pain!

[SharonM723]

Just started using BiPap. Have severe sleep apnea with 118 episodes per hour. Is it common to have chest/abdominal pain? Also have back/body pain. So uncomfortable. Is is from breathing differently and using new muscles? Staying in one position all night? Getting really discouraged. Sure, I wake up rested but in pain!!!!!

[Sheriff Buford]

I noticed new pains in my shoulders and back after starting therapy. I attribute to sleeping in one position for a long period of time. At the time, I had a 20 year old bed. I bought a Temperpedic, and in heaven. I figured if I was going to sleep soundly in one position, it was going to be on a good bed.

Sheriff

[Pugsy]

Exhaling against pressure does require some effort or work and when muscles are used that haven't been used in such a manner before then they get sore.
Chest wall discomfort is fairly common. The chest wall muscles are doing a bit of work that they haven't ever done before.
They get sore.
Body aches and pains in general are also common because sometimes we do just stay in one position.
The chest wall discomfort will go away in time as the muscles get used to the work load but I the other aches and pains from not moving around you may need to work on if it continues.

[Wonderbeastlett]

Ive been haveing a bit of neck pain since I started. I think it's because of my headgear being extra tight at the bottom and a little looser on top. I kinda feel like it restrains my neck by pulling it forward!? I haven't really had an issue with sleeping. I sleep in whatever position I want and my mask usually can take it. I've felt a bit of chest pressure and my ears pop sometimes. I guess if forced air is being pushed in our lungs then perhaps a little discomfort will happen. It shouldn't be overly painful though!

[lliann]

I am on my first month of consistently using my vpap and I also noticed little tweaks. Chest aches, and even an ache in the canal on the left side of my throat.. Laying in one place, being overweight and over 60, I thought could invite some new unfamiliar sensations .

But I also have been dealing with aerophagia, swallowing air. This has made me very gassy in the midrift area. The first few times I got it I was quite alarmed with what felt like pain. I was able to come to see that the new increased amounts of oxygen in my body was affecting many things. To be honest, I got constipated and its been decades since I got that so I didn't recognize it. Once I treated that symptom, that worry went away. But I didn't recognize the pain/discomfort and immediately thought the vpap was doing something bad to me. Instead, what I am learning is that it may be correcting /awakening some things that may be good(but unfamiliar and incomplete yet)


I don't know any of this for sure. Taking it one day at a time and relearning my body and how it feels on oxygen as opposed to constant oxygen starvation all night long.

[Pugsy]

I guess if forced air is being pushed in our lungs then perhaps a little discomfort will happen.

Actually air is not "forced" into the lungs with the basic cpap/apap machines. To do that would require ventilator force. Now the ASV machines will act like a ventilator and deliver a burst of pressure to try to jump start breathing but even it won't inflate the lungs like most people would think. Using cpap/apap won't inflate the lungs (or chest wall) past where normal breathing inflates them and won't inflate the lungs in the absence of respiratory action. Even 20 cm straight pressure will barely inflate a balloon that has already been stretched out and a brand new balloon it can't inflate past the initial tiny size. I know it feels like a hurricane but it really isn't.
The chest wall discomfort felt by many is just from the "work" of exhaling against the pressure.

[Wonderbeastlett]

Ah I see! It feels very forced/pressurized to me! My ears will pop in the morn but I can understand that pushing against the pressure!

[SharonM723]

Thanks everyone. I woke up crying this morning. Feel like I am fighting an uphill battle. I really appreciate your comments. Going to try and hang in there.

[Pugsy]

Ah I see! It feels very forced/pressurized to me! My ears will pop in the morn but I can understand that pushing against the pressure!

The ear thing...totally different from the chest wall thing because it doesn't take much change in pressure to affect the ears.
Think going down the road and up and down a big hill in a car and your ears will pop or need to have the pressure stabilized.
The inner ear is connected to the nasal cavity by little tiny passageways and for some people the pressure sneaking into the inner ear can be rather upsetting and make it harder to "clear" or stabilize the ear pressure.
When you first put the mask on and turn the machine on you might try doing what you would normally do to clear your ears.
I big yawn helps...swallowing helps..whatever you might do say if you were flying in an airplane. Same sort of principle.
In the morning...same thing. With time the body should adjust to the pressures and the inner ear won't find the changes so awful.
If it doesn't and/or you have ear pain....see your doctor about it.

[TiredTooLong]

I'm about 17 days into the CPAP. Feel a lot better. I haven't noticed any additional pain...but maybe that's because I have fibromyalgia and take 4 ibuprophen before going to bed. I do turn over so do move about a bit.

[Julie]

If you use one of the hose hangers ('buddies') that keeps the hose overhead, you don't have to stay in one position all night (if anyone thought they did).

[chunkyfrog]

I had chest wall pain in the first few days--muscle strain from breathing deeply; it went away in a few days.
Abdominal pain may be due to aerophagia (swallowing air) Releasing the air feels so much better.
(even though it can gross people out! ) --other solutions abound here.
The sensation of breathing against a hurricane also goes away. I have to feel by the exhaust to know if my blower is on.
Cpap makes you more aware if you have a saggy bed, because the other problems are being eliminated.

[Sir NoddinOff]

I guess if forced air is being pushed in our lungs then perhaps a little discomfort will happen.

Even 20 cm straight pressure will barely inflate a balloon that has already been stretched out and a brand new balloon it can't inflate past the initial tiny size.

I did not know that... I just assumed that the machine inflated us like balloon. This is a reassuring thing to hear.

[Pugsy]

I did not know that... I just assumed that the machine inflated us like balloon. This is a reassuring thing to hear.

The balloon experiment was reported by another forum member. I don't remember who it was.
I was amazed also. While I knew the pressure wasn't nearly as great as it feels, I did think that it might have a bit of force to it but it really doesn't. Someone attached a balloon to the end of the hose and tried it. A "used" balloon is relatively easy to inflate up to the point it was originally inflated but a brand new balloon takes a lot more force.
I think that people think that the machine will force air into the lungs and make them go up and down like we see on the movies when people are on a ventilator and the machines just don't do that. They don't/can't breathe for you. The pressure just helps keep the airway from collapsing. Unless someone has lung disease of some sort then the air pressure doesn't really impact the lungs. This is why the contraindication of cpap use for some people with compromised lungs.

The aerophagia stuff is more from the accumulation of it. No where for it to go and the stomach will eventually rebel and distend and cause pain. It isn't the force of the air because people using 8 cm of pressure can get really painful aerophagia...it is just the quantity of air that accumulates and not expelled quickly enough.

[OldLincoln]

I guess if forced air is being pushed in our lungs then perhaps a little discomfort will happen.

Actually air is not "forced" into the lungs with the basic cpap/apap machines. To do that would require ventilator force. Now the ASV machines will act like a ventilator and deliver a burst of pressure to try to jump start breathing but even it won't inflate the lungs like most people would think. Using cpap/apap won't inflate the lungs (or chest wall) past where normal breathing inflates them and won't inflate the lungs in the absence of respiratory action. Even 20 cm straight pressure will barely inflate a balloon that has already been stretched out and a brand new balloon it can't inflate past the initial tiny size. I know it feels like a hurricane but it really isn't.
The chest wall discomfort felt by many is just from the "work" of exhaling against the pressure.

Pugsy, you are correct as long as the LES is working correctly and blocking the air flow from the stomach. If a patient experiences significant GERD that may not be the case as it's a symptom of a weak LES. I am one such example and have proven my LES starts breaking down at 7.5ccm and naturally breaks down further the higher the pressure gets.

So what to do. I changer from a CPAP set at 10 to an APAP set at 6-14. Over half the night id below my LES threshold so no bloating except for the short times to open the airway when an apnea hit. I still have minor bloating by no pain and I can manage that. The original bloating was extremely painful and the APAP was my last resort before giving up.