Chest pain/Lung pain caused by C-PAP?

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
Carolee

Chest pain/Lung pain caused by C-PAP?

Post by Carolee » Mon Jul 25, 2005 5:53 am

I've been using a C-PAP for about 6 weeks now. My lungs were fine, I just had sleep apnea. In the past couple of weeks, I've noticed that sometimes I feel pain in my chest at night and morning when I use it. At first I thought it was my heart, but last night, the pain radiated from the center of my chest to the right and left and through my back. I think it is my lungs. It was very intense, and made me feel short of breath. I took off the C-PAP and now, a couple of hours later, the pain has subsided but not disappeard, and I feel I am breathing better. (I did NOT AT ALL have lung pain OR shortness of breath before I started using the C-PAP.) I will call my pulmonary doctor today, of course, but I am wondering if others who are actually using the C-PAP have experienced this? I am hoping it is just set too high, but all of this has made me wonder if the lungs can, with long-term use, become dependant on the C-PAP to function correctly, and/or if the C-PAP can actually prompt lung collapse or other lung problems? Anyone had this experience? Anyone know anything about long-term C-PAP use? Thanks.

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WillSucceed
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Post by WillSucceed » Mon Jul 25, 2005 6:00 am

Carolee:
What pressure are you at and, what machine are you using?

Lots of users complain of chest pain, especially in the first few weeks of treatment.

Talking with your Dr. is a wise step.
Buy a new hat, drink a good wine, treat yourself, and someone you love, to a new bauble, live while you are alive... you never know when the mid-town bus is going to have your name written across its front bumper!

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CharlesJ
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Post by CharlesJ » Mon Jul 25, 2005 6:36 am

Hi,

I'm new here, but I'm compelled to reply. If you have chest pain, you should call 9-1-1 or at the very least get it looked at right away. I certainly don't want to alarm you, but I wouldn't want to lose you either!

Chuck

Guest

Post by Guest » Mon Jul 25, 2005 8:36 am

Carolee, what you're describing sounds like aeorphagia which can certainly be caused by your CPAP therapy. Click on this link for more insight:

CHEST PAIN

(If you use the Search function and enter the word: aerophagia you'll find pages and pages of information.)

Guest

Re: Chest pain/Lung pain caused by C-PAP?

Post by Guest » Mon Jul 25, 2005 8:53 am

Carolee wrote: I am hoping it is just set too high, but all of this has made me wonder if the lungs can, with long-term use, become dependant on the C-PAP to function correctly, and/or if the C-PAP can actually prompt lung collapse or other lung problems? Anyone had this experience? Anyone know anything about long-term C-PAP use? Thanks.
Here is a link to an article in the May/June 2005 issue of SLEEP REVIEW-The Journal for Sleep Specialists. This a roundtable discussion and the topic is The long-term effects of CPAP therapy.

The long-term effects of CPAP therapy

You can also google this topic for much more information. Happy reading!

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SnoreNoMore2005
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Chest pain

Post by SnoreNoMore2005 » Mon Jul 25, 2005 4:26 pm

I was waking up with a sore chest every morning after starting my CPAP therapy. My pressure was set at 14cm. When I switched to AUTOPAP, the chest pain went away presumably because my lungs weren't exposed to high pressure for such a long period of time.

SnoreNoMore2005


Sleepless on LI
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Post by Sleepless on LI » Mon Jul 25, 2005 6:13 pm

Thank you to the "Guest" who gave the link to the article about long term effects of CPAP therapy. It was very interesting reading. I think there is a theme here that once you regain your energy level and lose weight and get yourself into shape, there is a chance to either lower your pressure level or in some instances kiss your machine goodbye. That is what I have been doing for the past month and will continue to do in the hopes of doing the latter. Thanks again for the article.

L o R i
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Shaun E

Re: Chest pain/Lung pain caused by C-PAP?

Post by Shaun E » Thu Aug 06, 2009 8:18 pm

I have used the Cpap since January with several different devices. I have finally settled on the full face mask and I sleep quite well. My pressure is 11, originally at 13. Lately, I am waking with chest pain in the ,middle of my chest, earlier than I would otherwise awaken. It goes away in about 30 minutes. I have mild COPD and severe Apnea. Also I have Barrets disease. I am seeing both a Pulmonologist and Gastroenterologist, neither of which have been able to help me. I am now trying Pepcid AC to try to solve the problem.

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Julie
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Re: Chest pain/Lung pain caused by C-PAP?

Post by Julie » Fri Aug 07, 2009 9:23 am

Having a sore chest from muscles unused to being on Cpap is one thing, but what you described could be more serious and you absolutely need to get to somewhere now, to have an ECG and whatever else they might think matters. There's plenty of time later on to discuss the merits of Cpap but you need to get checked out now to be sure nothing else is going on.

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PST
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Re: Chest pain/Lung pain caused by C-PAP?

Post by PST » Fri Aug 07, 2009 11:41 am

I can think of a couple of possibilities for Shaun E, but agree with the other posters that waking up with chest pain is serious business and would call my doctor if it were me.

One is that you had been sitting up to sleep because it gave relief from heartburn, but with the CPAP you lie more flat and therefore have a greater chance of acid in the esophagus. Personally, I've found that not choking at night has helped keep my stomach contents in place, but it's a possibility to think of.

The second is aerophagia, as others have mentioned. Kind of the opposite of #1, air going down instead of juices coming up, but uncomfortable either way.

My own experience is that the increased effort to exhale excercised muscles that hadn't been doing much work. I never had pain at rest, but would be surprised by a sore muscle kind of mild pain when I sneezed for awhile. That went away.

fancythecat

Re: Chest pain/Lung pain caused by C-PAP?

Post by fancythecat » Wed Feb 22, 2012 2:31 am

I have been on c-pap for years. I recently got the new machine that is very quiet that adjusts the pressure as you breathe.
My lungs wake me up every morning screaming with pain on the left side. I feel as though my lung is going to burst. I have to
get up early. I have discussed this with my pulmonologist and they said they have never heard of something like this before.
I have been up right now for near a half hour and the pain is still so bad it is hard to stand it. It is always just my left side.

I feel as though the lung is going to burst. I use distilled water, clean the machine with vinegar/water, rinse well afterwards
as I was told. I have a c-pap pillow and prop myself up at night on that with another pillow under it. I am very concerned about
what this is doing to my lungs.

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RandyJ
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Re: Chest pain/Lung pain caused by C-PAP?

Post by RandyJ » Wed Feb 22, 2012 7:03 am

As others say above, it's very important to consult with doctor to exclude cardiac issues.

Once they have been excluded, it is likely that what you feel is either aerophagia or muscle spasms of the intercostals. When I was using apap that went up to 20 cm pressure, I was having an issue with chest pain that I felt throughout my whole core. It went away.

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Re: Chest pain/Lung pain caused by C-PAP?

Post by insylem » Sat Jun 09, 2012 1:06 pm

My chest is sore this morning. I've been on Cpap since Feb. I was on 10cm for about a month before being droped to 8, lastnight was my second night back on 10cm. The soreness feels like my muscles like I pulled a muscle or something. Never had this problem before. Just feels kinda like my muscles are overworked somehow so hopefully it'll go away.

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Re: Chest pain/Lung pain caused by C-PAP?

Post by chunkyfrog » Sat Jun 09, 2012 1:09 pm

Tell it to your doctor.
Soon!

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Re: Chest pain/Lung pain caused by C-PAP?

Post by insylem » Sat Jun 09, 2012 3:21 pm

Ya, I'll have to, well see how the next few nights go since cant really call him on a Saturday. The pain has mostly gone away now anyways, it was mostly ribcage and felt muscular, like I worked out in my sleep or pulled a muscle. Ive been on 10cm before without this problem so well see. Maybe i just need to re-get used to it after being on 8 so much. Though I did sleep comletely through the night for once without wakeing up!! And woke up on my own after about 8 hours or so without the alarm clcok!! So thats a plus, im not tired either

I am GOING to make this cpap work!

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