Newbie: chest pain

[monica4patience]

I had my titration study Wednesday night. Felt good and didn't need a nap Thursday. Experienced significant chest pain on Friday and ended up in ER Saturday. Stress study on Sunday was negative for heart issues; to follow-up with PCP next week.

I'm wondering whether the CPAP treatment would have caused chest pain. I also have fibromyalgia, GERD, and chemical sensitivities. I'm not coughing and am breathing just fine. No headache that usually comes with chemical sensitivities. Paperwork from ER suggests: heartburn; muscle or cartilage strain from coughing or overwork; lung irritation; anxiety & stress. I've never had this kind of pain with reflux; am taking daily Prilosec; not experiencing other breakthrough symptoms.

So, to the question: could the CPAP treatment cause chest pain?

[Brenpbb11150]

Hello Monica,
I have only been on Cpap 13 months so I am not as experienced as most people on this forum but I will say that when I first started Cpap I experienced slight chest pains. I thought at first it was the fact that i was breathing so deeply in my sleep. They were slight pains that lasted about a week. I did see my Dr. and was totally checked out and was fine. I don't experience them anymore so in my opinion I would say that Cpap could cause them but anytime you have chest pain.....definitely see your Dr. as you have been. Better safe than sorry...When you are first new to Cpap I think our anxiety is a little more present so that also may have something to do with it. Good Luck and God Bless.
Bren

[PST]

Glad you went to the ER; chest pain is always something to be taken seriously. When I started using CPAP, I had very mild pain in my ribs for a while. It didn't feel like a heart issue. It wasn't deep and central. It felt like the kind of muscle pain you feel after unfamiliar exercise. I think that it was the result of exhaling against resistance. Normally, we do our work inhaling, and exhaling almost takes care of itself. The air pressure changes that balance a little, and I had to work a bit to get air out -- not that I was conscious of making a big effort. This is just a layman's impression of his own experience, but I think I have read about it elsewhere and seen other people refer to similar mild chest pain in this forum.

[monica4patience]

The pain is gone today, but I'm having some discomfort when I try to take a really deep breath. Leads me to think that it really was a lung issue from the beginning. Probably didn't help that I slept with that portable EKG machine on my chest all Saturday afternoon through Sunday morning. That sucker was heavy! Today I'm just really, really tired and am anxious to get my machine tomorrow.

[GumbyCT]

When I first started I would say I had muscle soreness rather than pain.

What is your pressure set at?

[woodg]

Your post caught my attention.

I've been on CPAP just a little over a year now, and at the end of my first week, I had a similar issue. To compound things, I was 800 miles from home while traveling for business.

My pain was just below my sternum and started at about 3 am. I did some massive doses of antacid, but it didn't do a thing for me. I went to the ER at 7:00 am and they ended up keeping me overnight and a stress test the next morning. All of these, plus the EKG and Cardiac Enzymes came back negative.

I don't know if it was due to starting CPAP or not, but I would expect that it would have shown up much earlier than the 5th night. But then again, I'm not a Dr.

[kempo]

Same thing happened to me. I think it was a combination of having to breath against the air being forced down into your lungs and the anxiety of coming to the realization that you will being using a cpap for the rest of your life. I think the discomfort lasted about a week for me. Trust me, it's going to get better.

[BlackSpinner]

I was fine with the initial pressure of 7 but after titration when it went up to 9 suddenly my chest muscles were slightly sore. Mostly on the back when I was breathing (meaning I could feel it changing as I breathed, especially when I did my deep relaxation breathing) . It went away in a couple of days.

But it was good you had it checked out.

[Slartybartfast]

Me too. This seems to be common among noobs. And the pain doesn't always appear in the same place. I had a little pain in my intercostals, but I knew where they were and wasn't alarmed. But more troubling was a pain about the size of the palm of my hand just beneath my shoulder blades in my back. Seemed to have something to do with sleeping position, as I suddenly found I wasn't rolling around at night trying to find a position in which I could breathe freely.

[trike-mike]

Interestingly enough, I just started to feel this same thing the last few nights after a couple of months of use. Granted, I am only just now getting to where I am doing (almost) full nights without a mask pull but it was a bit disconcerting. In my case it is that tight feeling at the top of the lungs like the beginnings of bronchitis. It passes an hour or so after being up for the day.

[RDawkinsPhDMPH]

Chest pain is common and is usually chest wall pain/discomfort from the pressure BUT chest pain can be serious, you were right to go get it checked. Now that you know it's not cardiac, it should pass in time.