tongue clicking in back of throat ruining my life

[zebrazebra]

Hi all,

I would really appreciate your advice in this matter that is ruining my life.

I am a 5-year happy CPAP user. I LOVE my CPAP and it has really helped me get my life back. For the longest time, my settings were: Apap [5-10], EPR = 3.

About 1 month ago, I got sick (nasty cold type thing). I felt like I needed more air, so I increased my settings to [6.8-9] (why decrease max to 9? --> I know that the max pressure never goes above ~8, and I was having trouble with aerophagia, hence why I decreased the max slightly).

Around that time (hard to say exactly when, but within a couple days), I started being woken up with "jolts". Every time I would almost fall asleep, a jolt would wake me up. After a few sleepless nights (and I mean - truly sleepless!), I started to realize that the "jolts" were in fact some tongue clicking in the back of my throat right after exhale (right as I start to inhale.) Basically like if you loudly say the letter "K". It happens at EVERY SINGLE BREATH.

I started to fiddle around with my settings, including removing EPR, but surprisingly even EPR = 1 still creates the same problem. And removing EPR altogether is a bit better (although not perfect - clicking is still there but not as audible), but I simply cannot sleep well without EPR. This is a night without EPR on https://sleephq.com/public/ebc63fb8-d3d ... e6f82877cc . As you can see I had a lot of trouble staying asleep, and my flow limitations kind of killed me - I felt like I hadn't slept all night long.

On occasion I am so exhausted that I manage to sleep through the whole shabang, and my sleep data looks amazing! See https://sleephq.com/public/8bb535ad-e55 ... 5f35758d08 . However the clicking is not captured

I am not sure if (1) this problem has always been there but I used to sleep through it, or (2) it's a new thing, or (3) it only happens at pressures above 5.5 so perhaps I was managing to fall asleep before it would start?

Of note: since this whole thing started, my throat has felt super sore, as has my lung (?) area. I'm wondering if this could be related to GERD? I am following up with my PCP.

If anyone has any ideas about this I would be most grateful!

[zebrazebra]

Hello, just posting last night's data in case someone spots anything? The data looks good to me but I'm feel extremely tired today - have had to take off from work.

https://sleephq.com/public/6957badc-7b8 ... f185f448d4

(Don't pay attention to settings: I played around with my settings at the end of the night but the settings were [5-8.6] with EPR of 3 for the bulk of the night. Rationale for these settings: there's no tongue clicking at pressure = 5 so I'm able to fall asleep.)

[spitintheocean]

Hi all,

I would really appreciate your advice in this matter that is ruining my life.

I am a 5-year happy CPAP user. I LOVE my CPAP and it has really helped me get my life back. For the longest time, my settings were: Apap [5-10], EPR = 3.

About 1 month ago, I got sick (nasty cold type thing). I felt like I needed more air, so I increased my settings to [6.8-9] (why decrease max to 9? --> I know that the max pressure never goes above ~8, and I was having trouble with aerophagia, hence why I decreased the max slightly).

Around that time (hard to say exactly when, but within a couple days), I started being woken up with "jolts". Every time I would almost fall asleep, a jolt would wake me up. After a few sleepless nights (and I mean - truly sleepless!), I started to realize that the "jolts" were in fact some tongue clicking in the back of my throat right after exhale (right as I start to inhale.) Basically like if you loudly say the letter "K". It happens at EVERY SINGLE BREATH.

I started to fiddle around with my settings, including removing EPR, but surprisingly even EPR = 1 still creates the same problem. And removing EPR altogether is a bit better (although not perfect - clicking is still there but not as audible), but I simply cannot sleep well without EPR. This is a night without EPR on https://sleephq.com/public/ebc63fb8-d3d ... e6f82877cc . As you can see I had a lot of trouble staying asleep, and my flow limitations kind of killed me - I felt like I hadn't slept all night long.

On occasion I am so exhausted that I manage to sleep through the whole shabang, and my sleep data looks amazing! See https://sleephq.com/public/8bb535ad-e55 ... 5f35758d08 . However the clicking is not captured

I am not sure if (1) this problem has always been there but I used to sleep through it, or (2) it's a new thing, or (3) it only happens at pressures above 5.5 so perhaps I was managing to fall asleep before it would start?

Of note: since this whole thing started, my throat has felt super sore, as has my lung (?) area. I'm wondering if this could be related to GERD? I am following up with my PCP.

If anyone has any ideas about this I would be most grateful!

That kind of clicking right at the transition from exhale to inhale is often related to soft palate or tongue position changing as pressure support drops, especially when EPR is on, because the airway briefly relaxes and then reopens with the next breath. After a cold or irritation the tissues can be more sensitive, which can make you suddenly notice something that was always mild before. It can also be worsened by reflux, dryness, or a pressure range that now sits right at the threshold where the airway wants to flutter. Sometimes narrowing the pressure range, slightly reducing EPR, or increasing humidity helps stabilize that transition, but it’s good you’re checking with your doctor to rule out reflux or inflammation since the sore throat started at the same time.