Hello, everyone.
New member here, and first of all, thanks to bmonster for starting this topic/thread, as well as thanks to all the rest of you who have contributed.
My experience mirrors most of yours, am on ResMed Airsense 11 without problems, and thus decided to invest in an AirMini in January, 2024, mostly for convenience on travels but also as a Plan B in case of AS11 malfunction.
Have relied on the AM twice, first in January, now in June. Horrible post-trauma (the sneezing, the nose dripping, the eye sweeling ... most unpleasant, all of it.) on both occasions. Well, January, I figured "virus season", and June, I thought "pollen" ...
Now, to cut a longer story short, in winter I suffer from rhinitis, while in summer, pollen allergy. To remedy the rhinitis, I use Ipratropium bromide (Atrovent) and vs the pollen, Desloratadine (Aerius).
And here's where I started thinking "What if the effect of those 2 medications on (my) sinuses interact with the lower hydration capacity of the HumidX/ HumidX Plus capsules, prompting a mucus membrane response in the shape and form of the sneezing, dripping, pleghm and so on?"
I e, is it the combination that is the cause?
So, question for you all: Any of you on antihistamine PRIOR to "allergy reaction" episodes AFTER employment of the AirMini?
Great hypothesis, but in my case, I was on no medications or supplements. Of course, after the first few times I took antihistamines to counter what I thought was a massive allergy attack (which had zero effect, of course).
I simply stopped using my AirMini a year ago. I either go without it when I travel for work (I don’t have apnea, but use CPAP for shoring therapy), or take my AirSense10 when traveling with my wife. Haven’t had an “AirMini” attack in that year.
With the attacks, they happened with the HumidX filter and without.
Claritin did not seem to help in alleviating the AM symptoms. I took it after the symptoms started figuring it would knock it out quickly, but it didn’t.
One thought I had was it may be caused by the air pressure set at mask setting going through my nasal pillows.
Who is using nasal pillows vs mask and experiencing these symptoms?
Great question. I don’t know if we’ve talked about nasal pillows vs full mask. I know for me I use the same nasal pillows I do with my AirSense10. Since I’ve had these symptoms with the HumidX filters and without them, I’ve started to zero in on an air pressure issue as well. I had the pressure lowered by 20% and still had the reaction, which was my final straw for putting that infernal device in the storage closet for good.
I still think, given the high rate at which this occurs, and with the fact that we’ve all reported different attachments, medications, filters, hoses, and other variables, there still must be something in common that is causing this for us. That something could be air pressure, or maybe something internal to the device that we haven’t identified.
Maybe it’s time to do a device tear-down.
I'm using the nasal pillows and have the same issues. My airflow is exactly the same as in my at home unit, and I've also tried with and without the HumidX inserts without any difference. The issue resolves immediately as soon as I return home and go back to my at home unit - also with nasal pillows.
I am. The AirFit N30 pillow(ish) mask. With the correct setting. Still ill ...
And as a lot of people have posted about, antihistamine post-AM usage appears to have a most limited, if any, effect.
Hence my interest in whether any pre-AM antihistamine usage had occured/was the case (as with me), sensitizing the mucus membrane.
I don’t think it makes a difference….there is something in the machine or the filters that triggers this awful reaction….again, I get nowhere with ResMed or my personal Apnea supplier on this….it just reinforces how difficult it is for consumers to establish that a product is faulty. I am still totally enraged that I wasted so much money on this product.
I have exactly the same issue, and I've had it since the first time I used the Resmed AirMini. It happens every time I use it and I have to use Claritin and Flonase the entire time I'm traveling. The sneezing it awful because it comes in waves of 8-15 sneezes at a time. As soon as I stop using the machine and resume with my at home unit, the sneezing stops. Has anyone found a reasonable solution?
Update: I decided to make some adjustments to see if I could salvage my $1000 paperweight. I had been avoiding it because I did not want to go through another week of severe symptoms if it did not work. My goal was to reduce the air pressure and exhale resistance to see if that helped.
I am using nasal pillows and a new standard HumidX cartridge. I had also started using Flonase regularly for a while, which was new for me. I followed steps from youtube on how to access the clinical menu for the Air Mini from my phone app.
These are the settings I changed.
Mode: CPAP
Set Pressure: 6 (previously 8)
Ramp Time: Auto
Start Pressure: 4 (Previously 5)
EPR: On (previously Off)
EPR Type: Full Time (previously n/a)
EPR Level: 2 (previously n/a)
Smart Start: On
Smart Stop: On
I started the first night only using the Air Mini for a few hours, then switched to my home CPAP unit for the rest of the night. I had no adverse symptoms.
The second night I used the Air Mini for the full night. I waited a few hours after waking to post this, to see if any dreaded symptoms developed. I slept well through the night and used Flonase a couple of times when getting up for the restroom. The only symptom I experienced was a minor congestion in one nostril, which cleared up after a couple of hours. No uncontrollable allergy symptoms and runny nose.
Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional. I do not recommend that anyone do this without consulting a professional. I am sharing my experience for educational purposes.
I do not know if this is a permanent fix for me, but it has made using the Air Mini more pleasant and I feel that I can start taking it with me while traveling and start to use it as intended.
Hope everyone else is able to find their solution to their unpleasant Air Mini allergy situation.
I hope this works out for you, in particular adding use of the Flonase. I am not a medical professional either, but my experience is the allergic type symptoms occurs after 2+ nights of continuous use. I "diagnosis' adverse reactions are caused by lack of sufficient humidification. As my home use utilizing distill water with no adverse effects, I purchased a Transcend unit for travel that also uses distill water. It works as well as my home unit, except when I notice that it is not consuming the water. That is, not producing the humidification and the symptoms start up. The HumidX cartridge simply does not result in sufficient humidification for evidently a lot of us. I think the problem with the Transcend unit is failure with the heater cartridge wick as it draws up the water. I have purchased replacements but have not had a chance to check/prove the solution.
These are exactly the type of experiments I want to see on here. Unfortunately, I have had some false hopes that were eventually dashed when I decided to adopt them wholesale. The congestion you had in one nostril is a great example. You were on the verge, but it didn’t get pushed over the edge. I have been there, but it just takes one time being pushed over the edge that makes it not worth taking with me on any of my travel.
I am so glad I came across this thread. I too have been having crazy reactions to my Res Med Air mini. They have started after I switched to an N20 nasal mask with a humidx insert. I didn't have these reactions when I was using a full face mask and a different style insert. Obviously I will have to switch back. Just wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience.
