Constant need to take deep breaths at night

I have a constant need to take deep breaths through my mouth (I have a nasal mask) when going to sleep at night. It feels like I am not getting enough air
and have to take regular deep breaths for several hours, even with the mask on. The feeling is as if there is some kind of reflex that is telling me I need to take action and gulp a large breath of air. It happens approximately every 30 seconds. I was originally diagnosed with mild to moderate sleep apnea and a setting of
6 cm pressure. I also recently got a new machine and the 6 cm pressure seemed way stronger than my old machine, which a technician told me had diminished pressure. At first I had trouble even being able to breath out at all. I assumed that the pressure in this new machine was too strong, so I reduced it to 4 cm. which also feels quite strong. Either way, with pressure at 6 or 4, or even lesser pressure with the old machine, this breathing problem seems to come and go.
Could it just be anxiety, or is there something more fundamentally wrong with my use of the CPAP?

tonybenji wrote:Could it just be anxiety

It could be.

And it could also be that your pressure setting is too low. At anything below 7 cm, it feels like I am not getting enough air (slight feeling of suffocation). Many others here report the same feeling at low pressures.

tonybenji wrote:so I reduced it to 4 cm. which also feels quite strong.

That's strange. Below 9 or 10 cm, I can hardly tell the machine is running.

Even if your pressure seems strong today, it will barely be felt after a couple days. I agree with granny...anything under 7 is very low pressure.

I had the same feeling when I started and this is what I found for me:

Any setting below 6 was too low for me, you will need to find what this lower level is for you. Below this you are getting too little air.

Next I found that I had a problem with breathing out into pressure:
I first adjusted the ERP setting (Exhale Relief Pressure) this setting allows the machine to reduce the pressure when I exhale by up to 3 CM, my choices were 0,1, 2, 3.

I tried a P10 nasal pillow mask, at first I liked it and then not so much. the tech at my DME said that was the wrong choice for exhale pressure relief.

My Doc recommended the Amara View mask because I also had a problem with pressure on the bridge of my nose from full face masks. The Amara View takes some time to learn to adjust it and put it on so I get good air flow, but this and the ERP setting of 3 made my issue go away.

The next thing I was going to try was a BiPAP machine that lets me set the exhale pressure instead of it being a reduction from inhale pressure as this makes exhale track inhale. On a non-BiPAP machine as the inhale pressure increases the exhale follows right along: exhale pressure = Inhale pressure - ERP setting.

PS. the ERP setting on Resmed machines is in the clinician menu, not the user menu

Please check this following link. It may be of help to you.
viewtopic/t107537/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1 ... 85#p993385

With strictly an inhale problem, the solution is normally increasing pressure and/or reducing leaks. Listing your equipment in your profile would help.

" It feels like I am not getting enough air" you cannot inhale more than you exhale, so if something is limiting your exhale then that will also limit your inhale and give you the same feeling of not getting enough air.

PoolQ wrote:you cannot inhale more than you exhale

Yes, you can.

But, not for very long.