What do you do when you have a cold?

[sleepytime]

Hiya,

I have the dreaded lurgy, am totally bunged up although I have a full face mask so can mouth breath. My question is this:

1. Can I add a couple of drops of Olbas Oil to the humidifier chamber, will it damage anything. I have to admit I did this the other night and had a wonderful nights sleep - but then realised after that maybe it wasn't such a good idea. Since then I have been looking for a definitive answer - some people say it is a definite no-no and others say its ok

2. I read somewhere that you are not supposed to use CPAP if you have a cold because the pressure may push the infection into your U-station tubes or sinuses and make matters worse !! is this true, I really don't want to stop using the machine, although with my current cold I am only managed about 4 hours with the mask on

I don't want to damage my machine, or myself, but I would like to get a decent nights sleep.

[symmit]

Hiya,

I have the dreaded lurgy, am totally bunged up although I have a full face mask so can mouth breath. My question is this:

1. Can I add a couple of drops of Olbas Oil to the humidifier chamber, will it damage anything. I have to admit I did this the other night and had a wonderful nights sleep - but then realised after that maybe it wasn't such a good idea. Since then I have been looking for a definitive answer - some people say it is a definite no-no and others say its ok

I think the consensus is that nobody is going to recommend it, but if it works for you then go for it. I've been using a few menthol crystals and found that useful for my traditional post-christmas cold/flu

2. I read somewhere that you are not supposed to use CPAP if you have a cold because the pressure may push the infection into your U-station tubes or sinuses and make matters worse !! is this true, I really don't want to stop using the machine, although with my current cold I am only managed about 4 hours with the mask on

Your nasal secretions (snot, goo, call it what you want) are one way you body is trying to wash the infection out of your system and prevent further infection. I carried on with my cpap through mine (a) because it was the first cold I'd had since starting and needed to get through it and (b) because an ear / throat infection isn't as big a deal as falling asleep in the day and crashing into a busload of schoolchildren and their pregnant mothers.

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong but the stuffy stage shows your immune system is already fighting the infection by increasing bloodflow to the area (stuffiness is caused by inflammation from the increased bloodflow, not the mucous that is washing through) and in my reckoning (I'm not a doctor...) I woud say that if you can use the CPAP to get a good nights sleep and help you breathe through the stuffiness then it will improve your recovery. Certainly I managed to get through my days this time without feeling too bad, and the flu symptoms had gone by day 4. It was nice not to wake in the night spluttering and sneezing too.

I don't want to damage my machine, or myself, but I would like to get a decent nights sleep.

If you wash the humidifier out every morning then other than some discolouration of the water chamber I can't see how it can do any significant damage. Just blow your nose well (awaits Sinupulse advert to follow take whatever you like to take for colds (if anything) and then go to sleep! Some kind of cough suppressant would be good though if you're coughing - coughing + cpap = unpleasant...

[Tigers Fan]

No! - but ......

Hi sleepytime

A big 'no' to putting Olbas Oil into the humidifier chamber, but put a few drops on a pad or folded tissue immediately by the air intake of your machine - works a treat at clearing nostrils.

Your second point does not make sense to me but I'm an Engineer not a Medic. As far as I am aware, the cold/flu bugs reside and breed in our sinuses when we first catch a cold. Then CPAP breathing is the same as normal daytime breathing, except it is shallower and slower as well as being under CPAP pressure. Others on the forum report using CPAP during colds and flu and the only problem is that it can get a bit icky in the mask.

TF

[symmit]

Then CPAP breathing is the same as normal daytime breathing, except it is shallower and slower as well as being under CPAP pressure.

Sliding gently off topic - is breathing on CPAP shallower? I feel that it's deeper and slower (once you're relaxed and past the fighting stage) - waking in the morning now it's such a pleasant feeling I don't want to switch off and get up!

[Tigers Fan]

When asleep, our breathing gets shallower and slower. So I guess that CPAP breathing awake and asleep - as Chivalry's situation - our (his) breathing does the same.

I think our breathing with CPAP is deeper than pre-CPAP, never mind continuously instead of with stoppages.

As understood by an Engineer, not a Medic.

TF

[symmit]

I think my breathing had been so bad before going on CPAP I'm finding normal breathing abnormal, if you know what I mean.

[Chivalry]

i know that feeling first thing in the morning when i take my mask off... for a short while it feels harder to breath normal air,, and i have to work harder to draw a breath for a few short breaths while my body recalibrates itself to breathing withought a shedload of air being forced down my throat

Its almost like while im asleep on apap.. my lungs say "wow.. somebody else is doing all the work for us!! lets take a few hours off and get some sleep

Unfortunatly.. when the mask comes off, it takes a few moments for my lungs to wake up and realize its time to go to work,,,... lol

On the Olbas oil thing,,,,,,, i specificly asked at my clinic about putting olbas oil on a tissue at the air intake... and was told specificaly not to do it as the tissue would dry out through the night and lose its effect.. i was told to put it DIRECTLY in the humidifier water... that way making it last all night with no drop off in effectivness..

Unfortunalty at this moment in time im unsure what to believe from my technitions.... an can only relay what i was told... make your own informed decsions

[symmit]

Unfortunalty at this moment in time im unsure what to believe from my technitions.... an can only relay what i was told... make your own informed decsions

All I can say on that subject, because I've never met my tech (mail ordered machine, home sleep test) is that there is very little that you can do wrong with your machine, if the pressure is too high it's uncomfortable and for me it leads to headache and earache, if it's too low then your AHI will go up and you'll not be getting the benefit.

I don't know about your machine but mine records the pressure all the time it is in use and can be read by software on my laptop which I email to my tech as required, I guess yours will be read by your clinic - that will show any min and max alterations.

Try and get another machine from them to see if it is faulty.

[Tigers Fan]

Hi Chivalry

There are many posts - one very recently - in which people report the resulsts of putting the oil in the humidifier chamber/water. It seems to come down to an impossible cleaning task and some have mentioned damage to the chamber walls.

Yes, of course, the oils vapourise and dry out on a tissue - but you are asleep by then.

The decision is yours!

TF

[Sparticus]

Not recomended. Use a tissue and some obus oil, its the best solution

[sleepytime]

oh dear, what did I start!

I've ended up doing neither and just struggling on, am waking up through the night anyway coughing and spluttering

I will go with "if in doubt don't do it", at the end of the day its just a cold, it will go away in its own good time.

Thanks anyway folks for trying to help, it seems there is no definitive answer.

[Fredxx]

Otravine nasal spray is a good short term solution...dries the mucus and opens the passages. Not recommended for long term though. If I need to use it, I only use it when going to bed, not to keep everything open during the day too, and I try not to use it for more than 5-6 days in a row.

[Grumpy]

Olbas Pastils

Try sucking one as you go to bed (with the mask on).
Blackcurrant flavour are the nicest.