Hello Guest, Welcome to Apnea Board !
As a guest, you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use.
To post a message, you must create a free account using a valid email address.

or Create an Account


New Posts   Today's Posts

Sinus Congestion and Apnea
#1
Sinus Congestion and Apnea
A sleep dentist I went to told me that, in his opinion, my sinus congestion made my apnea worse. I have chronic post-nasal drip, throat mucus, and such.

This sleep dentist is one of the most knowledgeable people I've met in the field. Formerly worked at the lab where I got my sleep test, and was honest enough to admit to the biases inherent in their tests. He knew about virtually every dental OSA appliance, and had actually used many in treatment.

He's the first sleep professional to ever mention this.

In my home SPO2 tests, I found some suuport for what he said. I've tested nasal strips and antihistamines. All improved my O2 numbers. The best O2 numbers I ever got were using Zyrtec before bedtime, and got similar results repeating the test.

Anyone know anything more about this?
Post Reply Post Reply
#2
RE: Sinus Congestion and Apnea
Obstructive sleep apnea is a throat thing, not a sinus thing. Unless your sinus issues are swelling the upper tissues of your throat far enough down to be contributing to the narrowing of your airway, I don't see how they are making your sleep apnea worse. If he is saying it is causing you to snore, that's not the same. Snoring is just a symptom of, not the same as sleep apnea.

Sinus issues can interfere with the treatment of sleep apnea, however.

And I can see how clearing the sinuses would increase the O2 levels. That's a no-brainer. The nasal strips and the like have been proven to help open the nasal passages and increase oxygen. That's why athletes use them.
PaulaO

Take a deep breath and count to zen.




Post Reply Post Reply
#3
RE: Sinus Congestion and Apnea
In my opinion, if you have restricted nasal passages and aren't normally a mouth breather, you may suffer from low o2 saturation under certain conditions and that would make any small sleep apnea event become more critical and have greater effect on disturbing your sleep.

For example, if you're a nose breather and sleeping on your side, using a soft pillow that allows your head to sink down sufficient that it may tend to keep your mouth closed, or at least make it less apt to be open, may make a nasal restriction have some effect on your obstructive apnea events.

The bottom line to me is, a nasal obstruction just adds one more obstruction to the air flow and obstructed air flow is the essence of obstructive sleep apnea. Indeed, it's part of the title of the malady.

Using Nasacort has been a great help to me in reducing my OA events.
Post Reply Post Reply
#4
RE: Sinus Congestion and Apnea
Ah, I can see your point. I'd not thought of that.
PaulaO

Take a deep breath and count to zen.




Post Reply Post Reply


Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Sinus issues with CPAP Luka07 10 211 4 hours ago
Last Post: Luka07
  Invisalign to help sleep apnea and dental extractions as a cause of sleep apnea SingleH 10 615 03-24-2024, 07:00 PM
Last Post: stevew168
  nasal congestion relief sleepingbetterinFl 2 159 03-23-2024, 01:54 PM
Last Post: sleepingbetterinFl
  If nasal congestion is a problem, will this show in my AHI? canigetawitness1992 4 393 01-29-2024, 09:20 PM
Last Post: RNeil
  Do wedged pillows alleviate nasal congestion? NoddingHacker 1 389 12-07-2023, 09:15 AM
Last Post: PeaceLoveAndPizza
  Sinus issues during therapy befoulmetalroosa 1 344 11-17-2023, 08:04 PM
Last Post: PeaceLoveAndPizza
  Nose Pillow with congestion SleepSundogSleep 3 583 10-02-2023, 04:29 PM
Last Post: SleepSundogSleep


New Posts   Today's Posts


About Apnea Board

Apnea Board is an educational web site designed to empower Sleep Apnea patients.