Nose Pain, Congestion and Mouth Breathing. Help!

[WisdomSeeker]

I am a 45 year old male who uses a CPAP for sleep apnea.  However, I am seldom able to wear the mask because I always seem to be stuffed up and putting on the mask with a stuffy nose makes me a bit claustrophobic and I wind up pulling the mask off.  One side of my nose always seems plugged and it appears to swtich at any given time.  Over the past week, my nose has been hurting on the left side...feels like someone punched me.  Very sensitive to the touch and hurts to blow my nose.  It especially hurst where the bone meets the cartilage on the left side. Plus nose feels very dry inside and both nostrils are plugged.

To add insult to injury, I have been mouth breathing for the past several months.  Not sure if it is because of sinuses or plugged nose, but I wake up with a tongue like leather and barely able to swallow.  Even when I am able to use CPAP, I wake up with dry mouth.

Please help!  This is getting very frustrating and makes for a horrible night's sleep.

[Jerry_NJ]

There are over the counter mouth moisturizers that work, not 100% but I find them helpful to reduce dryness of the mouth and throat from breathing through the mouth.  They even make toothpaste - suppose using toothpaste, rinse and ointment may add hours to the protection... I don't know I have used one othe rinse and ointment, one at at time.

If I have apnea it hasn't been diagnosed, so I have no idea what a CPAP is or how it helps.  I did read your description of it being a mouth/nose mask (with oxygen or some other help?).  

I use a lot of saline spray and a prescription nose spray: Fluticasone (generic) but what really works is just over the counter Afrin which can not be used but a few nights in a row.  When stuffy it is usually on one side, the low side.  If I lay on my left, the left nostril is closed, and if on my right the right nostril is closed.  It takes only a couple of minutes for the plug to shift sides.

I do not have pain, and I think that is an indication of an infection.  I suggest you see you doctor about the congestion - may be a specialist ENT.

[dasroma15]

hi, i have been applying flutivate ointment for more than 10years on my face. and now i m so addicted to it that i can stop using it. once i stop my face flares up and inflammations happens what could be teh solution and how do i stop this. is there any home remedies