About 1.5 months in and struggling mightlily

[jnew71]

As I said in my subject line - I'm about 1.5 months into using my CPAP and am struggling, especially since the 30 day adjusting auto-trial switched to a set pressure. Any advice would be most appreciated. For the past week or so (since my machine was set to a static pressure), I've been battling shortness of breath and a tightness on each side of my throat during waking hours. I attributed this to the pressure, but after a few days, I began to get nervous and went to the ER at my wife's behest (this was yesterday). The bad thing about this was that we had just gotten off of a Disney cruise and had plans to attend the Christmas party at Magic Kingdom last night. I spent 5 hours in the ER and went through a battery of tests. All negative (we did make it to the party though, so my kids were happy). The doctor attributed it to the pressure and its effects on the soft tissue of the neck and chest. He urged me to stay on the CPAP machine. I'm going to take his advice and also going to go see my sleep doc again, but am still pretty uncomfortable when breathing during the day. Until I can see my doc, I've set the machine back to APAP mode in hopes that the symptoms will subside. Is this common?

[sleep_quest]

Sorry you are suffering. What pressure is your CPAP set to - both fixed and auto? Are you using software that tells how well your therapy is going?

[jnew71]

I've set the auto back to 5-20. The set pressure was at 10.5. Most of the events I was seeing at 10.5 were CA's and from what I understand, my poor sleep could be contributing to those flags. The therapy has not been going great.

[sleep_quest]

I've set the auto back to 5-20. The set pressure was at 10.5. Most of the events I was seeing at 10.5 were CA's and from what I understand, my poor sleep could be contributing to those flags. The therapy has not been going great.

Are you using a PRS1 460 machine? Are you using software to measure your therapy (Sleepyhead maybe)? If so, you should post your graphs so that the experts can take a look at the data. That would help in terms of seeing what is going on and perhaps making some tweaks in your settings to make you more comfortable while keeping your therapy 'optimum'. If you are not using software, downloading it and analyzing your data (or getting help from the experts) may be the best first step to helping you feel better.

How often can you reset your machine back to Auto? I understand this is a 'temporary' setting and that it reverts back to fixed CPAP after 30 days.

[eleong2]

I've set the auto back to 5-20. The set pressure was at 10.5. Most of the events I was seeing at 10.5 were CA's and from what I understand, my poor sleep could be contributing to those flags. The therapy has not been going great.

Sorry to hear about the rough time, my first week was tough but after a year now I can't get to sleep without it. Just keep at it and don't give up, I feel great nowadays when I get up and don' t need to take naps anymore. I also have the System One Series 60 Pro and never had to use the trial APAP mode. My sleep study had determined my pressure to be at 12 cm/h20. I have a question concerning the trial mode, the manual says that there is a time limit of 30 days for the trial APAP. It would be interesting to know if there is no trial time limit for this machine.

[Julie]

Have you been using the ramp feature, and if so, at what setting?

[jnew71]

Sorry to hear about the rough time, my first week was tough but after a year now I can't get to sleep without it. Just keep at it and don't give up, I feel great nowadays when I get up and don' t need to take naps anymore. I also have the System One Series 60 Pro and never had to use the trial APAP mode. My sleep study had determined my pressure to be at 12 cm/h20. I have a question concerning the trial mode, the manual says that there is a time limit of 30 days for the trial APAP. It would be interesting to know if there is no trial time limit for this machine.

I don't think there is a away to make the trial mode/APAP mode permanent. It looks like it gives you 4-5 times to use it .

Have you been using the ramp feature, and if so, at what setting?

I don't use the ramp feature - the initial pressure doesn't seem to bother me.

[Pugsy]

I don't think there is a away to make the trial mode/APAP mode permanent. It looks like it gives you 4-5 times to use it .

I think it is 5 times or at least that's the way it was in the past.
What I think is done (if it works like the other model that had the initial 30 day apap mode availability) is that a person has to reset all the therapy data (erases all therapy history) and starts the machine all over in terms of therapy and gives another 30 days of apap mode availability.

I do know one person who had this type of machine and resetting the therapy to 0 wouldn't give anymore 30 days....his machine was a used machine supplied by a DME who hood winked him...so it will eventually end. The very first machines with the 30 day thing had unlimited resets but Respironics quickly saw what we could do and put limits on it.

[jnmv1969]

Have you been checked for GERD or acid reflux? Acid in your esophagus can cause some of the symptoms you are describing. I sometimes get a spasm in my throat from my acid reflux. It used to totally scare me until I figured out that stomach acid was causing it.

[FredToo]

I like to consider the simplest possibilities first. You mentioned the sides of your throat. This got my attention because your throat should really not be involved in this at all.

Before CPAP I was a typical mouth breather at night (drool on the pillow, dried out throat, sinuses clogged at night, too many colds and sore throats). However, after a few weeks of CPAP I found that my sinuses were clear, and there was no reason to sleep with my mouth open.

I invested in a strong chin strap (now the Frankenstein look was complete) and kept it shut. I truly believe that you can graduate away from that and can actually "train" yourself to sleep with your mouth closed as long as your sinuses are open. Also once you do that, you will not need a mask that covers your mouth, and this is way more comfortable.

I have been on CPAP for 4 years and probably have had 2-3 minor colds during that time. I am over them in a few days. I credit CPAP for this. So...if your throat is involved, this tells me that maybe you are breathing with your mouth open. Try a chin strap and see what happens.

If nothing else, file it under "couldn' hoit".
FredToo