Chest Soreness - Strategy?

[mtncpapblue]

Fairly recent CPAPer here - 2+ months.
Doc told me my chest soreness was due to my lungs being inflated with air due to the CPAP pressure, which is a different state than before CPAP. The chest soreness is the muscles responding to this new lung-filled pressure.
OK, so should I be ramping up my usage gradually. My sleep therapist essentially has no advice on this, at least no meaningful responses.
With the mask on, once all set for comfort etc., I can go 10 hours straight. Is this too long???

[greatunclebill]

i think you'll adjust to it. you are breathing deeper because the cpap is doing it's job keeping the airway open. the cpap does not inflate your lungs or something like that. cpap's are actually very low pressure in the .2 - .3 psi range, not even enough to inflate a balloon.

[Pugsy]

I found that it wasn't so much the added inhalation as it was the "work" that is involved during exhalation that caused a little of that chest wall discomfort. It takes more "work" to exhale against the pressure than the chest wall muscles are used to. Just different "work". Using muscles that haven't worked in this manner so as with all muscles that are used in a different manner they tend to get a bit sore. With time as they get used to the "work" involved with exhaling against the pressure the muscle soreness will fade away. The amount of positive air pressure entering the airway isn't nearly as forceful as one might think.
Take a new balloon and stretch it over the end of the hose and see how much inflation you get. You won't get much even if the balloon as already been stretched out.
We tend to picture a hospital setting with a real respirator causing the chest wall to rise and fall with each force of the ventilator and think the cpap machines work like that but they don't put out nearly that much force.

[archangle]

Fairly recent CPAPer here - 2+ months.
Doc told me my chest soreness was due to my lungs being inflated with air due to the CPAP pressure, which is a different state than before CPAP. The chest soreness is the muscles responding to this new lung-filled pressure.
OK, so should I be ramping up my usage gradually. My sleep therapist essentially has no advice on this, at least no meaningful responses.
With the mask on, once all set for comfort etc., I can go 10 hours straight. Is this too long???

It's not too long, unless the pain is too much for you. Is the pain going away slowly?

I don't think it's your lungs being inflated, it's probably due to your chest muscles having to work harder to exhale. They should strengthen up fairly quickly.

What's your pressure setting?

If the pain is too bad, I'd suggest reducing the maximum pressure and then gradually upping it.

[greatunclebill]

We tend to picture a hospital setting with a real respirator causing the chest wall to rise and fall with each force of the ventilator and think the cpap machines work like that but they don't put out nearly that much force.

cpap machines are mostly 4-20, up to 30 while the respirators are up in the range of 90 cm/h2o. big difference.