chest pain

nanato10 · Post by **nanato10** » Sat May 21, 2005 11:28 pm

Hello all,

Okay, it's been 3+ weeks since I started using the machine. I have a Fisher & Paykel HC220 humidified cpap system with ambient tracking plus. The set pressure is 14. I have a activa nasal mirage mask. Two days after using the machine, I developed severe lower right sided chest pain. I went to Urgent Care and they said they thought it was pleurisy and put me on prednisone and pain meds. Eight days later I felt better and the steroids ran out. Three days after that I began having severe pain again and my own PCP prescribed more steroids and pain meds for pleurisy. After three days of that the pain continued to worsen and I ended up in the ER for two days - if you count l6 hours laying in a hallway being in the ER. I am back home waiting for a CT scan to be ordered because I refused to stay in the hall any longer. A VQ scan ruled out an embolism.

As I was laying there suffering with this horrid painful spasms - it occurred to be that these symptoms began when I started the CPAP.

Has anyone every heard of or had any similar trouble? I am afraid to put it on now until I know for sure its not causing my pain. Thanks for your knowledge and help. Linda

neversleeps · Post by **neversleeps** » Sat May 21, 2005 11:54 pm

Hi. I'm so sorry for what you've been going through. I too have spent lots of times in ER hallways.... no fun.

If it is CPAP related, it could be aerophagia. Go to the top of this page and click on the word Search. Enter the word aerophagia, or enter the words swallowing air.

This post in particular sounds like what you are describing. Click on:

viewtopic.php?t=2452&start=0&postdays=0 ... lowing+air

Good luck!

AllShookUp · Post by **AllShookUp** » Sun May 22, 2005 7:15 am

When I first started my cpap it was great! I even noticed feeling much better by the second day. After about 5 days I started to have pains (not sharp, more like pressure) in my chest area too. My pressure is set at 17 and at the time I was using a FF mask. Seemed to be mainly on my right side. The next day it seemed to be worse, I thought maybe I was having heart problems (duh, I wonder why?). I noticed that if I took a deep breath the pain was intensified. It scared me also and I went to the doctor. He told me that my lungs were adjusting to breathing more deeply instead of the shallow breaths I was used to. After a few days the pain or muscle soreness went away.

Not sure if this is helpful to you or not. Just keep your doctor informed of any problem you may experience. No matter how silly it seems to you or others. Let's face it, when we are diagnosed with OSA we are worried! Those sleep test results can really blow your mind