swallowing air

[Belchey]

Cant stay asleep with cpap for different reasons. First, the amount of air swallowed in 20 minutes wakes me and leaves me belching painfully. Even on side or stomach. Have raised head of bed. Any suggestions?

[pjwalman]

Hi, Belchey! Can't see what equipment you're using since your profile isn't filled out, so I don't know if you're on straight CPAP or APAP. My aerophagia (swallowing air) was ten times worse with straight pressure blasting at me all night. Once I moved to APAP, it calmed down a little, but maybe that was coincidental with my realizing the problem more likely was GERD and just aggravated by the CPAP air. So you might want to look up GERD to see more about that, but I can tell you that if I eat fatty, greasy things within even a few hours of bedtime, my night is doomed. Seems like dairy sometimes has an effect, too, but maybe that is more the fat content than the dairy aspect. Also, the upper G.I. doc I just saw this week said to not eat within four hours of bedtime, something which I doubt I can comply with because it's contrary to our dinner habits, but I'll throw that out for your consideration. Also, if you take Prilosec or Pepcid, you might try taking it at night rather than in the morning.

Since you've already raised the head of the bed, I don't know much more to add other than...just burp and toot away until you feel better and know that there are hundreds of us out here tooting and burping right along with you!

Peggy

[JMG]

At least you're only burping! JK. I had this problem and I ended up with stomach cramps and nausea as well as burping and tooting! I was upped from a 10 setting to a 12 setting and that's when it all started. So I got reduced back to a 10 setting. Other thing to make sure of is that your ramp time is nice and LONG. If it's too short this can make swallowing air worse.