Trouble swallowing air, sometimes mouth is dried out

[sleepsearcher]

After using the CPAP machine for a about a month, I started having problems with air in my stomach. I had so much pain in my stomach two nights in a row after only using the machine for two hours both nights. I had an upper GI done and they said I have a weak LES muscle. I didn't use the machine for about a week but started feeling really lousy from not sleeping very well. I had the doctor reduce the pressure and even reduced it down to 4 hoping that I could use the machine without air being forced into my stomach. Now sometimes I wake up and although my mouth is not open, my jaw is open and my throat and mouth are dried out. I've tried to keep my mouth and jaw closed but it's very difficult since I have acid reflex and sleep on a wedge pillow. Today, I kept feeling like I needed to burp and had difficulty burping. I'm wondering if I swallowed air again last night which made my stomach bloated and made me need to burp. I can't figure out what else could have caused this problem.

I hate going to doctors. All they do is take my money and help very little or none at all! Wish I could find a doctor with a money back guarantee. If he didn't help me, I'd get my money back. Yeah, right! That's real likely!

Has anyone else had any of these problems or have any suggestions?

[NightHawkeye]

Sleepsearcher, no you're not alone, not by a long shot. Unfortunately, there are no easy answers that I know of. I've found that if I sleep on my side full stretched out that helps a lot, but don't really know why. I also switched to BiPAP a week ago and that also seems to have helped some although it didn't eliminate the aerophagia. The theory is that aerophagia mostly occurs on exhale, so a BiPAP, by lowering the exhale pressure, reduces aerophagia.

If you're renting your CPAP, you might see if you can try out a BiPAP. The bi-flex feature in the Respironics BiPAP-auto also seems to help because it further lowers the pressure during a portion of the exhale time.

Regards,
Bill

[roztom]

I've been waking up lately after a night of hose adventure with a bloatred feeling and some excess "exhaust." This only takes place in the morning.

I suspect air is getting down there.

Instead of mouth leaks I've got a butt leak.

Best,

Tom