New user question

[talladega]

If you folks will think back when you were new to CPAP; do you remember if the area around your lungs was sore. I am three weeks into therapy and have this soreness in the chest and middle back area.

Also how do you know when the proper humidifier setting is achieved?

[Redeye]

Hi. Two weeks so far and no chest/lung soreness. I'm on straight CPAP, i.e. not Bi, ACPAP, etc. I believe the proper humidifier setting is reached when (a) and (b) are optimized together...

(a) No water in mask/no gurgling in main hose (needs lower setting if these are a problem)
(b) Minimal dry mouth on waking (needs higher setting if this is a problem)

We'll see what those with more experience say.

[Maple Leaf]

No soreness around the chest, but my back was sore for awhile. My thought is our sleep improves so much with CPAP that our body has to adjust to the deeper sleep cycles. This may also cause changes in our muscular relaxation so an adjustment period is required? If your chest pain continues, or, intensifies, seek medical help.

Take care,
Rick

[RoninHouston]

Seventy One days and no soreness on chest. Nose bridge is a different story. Sounds like you need to see your GP.

[rosiefrosie]

yes, I did have some chest soreness when I first started using the cpap machine. I think others have had the same issue when first starting. Mine went away after a while.

rosie

[jdm5]

Just over 6 months here, and yes I experienced chest soreness. Do a search here, I don't think it is totally uncommon. I think you breath more deeply and/or require more exertion against the pressure on exhale. For me it went away in a few weeks.

Of course, if you are concerned or in pain by all means have a doctor check it out.

[kennethryan]

Me too, I got very sore, especially on the sides of my ribs. It went away eventually.

Think about it - you're making your chest muscles work harder, pushing against the airflow. Like any muscles, they get sore until they "bulk up" to accommodate the higher workout. (At least that's my belief as to the reason, I didn't actually read that anywhere).

ken

[talladega]

Thanks for the input. I am not real concerned about the soreness. I suppose that for years I have not been breathing as deep as CPAP is now requiring me to breath.

[Janknitz]

Chest soreness can also be caused by having to push air out against the CPAP pressure. Is your flex feature enabled? It's the menu item next to "Therapy" on your machine's screen. You can set it to 1, 2, or 3 for comfort. This reduces the pressure as you breathe out so you don't have to work so hard.

I think there's a "demo" mode in that menu that will allow you to see which setting makes you the most comfortable, so give it a try. Mine is set to 3--guess I'm a wimp!

[elena88]

Yes, six weeks on apap, and have had that and pain in my back behind my lungs too..
Sorry are going thru this, Im trying to figure out things too.. everyone is so helpful here..

[Learnin as I Go]

Well, I'll be damned. Yet something else to consider.

Bit of background: I've had open heart surgery where they opened up my sternum. Initial effort to close me back up -- using wire to reconnect the separated sternum -- failed. So, in early March I had a second surgery where they pulled a pectoral muscles across the sternum to hold it in place so it could heal. About 2 weeks later I was again hospitalized, this time with severe shortness of breath. Eventual diagnosis was "flail chest" where parts of the breast bone move separately when breathing -- which doesn't work very well.

Prescription for me was O2 therapy and use of Bipap at night. The idea being the muscles I use in breathing are laboring so that little if any healing was taking place. The bipap it was argued would take some of the work out of breathing, allow my muscles to relax, and thus let everything begin to heal.

Sore chest, pain in back? You betcha. It did seem to get better for awhile, but recently has been worse again. From what some of you say, perhaps it's the treatment this time around rather than the original surgery. Pulmonary doc advised me yesterday to start trying to reduce bipap usage. Not sure why; I had not complained of pain.

Man, this is complicated.

Ed