breathing rate

What is a normal or expected rate of breathing while using the CPAP. Tonight is my husband's first night and he is on a 17 pressure. He went to sleep right away tonight, but I haven't yet. I timed his breaths and counted 23 and 25 per minute...hardly a relaxing rate. I counted my own at 6 or 7 per minute. Is it healthy to breathe so fast all night? I would think that would be like hyper-ventalating which makes one dizzy.

Everyone's different, but what you're doing (counting) is not the way to judge how he's doing. Unfortunately, he does not have a machine with the ability to provide useful information (via a "smart card") that can be read on a computer, and it might be possible, depending on your circumstances and/or doctor or dealer to upgrade to a better one so your husband can track his progress properly. Can you register (him) as a member here first, and once that's done (quick and easy) go to the User Control Panel just above all the posts on the main page on the left and then fill out the Profile information as fully as possible - clicking on "text" vs. "icons" at the end (it'll make sense when you're doing it) so we know what he's using automatically each time you post (see info under all of our notes). Once that's done then people will try to help.

worried watcher wrote:What is a normal or expected rate of breathing while using the CPAP. Tonight is my husband's first night and he is on a 17 pressure. He went to sleep right away tonight, but I haven't yet. I timed his breaths and counted 23 and 25 per minute...hardly a relaxing rate. I counted my own at 6 or 7 per minute. Is it healthy to breathe so fast all night? I would think that would be like hyper-ventalating which makes one dizzy.

You should register your husbands equipment so we can see IF he has a machine that supplies data.

It's wonderful that this is your husband's first night ...and with a 17 pressure he fell asleep easily.

Julie wrote:Everyone's different, but what you're doing (counting) is not the way to judge how he's doing. Unfortunately, he does not have a machine with the ability to provide useful information (via a "smart card") that can be read on a computer, and it might be possible, depending on your circumstances and/or doctor or dealer to upgrade to a better one so your husband can track his progress properly.

How do you know what machine he has????

You're absolutely right! I must have just read someone else's post re an S8 and had that in mind. Please ignore!

If it makes you feel better, my breath rate is about 12 when I'm awake and jumps to 20+ when I fall asleep. I don't know if that is normal or not, but that is what my machine records. When your husband is awake and not knowing that you are watching him, try counting his awake breathing. It might be much different from yours.

worried watcher, it's quite possible the quick rate of breathing is a response to the higher than normal pressure. Since he went to sleep fairly easily, I would expect that he will adjust to his machine and therapy. Hopefully, that will mean his breathing rate will also decrease to a more normal rate. However, if it does not, you might want to have him ask his doctor if a rapid breathing rate is normal. It might indicate he needs another therapy options such as the use of a bi-level (or BiPAP) machine, which can make it easier to breathe at higher pressures.

Well, John, that prompts me to ask if my sleeping breath rate is normal ? I have a very low tidal volume and a fast breath rate. It takes me half an hour to an hour to fall asleep after taking melatonin at 9pm and Ambien just before going to bed. I run my BiPap in CPAP mode because the changing pressures drove me crazy. But something is not right as I don't sleep well and I have a terrible time trying to wake up. I'm always exhausted in the morning. Otherwise, my health is good. My sleep Dr. is inexperienced in complex sleep apnea, and frankly, has been no help to me since I started this venture in 07.

Bev

Bev, I fear I am not an expert, but doing some research it appears that a normal breathing rate during sleep is 12 to 16 breaths per minute. Of course, it's not odd to vary from that amount during the night. However, most xPAP units that included a "Timed" mode will - by default - shift to inhalation pressure if you do not achieve 12 breaths per minute.

A respiratory rate that is consistently well above normal MAY indicate other issues.

A little reading:

What is the normal respiratory rate for an adult during sleep?
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_n ... ring_sleep

Normal Respiratory Rate
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-norma ... y-rate.htm

Tachypnea (rapid breathing)
http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/t/tachypnea/causes.htm

I hope that helps.

Thanks, John,

I didn't see anything regarding cpap machine induced tachypnea. In the OP's scenario, it might just take some getting used to the machine, but I've been on this machine for over 2 years and it still makes me breathe much faster than normal. I can't help but wonder if that is the cause of my not feeling improved with treatment.

Bev

It certainly would not hurt to ask. Since your mother had congestive heart failure and doctors are terrible about following obvious heart related issues with women (since they obviously don't have heart issues ... Sheesh!), I would definitely advise you ask your doctors about it.

It might just be your "normal", but you are correct that it is not the norm and may be causing your to feel less than rested after sleep.

A 'normal' adult (whoever that is ) has a resting breathing rate of approximately 12 to 20 breaths per minute. When you're attempting to count your resting breath rate you're not really resting, and you're not breathing normally!

OutaSync wrote:Well, John, that prompts me to ask if my sleeping breath rate is normal ? I have a very low tidal volume and a fast breath rate. It takes me half an hour to an hour to fall asleep after taking melatonin at 9pm and Ambien just before going to bed. I run my BiPap in CPAP mode because the changing pressures drove me crazy. But something is not right as I don't sleep well and I have a terrible time trying to wake up. I'm always exhausted in the morning. Otherwise, my health is good. My sleep Dr. is inexperienced in complex sleep apnea, and frankly, has been no help to me since I started this venture in 07.

Bev

Hi, I just found this while doing an internet search; I too have problems with too-fast breathing at night and I am sure it is the cause of many daytime and ongoing health problems. Moreover, after using a bipap for awhile, that fast breathing triggered a mechanically-induced hyperventilation which I had to figure out for myself because my sleep doctors simply didn't believe anything was going on. I'd be willing to compare notes.

best

- dj

worried watcher wrote:What is a normal or expected rate of breathing while using the CPAP. Tonight is my husband's first night and he is on a 17 pressure. He went to sleep right away tonight, but I haven't yet. I timed his breaths and counted 23 and 25 per minute...hardly a relaxing rate. I counted my own at 6 or 7 per minute. Is it healthy to breathe so fast all night? I would think that would be like hyper-ventalating which makes one dizzy.

I don't recall the exact numbers at the moment, but I do know my BPM while sleeping is about twice my awake rate, and much more uniform and smooth. That's one way I can tell what part of the flow graph is for a sleep period and which is for an awake period.