Swallowing air

gerper · Post by **gerper** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 9:18 pm

I am having a problem swallowing air and becoming bloated. I started with a cpap and lowered the pressure from 12 to 8 but still have a problem. Changing to a c-flex machine this week.

Can anyone share similar experiences and resolutions?

yawn · Post by **yawn** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 9:25 pm

Look through some threads that were posted in the past week or so. I know there was talk about swallowing air and what to do about it.

yawn · Post by **yawn** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 9:39 pm

Here's some info. that might help.
The word "phage" in Greek means "to eat." Aerophagia is literally to eat air. In the modern context, it means swallowing too much air, a common cause of gas in the stomach and belching.

This is sometimes a result of CPAP Therapy. Unfortunately, the best solutions for this problem are not a catch all but instead an attempt to find the middle ground between needed CPAP pressures.

Here's what you can do:

1. Tell your CPAP prescribing physician. It may be better to decrease the CPAP level a bit and put up with some minor airway problems if we can significantly decrease the bloating. Sometimes this works great, sometimes not at all. An auto adjusting CPAP should also also be considered as these machines reduce the average pressure the user receives. Get help settings the maximum pressure on the auto as the highest pressures can make things much worse.

2. As the chin of a CPAP user nears the chest, air has a greater change of entering the digestive tract. Where possible, keep chin up in relation to torso.

3. Sleeping in a position different than normal helps keep the air out of the stomach. Try different sleeping positions. Left side, right side, inclined with pillows, or flat.

If these fail, It may be that you should consider a surgical alternative to CPAP. Many have tried all sorts of other solutions to this bloating problem with little success.

_________________

JimH · Post by **JimH** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 10:14 pm

a Chinstrap helped me as it kept my mouth closed and the air steadily came in and out of my nose.

rock and roll · Post by **rock and roll** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 11:03 pm

Well, I think over time, this problem works itself out and it too shall pass

I had this problem when I first started and now I don't so I think your body adjusts. If all else is good, this is a harmless problem.

dsm · Post by **dsm** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 2:55 am

rock and roll wrote:Well, I think over time, this problem works itself out and it too shall pass

I had this problem when I first started and now I don't so I think your body adjusts. If all else is good, this is a harmless problem.

Yup agree 100% - after 3 weeks of swallowing gobfulls of air - am now down to just nibbling it

I am currently on 14cms (at my prescribed 15cms CPAP becomes problematic ) - mask leaks, aerophagia galore !!!. I have to keep going to the bathroom just to stop annoying my wife - she can tolerate the constant burps (at 15cms this is).

I varied down to 12 & at 12/13 was sleeping all night no wind no leaks & no end of yawns the next day

At 14, things seem to go ok.

Hope you get on top of this as I know just how it feels. Also remember that swallowing is an awake mechanism, you *don't* do this once asleep !

Cheers

DSM