CPAP and Night cough Attacks

Hello

For the past 2 weeks I have been battling a cold / flu and been having a nightly cough attack about 2 hours into wearing my mask. It seems the air is triggering this after about 2 hours and I end up coughing so much that I do not wear the mask for the rest of the night. I have tried scented eucalyptus tabs in the air intake to get my airways open, but this did not help. Any thoughts on handle CPAP with cold. Would like to get back to wear the mask all night

I have Auto Resmed S9, I use a 2 types of full face mask.

Richard

I just got over a very long horrible cough, so I can totally sympathize! I found that turning my humidifier up really helped. Without the humidifier up, the air just dried my throat too much and I'd start coughing. In addition, my MD suggested Cepacol lozenges which really helped to numb up my throat to help me get to sleep. I also sort of propped myself up a bit on some pillows so my head was held a little higher than normal, which seemed to help.

Good luck and I hope you feel better soon!

Ditto the humidifier. I'm having a horrible time with asthmatic bronchicitis and this time the pulmonologist said it was "almost" pnuemonia (whatever that means). I've had two rounds of antibiotics and steroids and I'm on three different inhalers. During the day it sounds like I'm coughing up a lung.

At night I'm sleeping peacefully with almost no coughing thanks to my CPAP machine. I switched to a FF mask and had the humidity cranked up all the way. I was very comfortable and slept well. Before CPAP I had to sleep in a recliner when I had bronchitis and almost never got any rest. I LOVE my CPAP machine right now--to be able to rest during this is the only reason I think I'm still alive!

I'm slowly backing the humidifier down again now that I'm on the recovery side of things. It is so nice to sleep!

Richard, although quite controversial, I have been adding a small amount (0.2 grams per liter) of salt to the water used in the humidifier. When I was recovering from my brief attack of the flu, I found it seemed to not only relieve congestion, but actually soothed my scratchy throat.

The results may be therapeutic, or may be due to placebo, but they are most refreshing.

Caution: The xPAP humidifier is not designed to deliver anything but humid air. Adding a very small amount of salt to the water is not recommended by the manufacturer.

Caution: If you happen to spill the humidifier water into your machine, water that has a small amount of salt added to it may do a little more damage than straight distilled water. However, it is best if no water is spilled into the machine.

Caution: This practice is experimental at best. I continue to search for adverse effects of breathing very small concentrations of salt ions, and to date I have not been able to find any adverse effects or any adverse effects with any medications. People who live near the ocean are usually exposed to higher concentrations of salt ions in the air, and I have not noticed that they have any higher problems with illness as a result. Often they report fewer problems with congestion.