First few nights on new APAP

[suneilp]

I got my APAP (m auto a-flex) last Friday. First thing I did when I got home was stow that crappy CPAP away and set up my new APAP. I woke up on Saturday feeling no better. I also woke up with a lot of chest pain from my GERD.

I was stupid enough to go out to a mexican restaurant and ate some jalapeno poppers because my roommate really wanted to get some but didn't want to eat them all.

And then on Saturday I went out for lunch and dinner with friends. Even though I picked better foods I still ate too much.

I was awake most of Saturday night and went to bed at the crack of dawn. I slept for 5 hours and when I woke up I felt not so bad. It wasn't a refreshing feeling but it definitely wasn't like sleeping with a CPAP and just suffocating during sleep. I felt better that whole day without the feeling of daytime sleepiness.

I'm guessing Saturday night the APAP worked partially for me. I still woke up on Sunday with a lot of chest pain. If it wasn't for that pain I would probably have sleep 8 hours.

My sleep last night wasn't great. I propped myself a lot more but I also had some serious nasal congestion. I did a nasal irrigation and took a double dose of flucatasone nasal spray. That cleared up my sinuses, especially with a few minutes of straight CPAP.

I'm assuming the pain from the GERD was keeping me from going into deeper stages of sleep. The new APAP definitely feels a lot more comfortable. I did take a bit to readjust to the pressure relief system but I'm pretty well adjusted to breathing with the APAP now.

I'm still experiencing chest pain and discomfort. I tried using several home remedies since the prevacid, zantac, mylanta, and tums weren't any help during the weekend. I'm hoping it will go away and I can recover from my stupid actions on Friday and Saturday. I'm trying home remedies like apples, aloe vera juice, papaya enzyme tables, baking soda, and I will try apple cider vinegar tonight. The baking soda seems to work best but its not enough. I am working on portion size too, I was definitely eating way too much earlier.

If anyone has suggestions for dealing with GERD I'd appreciate it. I've been searching for advice on dealing with acid reflux problems but nothing has really helped.

I wish I could at least get rid of the pain so I could sleep more comfortably. I don't really like sleeping upright, I can do it but its not that comfortable for me. I may try taking a lot of advil tonight so I can sleep with a less upright position. Saturday night where I slept better was barely propped up and I even switched to a flat position during the middle of my sleep.

[roster]

-Elevate the head of your bed four to five inches.
-Don't eat within 4 hours of bedtime.

How long have you been using XPAP?

Have you seen a doctor? I needed Prevacid for three months to allow my esophagus to heal.

[suneilp]

I was elevating my whole torso so I was at about 60 degrees.

I've stopped eating 3 hours before bedtime other than water.

I have prevacid that I was prescribed 3 weeks ago but the acid reflux over the weekend was bad. I suppose it will go down as long as I watch my diet very strictly.

[RipVW]

Had this issue for years, did all of the OTC remedies. Finally, 4-5 years ago, my doc prescribed Nexium ("The Purple Pill). I NEVER have a problem now, and I can eat--anything Jalopeno poppers, pizza, spaghetti . . . Ask you doc about a trial.

[suneilp]

Had this issue for years, did all of the OTC remedies. Finally, 4-5 years ago, my doc prescribed Nexium ("The Purple Pill). I NEVER have a problem now, and I can eat--anything Jalopeno poppers, pizza, spaghetti . . . Ask you doc about a trial.

Is nexium really better than prevacid?

[RipVW]

I haven't tried prevacid, so I'm afraid I cannot offer a comparison. But, I do know Nexium works so well for me.

[Pezz]

I had severe acid reflux that would cause vomiting no matter my diet or over the counter medication. Now I take Protonix, There is now way to get heartburn now. I am hispanic and pretty much won't eat it if it isn't spicy, and there is no such thing as too hot, I LOVE IT!!!

[suneilp]

I had severe acid reflux that would cause vomiting no matter my diet or over the counter medication. Now I take Protonix, There is now way to get heartburn now. I am hispanic and pretty much won't eat it if it isn't spicy, and there is no such thing as too hot, I LOVE IT!!!

I'm seeing the doctor so I'll ask him about Protonix and Nexium. I miss all the spicy food, food is so boring now.

[roster]

.........
I have prevacid that I was prescribed 3 weeks ago but the acid reflux over the weekend was bad. I suppose it will go down as long as I watch my diet very strictly.

Prevacid worked like a charm for me. The GI doc's assistant was surprised to hear this and said they usually have to try a few different drugs before the patient finds one that works. I was surprised to hear her comment so who knows?

[TSSleepy]

Long before I even thought I might have sleep apnea, I had chronic acid reflux and heartburn that would get really bad at night.

In the 80's I chewed Rolaids like they were candy, but they didn't do much. In the late 90's, I started taking Zantac and if I stayed on top of it, and took at least a couple/day...they mostly took care of the symptoms.

Three years ago, my mother (who had the same heartburn/acid reflux issues as me) was diagnosed with esophageal cancer and died two months after diagnosis.

That's when I started taking heartburn MUCH more seriously. Acid can damage the base of your esophagus (where it enter the stomach) and trigger the tissue to regenerate into a tougher, faster-growing tissue. This condition is called Barrett's Esophagus and these cells have a much higher incidence of becoming malignant.

The tragedy about esophageal cancer is that it usually isn't detected until the tumor is large enough to cause problems swallowing. And often, it's pretty far gone by that time. In my mom's case, by the time she had problems swallowing, it had already grown out through the wall of the esophagus and gotten into the lymph nodes.

Anyway, I don't bring all this up to scare anybody. But I do bring it up to emphasize that heartburn/acid reflux/GERD is not something to mess around with.

I'm now taking once-daily Prilosec (omeprazole) and have no symptoms.