Cpap makes me fart and burp

[insylem]

Hello,
Some nights I swollow alot of air with my cpap. Somenights I wake up bloated and have to wait till I burp a few times befroe going back to sleep
Other times I fart alot in the morning. Sometimes when I'm laying in bed I can feel/hear the air bubbleing into my stomach.
Most the time its not so bad though and everything is fine.
I'm wondering if there are any tips or tricks that you guys/gals have that helps prevent swollowing air.
Also, what kind of long term effects can this have on my stomach? Anything bad? Or will I adapt okay?
I've been on CPAP compliant since about last febuary (2012)

[Pugsy]

Aerophagia

wiki/index.php/Aerophagia

If intermittent and you can live with it...it's annoying but that is about it.

[chunkyfrog]

Sometime cpap can be entertaining.

[BlackSpinner]

For me it depends on the mask I wear and how I sleep. I seem to have less issues with my hybrid mask and if I sleep on my left side. The hybrid keeps my mouth shut too which seems to help. This month I had a cold/flu and I was wearing my quatro and obviously more stuffed up and I had lots more problems.

I also found if I woke up in the middle the night with gas discomfort, that Gas-X helped.

[purple]

Aerophagia.

Walk a bit, move around and burp the gas out. Yes, the problem can be more than trivial or funny. I am worst if I lay on my back.

While I do not now use it. Gaviscon might help a little. It is not the same as stomach gas in that it is real air, and Simethicone might not help much at all. Some have told me to raise the head of my bed, which is part of the treatment of GERD.

I bet you have also had GERD in your life? The creation of the symptoms of GERD is likely related to the fact we have, often since we were babies, gasped for air. We had a smaller airway to pull in air, most likely a smaller nose inherited from our parents, perhaps swollen adenoids, tonsils. As we grew the gasping affected how our jaw developed. Instead of the jaw growing forward, and widening, it grew at a smaller size. As an adult, as our tongue grew into adult size, the space in the back of our throat grew smaller, we gasped more. That creates a sump pump effect on the stomach, which draws stomach acid up into the esophagus, which damages the valve at the top of the stomach. The early symptom is GERD. Experiments suggest that the undamaged valve at the top of the stomach can hold off a pressure of 20, without air getting into the stomach. Problem is that often that valve has been damaged by stomach acid. When you add air pressure from the xPAP machine, as you exhale the air has to go somewhere. One doc suggested to me that a Nasal Mask is the cure. I spoke with a long time sleep lab technician who told me that in their experience, any one who is willing to make the effort, they can learn to use a Nasal Mask, and if necessary, teach themselves to inhale through their nose, and exhale through their mouth, even while asleep. She said she had been in the sleep business, and herself a sleep apnea sufferer, since the first testing days when they used vacuum cleaner sealed with tape to provide treatment. Also, she had never seen an Aerophagia case as bad as mine. I had to get up during the study and walk around to burp out air. My excuse for no nasal mask is that I have an opening in my sinuses to my eyes that was caused by getting punched in the face. I can not take that much pressure in my nose without it coming out my tear duct.

The other symptoms you might notice, when you wake up your mouth has a bitter taste, perhaps you mistake that for dry mouth. That is caused by stomach acid. The nose is drippy even during the day, this is caused by the stomach acid that was drawn up, and irritating the sinuses.

You can get rid of some of the stomach acid symptoms by taking a drug like Prilosec, at a doctor prescribed dose. See your GP about that.

One of the other issues is having a machine set to auto, the more air one swallows, the air in the stomach puts pressure on the heart and lungs, which creates more apneas, so the machine increases the pressure again to stop the apneas, one swallows more air. . .

I went to a Bi-Level machine because I needed more pressure, and the higher pressure caused Aerophagia. The doc said if my pressure needed to be 12 or above, then I would be a good candidate for a Bi Level machine.

If I am wrong, then someone please correct me. This is what I understand on the subject.

[Sir NoddinOff]

For many people on this forum aerphagia (plus the bloating and farting) simply goes away after awhile. Could be weeks, could be months. That's been my case over the last several months... now I rarely get it at all.

There's been some past discussion why this happens. The issues, as I recall, are whether the Lower Esophageal Sphincter (LES) actually strengthens over time and learns how to seal effectively or whether the tendons that control it merely toughen up. Just speculating now, however one's nervous system probably plays a role in this. Hard to say exactly, but in my case, just waiting it out worked great. If waiting it out is going to solve your problems, I should think you'd see definite improvement within a couple of months. Meanwhile, managing the gas and bloating with OTCs is a good idea.

Unfortunately I can't find the previous references I just cited, but if one looks hard enough I suppose they'll turn up. Maybe someone else can point them out?

[ddk]

I posted on this topic a few days ago and it got deleted by the mods who seem to lack a sense of humour.

I have read that chin-straps help to lessen the symptoms.

[BlackSpinner]

Food can also make a difference.

Sugary stuff , mint tea apparently seems to leave the sphincter less able to keep out the air.

[archangle]

What CPAP machine model do you have?

Are you using Flex? It may help a little.

[lorraineg57]

I only have that issue if I'm opening my mouth at night. I woke up one of my first nights with stomach pain so bad I almost woke my husband to take me to the ER. Walked around a bit, went back to bed and laid on the side where the pain was...must have uh...dislodged something because the pain went away.

[RosemaryB]

I've used my cpap for more than 5 years. The night after my sleep study I was glad to have an office with a door that closed. Unbelievable, really! And painful, too. I kept the door closed, believe me Now, I never notice anything. It was never as bad as that first night, but for a while I got up extra early before work to dispell the gas.

Perhaps a form of alternative energy, "natural" gas

[Starlette]

Back in '90 - '92 when I was really heavy into yoga, I asked my instructor about gas in the form of farting.
One of the instructions she gave me was to lay on the floor, pull your knees up to your face like in a fetal position and blow away you might say
I have to agree with CF that sometimes OSA can be rather entertaining

[ButtermilkBuoy]

mint tea apparently seems to leave the sphincter less able to keep out the air.

Well mint tea is coming out of Chunkun's diet! We'll see if that sphincter can hold it in now.

[ButtermilkBuoy]

Amazing what I have already learned here.

[jeepnham]

I've been on the hose for 3 years. Still get 'the wind' every morning. I just look over to the wife & say "dam cpap" then smile!!!