Just getting started

I knew I have had sleep apnea for about a year. Last year I went for a study and really didn't like the doctor so I didn't go back. I am going for a bariatric bypass and I was sent for another sleep study. During this study, the technician came in and put a mask on me. That was the end of my sleep. I was choking almost all night. Has anyone else experience the choking? What was done about it?

Sdaniels wrote:That was the end of my sleep. I was choking almost all night. Has anyone else experience the choking? What was done about it?

This depends on a number of factors: What do you mean by "choking"? What kind of mask? etc...

There are lots of different interfaces to a CPAP machine, and I've learned the hard way (as have most of us) that what works for one person is a nazi torture device to another.

I'm inclined to think that unless they had you on some really weird throat-intrusive mask, you probably weren't actually choking (although I will say that on one of the nasal masks, I tended to create a whole lot more post-nasal drip, so I was sort of hacking up a lung one night).

But anyway, if you give me/us more information, we can probably give you some guidance.

Liam, who seems to have forgotten again that he's the comic relief and not the expert.

It was a nasal hose. Is this the type of hose I have to use because I am having surgery?

Anonymous wrote:It was a nasal hose. Is this the type of hose I have to use because I am having surgery?

I have no idea what a bariatric bypass is. Probably best to discuss it with your doctor, if you can.

Oh, wait, that's the "stomach stapling", right? (Poorly named, but I mean, that's the common term, right?)

I don't know whether a mouth interface would be bad with one of those. But depending on how imminent the threat to your life is, you might try to more actively fight the apnea first, and put off the surgery for a few months. Many people have reported that once their apnea was treated, they found it much easier to lose weight and maintain it.

If that's true, might it be worth giving that a shot and seeing if you can lose it naturally, with the additional energy you get from treating the Apnea?

Just some thoughts, I certainly wouldn't want you to risk your life based on my musings.

Liam, who needs to remember to make that appointment for the "Frontal Lobe staple" procedure he's been meaning to get.

Sdaniels, there are several reasons a person could feel as if he/she was choking during the titration part of the study. Anxiety, panic - the unfamiliarity of "something covering my nose!!" However there can be anatomical reasons, or "conditions on that night" reasons:

If you were not able to breathe well (or at all) through your nose, you definitely would feel like you were suffocating trying to breathe through a nasal mask. Some people's noses get very stopped up after they've been lying down for awhile, even if they are able to breathe through the nose fine when sitting up. If that was the case, they should have switched you to a full face mask so you could breathe through your mouth.

I know of one guy who had such blocked nasal passages that he absolutely could not breathe through his nose at all. Nonetheless the (probably inexperienced) little sleep tech in charge of his titration insisted on using a nasal mask on him. The fellow was trying very hard to do what she said (hey, the professionals know best, don't they!?)... "Breathe through your nose...breathe through your nose..." An utter impossibility for him and a miserable experience. He absolutely needed a full face mask - which was never offered.

If stuffy nose was not your problem, then possibly the low pressure they started at for the titration got you off to a bad start. A very low pressure can feel suffocating in a nasal mask. Also, until they finally got you up to a pressure that does, indeed, keep your throat open, you'd actually be choking with the very apneas and hypopneas that got you headed toward a sleep study in the first place.

Another possibility is that even if you could breathe through your nose that night, you might have had air leaks through the mouth. The feeling of air gushing out the mouth every so often could be unsettling to the point that you'd feel like you were choking.

Yet another possibility - perhaps at home you sleep with pillows that keep your head raised more than you were at the clinic. Perhaps their pillow(s) had you lying flatter than you normally sleep. They also want to see worst case scenario - often want you to stay on your back as much as possible. With the greater likelihood of apneas happening when we sleep on our back rather than our side, you might have experienced more choking sensations.

And then there's always GERD (acid reflux).

I'm not a doctor, nor anything in the health field. I'm just guessing at a few things you might have been going through.

(You see why rested gal is the expert, and most of the rest of us merely pretenders?)

Liam, humbled.

During my sleep study they tried the nasal mask. as I am a mouthbreather this was very ungood... Got the feeling that I was suffocating. So I can relate. A Ultra Mirage Full Face Mask took care of it.

Mike who is often told to keep his mouth shut

My mom and I both have sleep apnea and she got her cpap before me. Did you by any chance try to talk with the cpap on? My mom did, and said it was like choking. It's just something we can't do with the cpap on.

Breathless wrote:My mom and I both have sleep apnea and she got her cpap before me. Did you by any chance try to talk with the cpap on? My mom did, and said it was like choking. It's just something we can't do with the cpap on.

With a full face mask you can, but its not real loud...

Breathless wrote:My mom and I both have sleep apnea and she got her cpap before me. Did you by any chance try to talk with the cpap on? My mom did, and said it was like choking. It's just something we can't do with the cpap on.

Oh, just give yourself a little time. At first my wife couldn't understand a word when I tried to talk with the CPAP on, but now it's no problem even if we are awakened in the middle of the night by an unusual sound or something. It takes a little practice, but you can talk intelligibly with a CPAP mask on and the machine running.

Dave

Dave Hargett wrote:It takes a little practice, but you can talk intelligibly with a CPAP mask on and the machine running.

I'm yet to master that Dave! I still sound like a coffee machine!