Airsense 10, ruptured eardrum due to water chamber

[teuber123]

I’m three weeks into using my Airsense 10 and I have auto start selected. When I started breathing I was met with a hurricane wind that I struggled to understand and deal with it. I fought against the pressure assuming breathing would get it to adjust and the display said it was only on 4. Turning it off and on didn’t solve the problem, but removing the water chamber and reinserting did. My guess is that the chamber wasn’t completely seated and caused a runaway pressure increase. It ruptured my ear drum and caused tinnitus. I can’t be the only one that this has happened to. The water chamber seemed to have been inserted completely but obviously wasn’t.

[chunkyfrog]

No way could this have happened.
Cpap does not put out that much pressure.
Especially when set on 4 cm--barely a light breeze!
Call your attorney, and tell them to never mind.

[chunkyfrog]

I’m three weeks into using my Airsense 10 and I have auto start selected. When I started breathing I was met with a hurricane wind that I struggled to understand and deal with it. I fought against the pressure assuming breathing would get it to adjust and the display said it was only on 4. Turning it off and on didn’t solve the problem, but removing the water chamber and reinserting did. My guess is that the chamber wasn’t completely seated and caused a runaway pressure increase. It ruptured my ear drum and caused tinnitus. I can’t be the only one that this has happened to. The water chamber seemed to have been inserted completely but obviously wasn’t.

Just in case you try to edit this weirdness to something halfway believable.

[zonker]

I’m three weeks into using my Airsense 10 and I have auto start selected. When I started breathing I was met with a hurricane wind that I struggled to understand and deal with it. I fought against the pressure assuming breathing would get it to adjust and the display said it was only on 4. Turning it off and on didn’t solve the problem, but removing the water chamber and reinserting did. My guess is that the chamber wasn’t completely seated and caused a runaway pressure increase. It ruptured my ear drum and caused tinnitus. I can’t be the only one that this has happened to. The water chamber seemed to have been inserted completely but obviously wasn’t.

you are certainly the first i've heard of to report it. basically, a cpap machine doesn't put out enough pressure to blow up a balloon.

yes, there can be a massive leak if the water chamber isn't snug into place.

many people have trouble breathing against a pressure of 4 and mis-interpret that as blasting air when in reality, a higher pressure will help you to breath easier. likely 6 or 7, believe it or not.

but i'm fairly confident that the cpap machine didn't cause tinnitus.

[lazarus]

Mask doesn't go on the ears, goes on nose and mouth.

And when I play drums by ear, I am banished to the basement.

I personally believe tinnitus has more of a direct statistical connection to snoring and untreated OSA than to PAP therapy:

"We found that OSA brought about more tinnitus than hearing loss, and those patients with excessive daytime sleepiness had a higher risk of tinnitus. Furthermore, high-frequency snoring sounds, which are transmitted to the ear canal, may have a role in contributing to tinnitus."--
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl ... 20tinnitus.

[SDBud]

I’m three weeks into using my Airsense 10 and I have auto start selected. When I started breathing I was met with a hurricane wind that I struggled to understand and deal with it. I fought against the pressure assuming breathing would get it to adjust and the display said it was only on 4. Turning it off and on didn’t solve the problem, but removing the water chamber and reinserting did. My guess is that the chamber wasn’t completely seated and caused a runaway pressure increase. It ruptured my ear drum and caused tinnitus. I can’t be the only one that this has happened to. The water chamber seemed to have been inserted completely but obviously wasn’t.

I had that same issue with the pressure spike, but it didn't affect anything but my sanity, until I realized WHAT caused it,
the water chamber being just a tiny bit short of fullly inserted. Took me 2 days to actually isolate the problem.

[dataq1]

I had that same issue with the pressure spike, but it didn't affect anything but my sanity, until I realized WHAT caused it,
the water chamber being just a tiny bit short of fullly inserted.

Did this mis-alignment cause an out-of-control pressure increase or an out-of-control volume increase?

[teuber123]

The water container wasn’t completely inserted and it seemed to blowing forcefully trying to reach the starting level 4. the pressure decreased as I breathed out but as I inhaled it pulsated at extreme pressure, I don’t know if it was trying to turn itself off and autostart kept turning it back on. But resetting the reservoir got it to auto start at a gentle 4. Oscar shows the the flow rate 140 to -120 hitting 180 where normally it is between 60 to -60, mask pressure was about 9, leak rate peaked at120 then dropped to 15 then tidal volume jumped to 2000 where normal it’s around 500

[teuber123]

Seems more of a volume spike than pressure spike. Urgent care said it looked like a part of the membrane was missed but I have an ENT appointment in two days. Extreme sinus pressure on that side also. Hopefully pressure will equalize and the ringing will stop.

[ChicagoGranny]

Mask doesn't go on the ears, goes on nose and mouth.

He says later in the thread that the pressure reached 9.0. Set your machine to 9.0. Hold the hose tight against an ear. Turn the machine on. Let us know the results.

[chunkyfrog]

My guess: existing untreated sinus infection, resulting in damage to eardrum.
Too bad, but not due to the cpap!

[teuber123]

The ENT said the rupture had healed and that the membrane had a thin spot making it more susceptible to rupture and the tinnitus should go away soon, that it takes time to recover from positive pressure barotrauma. No permanent damage. I guess it’s not a common complication, she attributed it to my unfamiliarity with the machine and CPAP therapy and physiology. When it was happening I thought maybe the doctor had did an over the air update to my machine. Doesn’t P1V1=P2V2 That a high volume at low pressure would still cause a pressure increase in the sinuses due to them having a fixed volume?

Chou DW, Huntley D, Rosen D. Tympanic membrane perforation as a complication of continuous positive airway pressure. J Clin Sleep Med. 2017;13(6):835–836
McCormick JP, Hildrew DM, Lawlor CM, Guittard JA, Worley NK. Otic barotrauma resulting from continuous positive airway pressure: case report and literature review. Ochsner J. 2016;16(2):146–149
Sivri B, Sezen OS, Akbulut S, Coskuner T. The effect of continuous positive airway pressure on middle ear pressure. Laryngoscope. 2013;123(5):1300–1304

[ChicagoGranny]

Here is the link to the study and a quote from the study about coughing and inner ear pressure.

However, should the device encounter increased resistance, such as from coughing, the pressure delivered throughout the upper airway may acutely rise with the risk for otic barotrauma.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5443745/

I wonder if the subject coughed? In any case, the study authors concluded the perforation was due to the auto machine increasing the pressure to 14.5 at one or more points.

This case describes an example of tympanic membrane perforation as a result of excessive ramping of CPAP pressure.

[chunkyfrog]

ONE PATIENT, 74 years old, (thin skin), with an INFECTION (pressure and dying tissue).
A cough or a sneeze would do more damage than the cpap.
Still cannot blame the cpap, especially NOT auto-titration.
I call BS!

[palerider]

My guess is that the chamber wasn’t completely seated and caused a runaway pressure increase.

No, what you describe *did not happen* All a improperly inserted water chamber will do is cause a loud leak. the machine *NEVER* "runs away". yes, it will blow more air, to compensate for the excessive leak, but that isn't a pressure increase.

It ruptured my ear drum and caused tinnitus.

No, it didin't.

I can’t be the only one that this has happened to.

Well, since it didn't happen to you either...