aerophagia and snoring - related?

[JDS74]

Does anyone suffering from aerophagia who uses a CPAP also have a high level of snoring (VS on a Respironics machine)?
If so, do you have an explanation about how this happens?
In the last year of so, after my catastrophic pneumothorax, the VS parameter has been reporting in the 20-35/hour range (previously it was quite low and sometimes zero) and increasing the pressure somewhat, results in the VS number getting larger rather than smaller as I expected.

I suspect mild aerophagia is the culprit - any thoughts?

[ChicagoGranny]

I suspect mild aerophagia is the culprit - any thoughts?

By what mechanism do you hypothesize that mild aerophagia is causing VS in the reports?

Do you have a bedroom partner who could comment on the presence of snoring?

[WindCpap]

There is an android/iphone app called snorelab. It tracks your snoring through the night, and even allows all night audio recording so you can review minute by minute what is going on. The playback screen is timestamped, and easy to use. It costs about $12 for the premium version that does the all night recording. You should be able to quickly get to the bottom of what is going on using this app, although, unless you know that your bed partner doesn't snore, you need to be alone in the bed.

I am currently in the process of using this app to determine if my recent weight loss merits another sleep study to see if I don't need the cpap any more. Cross your fingers for me because so far the results are promising.

[ChicagoGranny]

I am currently in the process of using this app to determine if my recent weight loss merits another sleep study to see if I don't need the cpap any more.

There are better ways to do that. If you want help, start a new thread.

[WindCpap]

I am currently in the process of using this app to determine if my recent weight loss merits another sleep study to see if I don't need the cpap any more.

There are better ways to do that. If you want help, start a new thread.

I know there are more effective ways (a recording pulseoximter would be easiest) , but this way is cheep, and I am actually very impressed with the results from the app itself. When I am facing the microphone, it catches and graphs every breath, and when I am snoring, of course it catches every breath because they are loud snores. Thanks for the offer of help, but I think have got this one. I was only bringing up what I was using it for to explain how very effective and easy to use the app is.

[ChicagoGranny]

I know there are more effective ways (a recording pulseoximter would be easiest) , but this way is cheep, and I am actually very impressed with the results from the app itself.

Uhhh, no, there are more effective methods to do what you are trying to do. And, it would have cost you no money. You would not have even had to spend $12 on a snoring app.

snoring ≠ apnea
apnea ≠ snoring

[WindCpap]

snoring ≠ apnea
apnea ≠ snoring

Yes, but
Not Snoring = Probably No Apnea (the best one can determine without a sleep study) and
(Snoring without pausing) = No Apnea,

Just out of curiosity, what method would you use to screen for sleep apnea without using anything that costs money? I have seen several people come on this forum asking for help to determine if they still need to use their cpap, and every reply has always been to get a sleep study.

[Janknitz]

The Respironics machines tend to over score VS. Unless a bed partner is complaining of your still snoring with CPAP I wouldn't give it much attention. It could just be something like be your hose knocking against the night stand.

Just out of curiosity, what method would you use to screen for sleep apnea without using anything that costs money? I have seen several people come on this forum asking for help to determine if they still need to use their cpap, and every reply has always been to get a sleep study.

I think a "poor man's" sleep study to see if you still need CPAP might be to run the machine at a fixed pressure of 4 cm/H20 and if you score a 0 and your graphs don't show anything significant, you MAY no longer need CPAP. But I'm not sure I'd trust it if you still snore. . .

[ChicagoGranny]

Just out of curiosity, what method would you use to screen for sleep apnea without using anything that costs money?

Instead of you starting a new thread to get help with this, maybe JDS should start a new thread since you have totally hijacked his.

[WindCpap]

Instead of you starting a new thread to get help with this, maybe JDS should start a new thread since you have totally hijacked his.

Since I did not ask for or require help, I don't see how I have hijacked the thread. My comment on the post was to let the OP know that there is an application out there that is very good for tracking snoring so that he can get some more insight into the issue at hand. I only posted my particular use of the application to illustrate how easy it is to use as a minute by minute monitor.

[JDS74]

ChicagoGranny - I've been on CPAP for over nine years, ASV for 5 and the VS reports are a relatively new phenomenon for me. Because real snoring is related to hypopneas, I experimented with increasing my EPAP pressure to see if the rate of VS being reported would decrease. In fact, it increased somewhat (now trying to track the data to see if this increase is real or just normal variability.) On one and only one occasion, I was partially awake and heard the snoring and it was during an exhale - not the normal part of the breathing cycle in which snoring occurs.
I (and other members of my family) are air swallowers in that we swallow air when eating, etc. and burp frequently. So the question is: does anyone else on this message board have this type of occurrence? I know aerophagia is a topic that comes up from time to time but I don't recall anyone with that problem also mentioning an elevated VS report. Right now it is a suspicion without sufficient hard data to draw a conclusion.

WindCap - thanks for the app suggestion. I will look into that to see if it can create any useful data on this issue. BTW with my ASV machine blowing, my O2 concentrator blowing and thumping, the noise level is fairly high. Don't know if that is an issue with the app you recommend. I'm also looking into throat microphones that can be connected to my IR video camera so I can see what is going on when this happens.

[ChicagoGranny]

So the question is: does anyone else on this message board have this type of occurrence?

Right, I know. That kind of got derailed.

I consider yours a special case since so few here use an oral mask.

No answers for you. Hopefully, it resolves soon and only leaves a little mystery.