Connection of OSA to Rhinitis, and Sinusitis

[Luvmyzzz]

Hi  fellow XPAP users!   It's been a while since I've been here to share my sleep/breathing issues.... but most recently
this year among many family changes/issues, my sinus has taken the front row and I have been to my GP with the chronic 
complaint of running nose & sneezing through out the day, and horrible stuffiness when I try to go to sleep....
It is now a nightly battle to go to sleep without a fight with my sinus...  I wonder if this is from just using the PAP machine...
I keep it clean, I've never had issues with allergies until I've become dependent on the PAP...
This truly saddens me,  currently on Augmentin course for sinus "infection"  though I'm not totally convinced this is the
true monster that haunts me @ bed time...  as soon as I get up for my daily routines,  I go to blowing nose, sniffles and
sneezing.... daily....   I still refuse to accept it as "allergies"  because I went to a different region of the country and 
my symptoms were the same...& somewhat worse....

I guess I need to be thankful that I can get up & do anything, versus no physical freedom @ all...
Sorry I've been gone so long,  I have thought of this fine group of folks from time to time....  You have all been
a good source of sharing thoughts without a lot of drama... which is a blessing.

[Walla Walla]

If it is an allergy and change of location didn't help I'd start looking for something you changed. Perfume, soap, clothes anything like that may be triggering a reaction.

[Greggory]

Many PAPpers are mouth breathers. Seems to me, that's because they run short of O2 and have to take in a lot at once, ergo the need to use the mouth to breathe.

On the other hand, the vast majority of folks with rhinitis and sinusitis don't develop OSA.

I’m not sure we can say that most with sinus issues don’t have OSA. In “Obstructive Sleep Apnea is a Common Disorder in the Population—A Review on the Epidemiology of Sleep Apnea” they found that 37% in men and 50% in women with sleep apnea caused by an obstruction in the upper airway. That’s a lot of people.
 
On the other hand, in “Epidemiology and Burden of Nasal Congestion” they write “…it is generally accepted that approximately 10% to 20% of the global population suffers from allergic rhinitis…” That’s fewer people with rhinitis than OSA. Having said this, I totally agree with you that it is impossible to make any scientifically valid connections.
 
Also, regarding mouth breathing as a result of running short of oxygen (O2), I just wanted to try to make a clarification for those not familiar with the Buteyko method. What was discovered is that mouth breathers tend to over-breath. The result is that they blow off too much carbon dioxide (CO2). Without enough CO2, the body can’t make use of all the extra oxygen it has – not to method other adverse effects.
 
So the problem with mouth breathing, and the reason that people that are pulling in a lot of air through their mouths during asthma or panic attacks aren’t doing themselves a favor, is actually because they’re blowing off too much CO2. Interestingly, what was discovered is that by teaching folks in the middle of an asthma attack to slowly breathe through nose that the attack could be stopped. The problem was actually a lack of CO2.
 
Granted, during an OSA event we know that blood oxygen levels drop precisely because the airway is being choked off. Rightly so, your body naturally responds to this drop by having you unconsciously open your mouth during sleep. This makes total sense.
 
However, I just want to try to make the distinction between unconsciously opening your mouth during an OSA event and mouth breathing during the day due to a perceived “lack of oxygen”. Mouth breathing during OSA makes perfect sense but generally, it is not a good idea to mouth breath while awake for many reasons including blowing off too much CO2.
 
I’m a mouth breather and have really tried to understand what leads to this behavior and what can be done about it.  I started by reading about how diet and the importance in being breast fed is key to proper facial and airway development – see “Cranial & Dental Impacts on Total Health” from the Weston Price Foundation. I then went on to learn about the Buteyko breathing method, myofunctional exercises to tone airway muscles and even restructure the face. Of course, adding air filtration to deal with allergens, eliminating problematic foods, and the like to eliminate allergic reactions is also important.

[Greggory]

Luvmyzzz,

Personally, I think it's really important to clean and completely dry your hose, mask, and humidifier tank each and every day. If you just look at mold alone, it only takes between 24-48 hours before mold will start to grow when the relative humidity gets over about 50%. That's not much moisture at all and mold can be super damaging to health.

Add to this the slightly corrugated inner surface on PAP tubing along with the fact that there are mold spores everywhere just waiting for a little moisture and food (bits of dust is enough) and you can see why I think its important to use a PAP tubing brush and mild soapy water to physically clean the tubing daily along with using a dryer like the Hurricane to get all the moisture out. I suppose if you live in the desert you could just set the tubing out in the sun and save on the expense of a dryer but the key point is to completely dry it out.

An interesting experiment would be to get some petri dishes and then swab inside your PAP hose along with a few other surfaces for comparison. It's totally unscientific but if you see a lot more nastiness growing from the PAP hose swab, the hose may be a source of health issues.

[BadGoodDeb]

.... the chronic 
complaint of running nose & sneezing through out the day, and horrible stuffiness when I try to go to sleep....

About a year ago, my "non-allergic rhinitus" worsened a bit, such that laying down to sleep brought horrible stuffiness (as you said).  Since then, I've been sleeping on a firm 7.5" high wedge pillow.  Not so high that I slide off (though I still fight a little bit of that).  It lessens the stuffiness caused by laying down, enough that I can actually sleep now.

Traveling is a bear, as I have to bring this with me, or sleep poorly, propped up on numerous pillows.