IPAP, EPAP?

With my IPAP on 9.5, and EPAP on 4.5, and mouth taped shut, I still occasionally experience air in my stomach.

AHI is around 1.1, not much leak activity, usually sleep through the night, dry mouth now pretty minimal, but I'm still very tired, especially when waking up.

I'm thinking of dropping the inhale to 9.0 to help with the stomach air, but now I'm also wondering what's the job of the EPAP and should I lower that as well.

Phil

EPAP helps hold the airway open to aid in preventing the collapses. It's the base pressure ...so to speak.
You can't go any lower than 4.0 anyway and I doubt that lowering it 0.5 is going to be a problem. You might experience a little bit of air hunger though. I would try just lowering IPAP first if it were me.

Is the bigger concern waking up tired or the aerophagia? You bring up both as issues and ask if lowering IPAP will help -- are you asking if it will help with the tiredness, or are you asking if it will help reduce air swallowing?

Most people get some aerophagia relief by lowering their pressure. The tiredness may be another matter altogether.

There's a link to a youtube video about preventing aerophagia in my signature line links. I don't know if it's good or bad, but it's free and easy enough to try.

archangle wrote:There's a link to a youtube video about preventing aerophagia in my signature line links. I don't know if it's good or bad, but it's free and easy enough to try.

The advice in his video definitely worked for me. My friend's doctor told her to do the opposite, keep the chin up and neck almost a little hyperextended, which she did for quite a while until she decided to try the video's suggestion. It worked much better at eliminating her aerophagia. My friend is a physical therapist and says as long as you don't overdo the chin tuck your cervical spine should be fine.

Thanks for the responses.

My query here is in preparation for an in-lab sleep test in about 4 weeks. Although the Doc has no objection to me using tape on my mouth at home, he did say that this was a no-tape test. I also read elsewhere that these tests usually want you to sleep on your back, and the combination of “back” and “no tape” seems to me to produce the worst possible results for me.

The test is a result of my complaints of constant early morning, plus occasional midday, “wipe out” tiredness. Otherwise I would leave well enough alone and continue with the tape along with what has become a general 2 hour in-and-out of bed morning getting up ritual. The aerophagia is manageable, just annoying, so I could really live with my current 9.5/4.5 settings. I’m just looking to understand as much as I can before bringing my teddy bear to the sleep lab.

I’m also not clear what could come from the sleep lab test as the Doc has already said that my numbers were good and that the therapy seems to be working. Maybe he just wants to verify my original take-home tests where my AHI was around 38 and I was constantly tired.

If anyone has the link to that youtube video, that would be appreciated. I don’t seem to do well fishing around looking for that stuff, and I don’t know what signature lines are.

Phil

pdeli wrote: If anyone has the link to that youtube video, that would be appreciated. I don’t seem to do well fishing around looking for that stuff, and I don’t know what signature lines are.

Phil

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-65JWNBttnE

"signature lines" are the lines in the signature, the bit down at the bottom of someone's post, like where mine has the joke that tattooed lady suggested, 'chaos panic disorder, my work here is done'...

archangel has a link to a post he's done where he posts things so he can refer people to them without having to type them again.

Thanks, I'll try that tonight. We're on the road in WA for the next week or so, and I do have time to experiment. This looks more effective on your back than on your side, but I can try both positions. I think that I'm less restless on my side however.

I'm also experimenting with some throat strengthening excises, but haven't made a good commitment to that yet.

Phil

What I had meant to say was that the pillow behind the head approach looked more promising on your back than on your side.

So last night using the chin on the chest routine I had some success (I think). It's hard to stay on my back, so the effort was somewhat compromised. Today's numbers are OK, so that's a good thing.

Anyway I think we're done here so thanks for all of the feedback and help.

Phil