6 Months: Results, Musings, and Questions

[btown]

Started CPAP in early January. My pressure setting was diagnosed to be 20. I weighed at the time 350 lbs. Initially after getting used to cpap my AHI came down to 2-3 every night on average. Now fast forward to July. I weigh 290 lbs and have recently started having issues with cpap. Before I would always have a little bit of air in my gut (Tolerable amount) when I awoke, but recently it has gotten very painful. Now it is bad enough to wake me in the middle of the night, several times a night. Also I can no longer sleep on my side. When I try to, my lungs feel weird. It's hard to explain, I feel like I can't breath out all the way on my side, only on my back do I feel ok.

I have scheduled a meeting with my respiratory therapist, but hes backed up and wont be able to see me for weeks. Any thoughts?

[kaiasgram]

Started CPAP in early January. My pressure setting was diagnosed to be 20. I weighed at the time 350 lbs. Initially after getting used to cpap my AHI came down to 2-3 every night on average. Now fast forward to July. I weigh 290 lbs and have recently started having issues with cpap. Before I would always have a little bit of air in my gut (Tolerable amount) when I awoke, but recently it has gotten very painful. Now it is bad enough to wake me in the middle of the night, several times a night. Also I can no longer sleep on my side. When I try to, my lungs feel weird. It's hard to explain, I feel like I can't breath out all the way on my side, only on my back do I feel ok.

Is your AHI still the same? Is the only issue that your aerophagia has gotten worse? And are you on a fixed pressure or auto? I wonder if you no longer need as high a pressure at your lower weight, and that's why you're struggling with more air in your GI tract. If you're on a fixed pressure that is now a little too high for you, the worsening aerophagia would make sense. Let us know what your RT says about it.

As for the back vs. side sleeping -- I have the same problem that you do, side sleeping (either side) gets very uncomfortable very fast compared to being on my back. My layperson 'theory' is that laying on my side compresses my chest in a particular way and my body becomes even less tolerant and more sensitive to the effects of aerophagia. Within moments of turning onto my side, the burping starts!

[btown]

Constant pressure. AHI has remained steady at 2-3.

[jweeks]

... My pressure setting was diagnosed to be 20. I weighed at the time 350 lbs. Initially after getting used to cpap my AHI came down to 2-3 every night on average. Now fast forward to July. I weigh 290 lbs and have recently started having issues with cpap. Before I would always have a little bit of air in my gut (Tolerable amount) when I awoke, but recently it has gotten very painful.

Hi,

This was me last year. I started at 330 lbs, BiPAP at 13/20. CPAP was working great with no air issues. I started to lose weight. When I got down to 285, I started to have nasty issues with air. Even if it didn't wake me up in pain with a bloated stomach, I'd still end up tooting for an hour or two after I woke up. This dogged me all the way down to about 235 lbs, and then it went away just as fast as it started.

I did try playing with pressures. I found that I could prevent the air problem by turning down the pressure, but then my pressure was too low for me to get good sleep. Catch 22.

I don't have any answers for you. All I can say is that I know what you are going through, and it really does hurt. At a pressure of 20, BiPAP might help, and running in auto mode might help. Also, if you are position sensitive, you might do better on your side, and that might allow the pressure to be reduced.

-john-

[chunkyfrog]

Ask your doc's scheduling desk if you can get in if there's a cancellation.
Stress that you are having TROUBLE BREATHING.
See if someone pays attention then.