Waking up unable to breath

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
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rionoirble
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Waking up unable to breath

Post by rionoirble » Mon Jun 24, 2019 3:57 pm

I'm not sure what's going on but I think this has happened several times lately. I'll wake up in the middle of the night, feel like I am suffocating, and after a few moments am able to breath and go back to sleep. I think I normally leave the mask on during these episodes, but last night I actually lept out of bed and ripped my mask off. I don't see any central apneas occurring at these moments.

I noticed last night that I was getting a LOT of drown out in my tubing, which is the heated tubing and climate control is on automatic. I have never gotten drown out before except one night when I tried manual settings a couple months ago. I changed the tubing though just to check it out, and when I took it out a teaspoon of water or so came out of the back of the machine. Changed the tube and the problem went away. I could have loosened it when I jumped out of bed, because I didn't notice the water until I put it back on after the event.

Anyway - if anyone has any ideas I'd love to hear them. I'm kind of nervous now. I originally thought these events were just high pressure events (I haven't been really watching my Sleepyhead data for a while), but the one last night my pressure was still at the baseline. Also, I feel like I had similar events before I started CPAP but am not sure if those were actual apneas or what. I'm usually very out of it when these events occur and can't really process what's going on, and by the time I'm awake fully I'm breathing again.

:shock:

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Julie
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Re: Waking up unable to breath

Post by Julie » Mon Jun 24, 2019 6:14 pm

bump

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jimbud
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Re: Waking up unable to breath

Post by jimbud » Mon Jun 24, 2019 6:21 pm

Have you checked /changed out your air intake filter?
That happened to me and that was the problem.
They will clog up at the most inopportune times.
JPB

Another thought:
When I had my machine on smartstart it began shutting down on its own. I would wake up, breath out forcefully and it would start up again. That was not a good thing. I turned off smartstart and have had no problems since. Just turn on and off manually.
That is all I have experience with.
Good luck,
JPB

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jsmit86
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Re: Waking up unable to breath

Post by jsmit86 » Mon Jun 24, 2019 6:50 pm

Regarding water in the tube... make sure that you are NOT overfilling the water chamber. If you do, it can force water into the tube.

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Pugsy
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Re: Waking up unable to breath

Post by Pugsy » Mon Jun 24, 2019 7:19 pm

I see nothing on the report that would explain the sudden wake up and the feeling of not moving enough air... Sorry....wish I did.
Looks like you were sound asleep and bam...got woke up by something.
I don't think it is apnea or airway related though.

Have you thought about turning EPR on and using it and seeing if that makes any difference or not?
The slight difference between inhale and exhale when using EPR might be more natural feeling and your brain might not be quite so panicked about it.

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rionoirble
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Re: Waking up unable to breath

Post by rionoirble » Mon Jun 24, 2019 7:32 pm

jimbud wrote:
Mon Jun 24, 2019 6:21 pm
When I had my machine on smartstart it began shutting down on its own. I would wake up, breath out forcefully and it would start up again. That was not a good thing. I turned off smartstart and have had no problems since. Just turn on and off manually.
I just checked my sleeptracker - I was still asleep when this recording stopped! It says I woke up at 1am. It also shows that at the time shown in the picture above, my breath rate and heart rate started to trend upwards a little bit. That makes a lot of sense too, because usually I wake up, take a couple of breaths, and suddenly I can breath again and I go back to sleep. Never dawned on me it could be smartstart for a second - I'm usually too unaware.

Turning that off right now - I'll let you know how it goes but I'm pretty optimistic looking at both sets of data now. :)

Thanks!
Ryan

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rionoirble
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Re: Waking up unable to breath

Post by rionoirble » Wed Jun 26, 2019 6:55 pm

Just wanted to follow up and say that seems to have been the issue. I’m glad I came here and asked, thanks again.

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jimbud
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Re: Waking up unable to breath

Post by jimbud » Thu Jun 27, 2019 8:50 am

rionoirble wrote:
Wed Jun 26, 2019 6:55 pm
Just wanted to follow up and say that seems to have been the issue. I’m glad I came here and asked, thanks again.
Thank you for the follow up.
That makes two(you and I) who seem to have had this problem.
Evidently no one else on this forum has had this particular issue when I posted about it.
It must be a rare flaw in few machines.
At least you confirm that it is an issue. Lucky you. :( and me. :(
JPB

Glad to have been helpful. :D

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