chest congestion

Favabean · Post by **Favabean** » Mon May 26, 2008 6:12 am

All - hopefully someone can help me out. For the last month I have had horrible chest congestion and a nasty cough on and off. It appears to be worse at night and first thing in the morning (which tracks pretty well with my CPAP usage). Does anyone know of CPAP causing or aggravating such a condition?

It's unusual for me to have a cough and congestion that lasts this long. It's been long enough that I'm considering taking a break from CPAP to see if it goes away.

Can anyone help?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon May 26, 2008 6:22 am

chest congestion and a cough can be a syptom of heart failure. Have you discused it with your doctor? Untreated apnea puts a stress on the heart.

roster · Post by **roster** » Mon May 26, 2008 6:30 am

Favabean wrote:.........It appears to be worse at night and first thing in the morning (which tracks pretty well with my CPAP usage). ...

That also tracks pretty well with being in a horizontal position.

If you have had bad chest congestion for a month, you need to get to a doctor right away.

Chest congestion and coughing are not side effects of appropriate cpap usage.

To the contrary, I used to get two to three bad colds each year. In the 2.5 years I have been using cpap -> not a single cold! And I am not suggesting you have a cold, but possibly something much more dangerous.

ful medames

Favabean · Post by **Favabean** » Mon May 26, 2008 6:37 am

I was figuring a doctor visit was probably in order.

I don't think it's heart failure, I'm 32 years old and I am relatively active (training for a 5k actually).

It could be pneumonia, I guess or maybe bronchitis, but it's odd how it fades during the day.

Favabean · Post by **Favabean** » Mon May 26, 2008 6:39 am

I just read the WebMD of both pneumonia and bronchitis. I'd bet a $1 I have bronchitis.

bap40 · Post by **bap40** » Mon May 26, 2008 7:35 am

"Walking Pneumonia" can present just like your symptons. I would hit the doc's office as soon as you can and get a chest x-ray!

gasparama · Post by **gasparama** » Mon May 26, 2008 8:07 am

Sinus infections and bronchitis pretty much ran my life for the first several months of CPAP therapy. The DME told me to turn up the heat on the heater: major mistake for me. Now, I'm using passover and am no longer on antibiotics. I mention the humidity because it sometimes aggravates respiratory problems.

You very well could have bronchitis and need antibiotics, maybe even Advair if it is a bad case. I'd see the doctor about this and then experiment with the temperature of your humidity if coughing continues to be a problem.