Chest pain like severe indigestion

[bibj12]

I am new to cpaptalk.com. I started having problems in December wanting to sleep all the time and feeling tired. I went to a sleep study clinic in April and they determined I had sleep apnea. My doctor told me the reason I felt like I wanted to sleep all the time was because my airway was closing up and I wasn't getting any deep sleep. He prescribed a full face CPAP mask which he said would keep my airway open and I started using it on May 21, 2012. I have used it for 10 nights now and have had several problems. I would appreciate any information from anyone as to whether they have had any of these problems or not. I have had no relief so far and am still waking up in the morning very tired, groggy and have weakness in my legs. My mind is so fogged up it's hard to think. For 3 different nights I woke up with chest pain like severe indigestion and the pain goes through to my back. I do have acid reflux. The first night I experienced this I started rubbing my chest and felt an extremely sore nodule between my breasts. The pain kept getting worse so I turned the CPAP machine off. Within about 2 minutes or less the pain and nodule were gone. I had similar pain two more times but not as severe although the pain lasted a little longer after I turned the machine off. After the first episode of chest pain the doctor gave a new prescription to change the pressure although I haven't noticed any improvement. I am feeling worse each day. When I call in the nurse just tells me it will take awhile to adjust to the machine. I don't understand. If the CPAP is keeping my airway open I should be getting some deep sleep. If I'm getting deep sleep I should feel better according to the doctor. I am going to a CPAP Clinic on Wednesday, June 6 and will ask some further questions but I just wondered if anyone else has had this chest pain.

[Pugsy]

Welcome to the forum.
Please add your equipment to your profile....here's how if you don't know wiki/index.php/Registering_Equipment_in_User_Profile
If you happen to be using a new Respironics machine the names for the models are a bit confusing...look for PR System One grouping.

Chest pain needs to be evaluated by a physician. Since you seem to have already done this and he reduced the pressure a bit I won't go into that part of things.

Exhaling against pressure is hard work and depending on the pressure used it can be extremely hard work and the chest wall muscles can get sore just like any other muscles that haven't had a good work out in a while. With time this usually subsides.
Acid reflux can also mimic chest pain....how many people go to the ER thinking heart attack and come out with heartburn.

The not feeling well and actually maybe feeling worse with the use of the cpap machine could be any number of things.
What pressure was originally prescribed? What was the pressure reduced to?
10 nights is not very long and even if things were optimal it takes time for improvements to be seen despite the overnight miracle stories you read (those are rare and those people are extremely lucky).

So while we don't expect overnight improvement we sure don't want to feel worse on the machine while it is supposed to be helping us.

When we don't feel better...we need to evaluate all the possible culprits for not feeling so good. Unfortunately there is a lot more to this therapy than just slapping the mask on.
Hopefully your machine will offer full data and we can point you to software so that we can evaluate the therapy part of things. Also, need to take a look at any other possible culprits like how many hours of sleep are you getting and is that sleep fragmented from a lot of wake ups for some reason? Is the mask comfortable? Any leaking? Do you have insomnia as in trouble falling asleep or staying asleep? Do you take any meds that have unwanted sleep side effects? Is your bed comfortable? and the list goes on but you get the idea.
If you have problems unrelated to sleep apnea then the machine can't fix those things but we have to make sure that the therapy is at least optimal first and we use the software to evaluate the therapy aspect of things.

[jab1972]

I too experienced chest discomfort my first couple weeks on CPAP. It turned out to be me adjusting to the increased work my chest was doing at night. But I still went to see the doc, just to rule out anything else. Sleep apnea is a risk factor for cardio events, so it pays to be careful.

[Lizistired]

I take naps frequently without my CPAP. I still feel tired and sleepy when I wake up which is the same way I feel when I use my CPAP. It has never worked well for me and that's why I'm thinking of giving it up. I'm old so probably won't have to feel bad much longer.

I don't want to hijack the other thread.
Don't just give up. But you have to help us to help you. The first 2 threads you started were a start, but you didn't respond to suggestions. It's best to stick to one thread so it's easy for members to catch up on your situation and know what advice has been given and tried.

Did you have a titration?
What are your pressure settings?
Have you been able to get AHI and leak data from your machine?
Do you have a follow up scheduled with your sleep doctor?