[BOBBY]

1. I STILL HAVE NIGHTMARES------------------------------ 2. I STILL GET A VERY DRY MOUTH.............................
3. I FEEL BLOATED (GAS) HOW CAN I SOLVE THIS

[rested gal]

Hi Bobby,

I'm not a doctor, but here's my layperson's take on the things you asked about:

1. To be aware you have a dream (or nightmare) you have to wake up enough during the dream to be able to remember having it - whether you remember it vividly or hazily. Waking up enough to be aware that you had a dream means your REM sleep was disturbed - enough so that you wake up enough to know that you had a dream. And jolted into enough awakeness to stay awake long enough to commit it to memory. I personally think it's a sign that treatment is going well if a person does NOT remember dreaming at all. That's not to say they aren't dreaming (dreaming is good) - it just means their cpap is doing its job preventing the hypopneas and apneas that are most likely to occur during the total relaxation of REM when we dream. No obstructive event during REM=no waking up to try to breathe=no remembrance of a dream. Just my opinion.

2. Dry mouth (if you are using a nasal mask and are already using a heated humidifier) is likely a sign that your mouth is dropping open during the night and treatment air is escaping out your mouth - or you are breathing through your uncovered mouth instead of breathing at treatment pressure through the nasal mask. Either way, the air flow is drying your mouth. But worst of all, the treatment pressure is not getting down to where it's needed... into your throat to hold it open. Some people use a full face mask to keep the treatment pressure from escaping if their mouth falls open - you can breathe through nose or mouth with a full face mask. Or look into various means to keep the mouth closed and especially keeping the lips closed, since puffs of air can escape through loosely closed lips even if the chin/jaw are up in closed position.

3. bloating - for cpap users, it usually means you are swallowing air (aerophagia). No easy solution that I've read about. Some people who experience that eventually stop swallowing air in their sleep after being on cpap for awhile (days, weeks, months?) Some get relief from sleeping with head and upper torso propped up higher. I've read some say it helped them to use a produce like GasX before bedtime; others said that didn't help at all. Something else that occurs to me is that dry mouth might cause a person to swallow too - increasing the chances of swallowing air. If pain from bloating is bad enough that it disturbs sleep or causes a person to think about not continuing cpap therapy at all, best to speak to your doctor about lowering your pressure for awhile. Even if that means your pressure would then not always be enough to deal with all events, stopping therapy altogether (due to bloating pain..and it sure can hurt!) would be worse, imho. Better that the doctor lower the pressure for awhile until the person gets more used to breathing on cpap without swallowing air.

[BOBBY]

thankyou very much for answering my questions,i will read them again to take in all the information correctly,thanks for your time

[Suserbec]

Hi rested gal,
I was interested in your comments about dreaming. Since I've been on CPAP (about 2 months) I've been dreaming more and remembering bits and pieces of dreams more than over the past several years. I thought that meant I was getting more REM time. Hmmm, I'm really curious about this. I am going to meet with my CPAP provider tomorrow and get their take on it.

[wading thru the muck!]

WOW! again - rested gal

You are a wealth of knowledege and a great friend to this forum.

Might BOBBY'S problems be helped by switching to an auto-pap? The lower normal pressure may help with the mouth leaks and the bloating. The variable max pressure should insure the appropriate air is being delivered to keep the air way open - but only as needed and between apneas it could decrease to as low as 4cm. The only potential problem that I have read about is that if you require a higher pressure setting the ramping up during apneas can arouse the user. I have not gotten mine yet (next week hopefully) so I can't quote from personal experience.

Just a thought

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[rested gal]

I like your idea about autopap as a possibility to help relieve the bloating Billy spoke of, Wader! I'm a big believer in autopap.
4 usually makes most people feel suffocated, so I'd set the low no lower than 5 or 6. Same holds true of the "ramp" feature that some new users like - I keep ramp turned off myself, but if I used it, I'd personally have it start at 6.

Nice point, Wader, about the possibility of an autopap waking a person when it has to move to a higher pressure to deal with an event. However, most autopap increases are not a fast jump, thank goodness. There are usually signs that an obstruction is a'comin', so that the machine doesn't have to take a sharp leap upward. The coming back down is even more gradual to help avoid any sudden yo-yo effect. Or at least that's what the pressure graphs on either of my two autopaps look like the next morning. Springing a mask leak at a high pressure is more likely to wake a person than the fairly gradual upward movement in pressure itself. As you suggest, an autopap that might let Bobby enjoy lower pressures at least part of the night could be more comfortable for him. Good thinking, Wader.

[JudyAnn]

I have an autopap and do not wake up at all during the night (except once to go to the bathroom) but I have been sleeping all night long and do not notice the increase in pressure at all. Mine is set at low 6 to high 13 as I vary in between.

CPAP was not for me as the constant pressure of 10 was too much for me and it woke me up feeling like I was suffocating. Thanks for Autopap and like Rested Gal, I am a SOLD on it.

Judy

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