Burps in the night

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
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kaiasgram
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Burps in the night

Post by kaiasgram » Sat Jun 23, 2012 12:10 am

Trying to be clever with my header but this is not really funny at the moment. In addition to all the other adjustment difficulties with cpap I am being awakened frequently by burping. At first I thought it was all aerophagia, but I then I realized I do also have esophageal issues and burping is a common symptom for me. So, when I tightened my chin strap to decrease leaks last night, I had a horrible night -- because then all my burps were "internal" burps, no way to let the burp out. I ended up feeling even worse as a result. My sleep doc (I actually have one of those now!) says that with regard to the aerophagia, the leaks are the problem because they drive the pressure up, and that increased pressure worsens the aerophagia. That may be true, but having no way to release burps due to gastric motility issues creates big problems too.

I am already eating very carefully and conservatively, and no less than 3-4 hours before bedtime. I'm only two weeks in with cpap but I am really suffering with it. I understand that over the long term it's worse to be desatting all night, but in real time, cpap is destroying my sleep more than the apnea did. I'm struggling to keep compliance.

I wonder how others have balanced leaks and burps -- I'm stuck.

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robysue
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Re: Burps in the night

Post by robysue » Sat Jun 23, 2012 12:38 am

kaiasgram wrote:Trying to be clever with my header but this is not really funny at the moment. In addition to all the other adjustment difficulties with cpap I am being awakened frequently by burping. At first I thought it was all aerophagia, but I then I realized I do also have esophageal issues and burping is a common symptom for me. So, when I tightened my chin strap to decrease leaks last night, I had a horrible night -- because then all my burps were "internal" burps, no way to let the burp out. I ended up feeling even worse as a result.
I don't doubt you felt worse when all your burps are forced to be "internal" burps. The whole point of burping is to relieve pressure. If the pressure is relieved only as far as the inside of your mouth, well, that extra air has to go somewhere. So you swallow the burp and the air goes right back down into the stomach from whence it came. OUCH.
My sleep doc (I actually have one of those now!) says that with regard to the aerophagia, the leaks are the problem because they drive the pressure up, and that increased pressure worsens the aerophagia.
Aerophagia is caused by swallowing air. Sometimes out of control leaks can lead to you swallowing more air than usual. But sometimes the culprit can simply be too many awakenings and arousals: What's the first thing many of us do when we wake up a bit? Swallow. (You might find this thread interesting reading.)

What to do?

Well, if I were you I'd start by looking at the leak line data to determine just how bad the leaks are when I had the mask and chinstrap comfortably loose enough to allow night time burping. If the leaks aren't so bad as to affect the quality of your therapy and you feel better being able to burp and get the gas/air out of your tummy, then live with the leaks and get some sleep as best you can with an eye towards taking care of the tummy.

Second, I'd continue working on reducing the need to burp in the first place. On the gastric side: In addition to paying attention to your diet, would such things as elevating the head of the bed help? Is the burping worse if you're on your back or on your right side?

Third, I'd work on trying to train the tongue to stay firmly against the top of the mouth with the tip of the tongue resting against the back of the top front teeth. That position seems to effectively seal off the oral cavity from the upper airway. Which minimizes the excess air in the mouth. Which minimizes the urge to swallow the air. Which should lead to less aerophagia. Which should lead to less burping.

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Pugsy
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Re: Burps in the night

Post by Pugsy » Sat Jun 23, 2012 8:36 am

These new APAP machines don't chase leaks nearly as much as the older machines did. So unless they are huge and of prolonged duration..it may not make that much of a difference. Your pressure range isn't that much anyway.
They won't go chasing leaks until the leak is in large leak territory and from my past experience with my ResMed machine in auto mode...it takes a lot larger than 24 L/min leak before I see any increase in pressure that I might could blame on machine wanting to fix a leak. I have seen leaks for 15 minutes at 30 L/min with zero pressure change. These new machines just don't seem to go wildly chasing leaks nearly as much as the older APAPs used to do.

I am with Robysue. If a little leak lets you be more comfortable with the burping..I would just let it slide unless you are seeing really large leaks which I don't think you were. Gotta get the good sleep first and foremost.

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kaiasgram
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Re: Burps in the night

Post by kaiasgram » Sat Jun 23, 2012 9:46 pm

Thanks Pugsy and Robysue for your feedback on things that go burp in the night. I do practice all the things you suggested robysue, head of bed elevated, etc., and I do the best I can to keep my tongue on the roof of my mouth, though a necessary dental night guard does interfere with that unfortunately. I'm seeing my dentist next week to see if I can get a slightly less bulky night guard. Thanks again.

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insylem
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Re: Burps in the night

Post by insylem » Sun Jun 24, 2012 2:01 pm

I hate burping at night. I have the full face mask. Whenever I burp into it, I hold my breath on porpous for about 10 seconds or so so that the machine can blow the burp out the vent, otherwise it smells HORRIBLE!.
Now that ive been on it for a few months, I noticed that Im burping less then when I started. It took me a month or so for my body to get adjusted to the pressure.

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soldamerican
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Re: Burps in the night

Post by soldamerican » Sun Jun 24, 2012 4:22 pm

insylem wrote:...it smells HORRIBLE!.
Yes! Especially if your wife cooks Thai food all the time. Tastes great going down but all that garlic and chiles and spices is pretty noxious in full face mask. I'm with you, buddy!

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Re: Burps in the night

Post by Guest » Tue Jun 20, 2017 9:28 pm

I burp in the night too. I have a resmed and absolutely hate it! I always get up and go to the recliner. I sleep horribly with my CPAP. Only after I fall asleep on the couch can I go back to bed and put my CPAP back on. It's miserable. The burping is ridiculous!