smothering

[swh]

Every time I lay down, I feel as if I am smothering. I put the wisp on and before I know it, I have to rip it off to catch a breath. Doctor put me on .5 Klonopin but not sure it is working. I try and try to use the cpap with little success. The few times I have slept with it is never more than 4 hours. Recently, I was told not to ramp but start it on ten. Either way, I still feel smothered. Any advice ??

[archangle]

Welcome to the board.

Before we can help you, we need some information. Sign up for an ID and enter the information on your profile. There's a link in my signature about how to do this.

We need to know what CPAP machine you have. If you can't figure it out from the above information, tell us everything it says on the top of the blower unit, especially near the power button or around the display.

Do you know your pressure settings?

Your problem is fairly common, but we need to know what equipment you have to tell you how to figure out the problems.

[Julie]

Your pressure settings may be the problem... please tell us what they are.

[chunkyfrog]

It might also help if you shared the results of your titration; (AHI, HI, and central apnea indices)
Once in a while, the machine is set incorrectly--and it's not the patient's fault!

[PlinkerCraig]

Smothering is a normal reaction to any pressure that you have to exhale against. The comforting thing with the Wisp mask is that you can always breath through your mouth if you panic at all. My best advice is to put the mask on and turn on your machine an hour before you plan to fall asleep and read for an hour in bed - you may fall asleep reading or just get tired enough to shut the lights off and comfortably fall asleep. Heck, I did that routine last night - reading in bed with the CPAP running and I like it a lot. I'm very new to this also and finding great success so far.

Others are asking for a description of the machine and your settings. This is essential to let us know if you expect more useful advice. We are happy to help. Let us know how to help you.

[Julie]

PC - Smothering can mean that starting (inhalation) pressure is too low, not necessarily that exhalation is difficult... but even if exhaling is the problem, there is a fix for that built into the machine, the EPR feature (called C-flex on other machines), and you set it to however much relief you need to exhale without difficulty... not a big deal.

[PlinkerCraig]

I'm just offering good advice from my own experience with same equipment.

[palerider]

Smothering is a normal reaction to any pressure that you have to exhale against.

it also can be a reaction to having too low a pressure. typically when people complain of not being able to breath, or feeling smothered, they either are having trouble getting enough air, or they're having trouble (as you mentioned) exhaling against the pressure.

so, yeah, folks very often use the same term to mean opposite things, with two different solutions...

as with many issues, more data is required

[PlinkerCraig]

Julie and Palerider, thanks I'm learning great stuff from you two. Know that I'm only trying to be helpful here.
My observation is that some newbie will post a plea for help, and a bunch of veterans here suggest uploading data that the newbie has no means to do having never done it before. Then the thread devolves into nonsense that a newbie just finds baffling with terminology and complex advice to use software (scary stuff involving installation )
My current measure of friendliness for instructions or advice is "can my 85 year old mother-in-law follow this advice".
I'm a techno-geek, so I found and began using SleepyHead before I looked for this forum. Almost nobody new to CPAP is like us. Please appreciate that fact.

[palerider]

Julie and Palerider, thanks I'm learning great stuff from you two. Know that I'm only trying to be helpful here.
My observation is that some newbie will post a plea for help, and a bunch of veterans here suggest uploading data that the newbie has no means to do having never done it before. Then the thread devolves into nonsense that a newbie just finds baffling with terminology and complex advice to use software (scary stuff involving installation )
My current measure of friendliness for instructions or advice is "can my 85 year old mother-in-law follow this advice".
I'm a techno-geek, so I found and began using SleepyHead before I looked for this forum. Almost nobody new to CPAP is like us. Please appreciate that fact.

my intent in my reply to you was to let you know that your comment is perfectly valid, however, there's an opposite situation that many people use the same terms for, and requires a very different solution. I figured you being the engineer type you said you are would appreciate the knowledge, and use it to be even more helpful on the forum.

[PlinkerCraig]

Palerider, yes, thanks, and that is the way I saw your constructive advice.
Honestly I'll give it some time to understand where other veteran personalities here are based. I see lot of veterans here since around 2006, and I'm always one to say that "there is no substitute for experience".

[Greg Riddle]

Smothering is a normal reaction to any pressure that you have to exhale against.

it also can be a reaction to having too low a pressure. typically when people complain of not being able to breath, or feeling smothered, they either are having trouble getting enough air, or they're having trouble (as you mentioned) exhaling against the pressure.

so, yeah, folks very often use the same term to mean opposite things, with two different solutions...

as with many issues, more data is required

Couple things that made me feel like I was smothering. Ramp pressure started too low. Nasal pillow size was too small

[BlackSpinner]

Julie and Palerider, thanks I'm learning great stuff from you two. Know that I'm only trying to be helpful here.
My observation is that some newbie will post a plea for help, and a bunch of veterans here suggest uploading data that the newbie has no means to do having never done it before. Then the thread devolves into nonsense that a newbie just finds baffling with terminology and complex advice to use software (scary stuff involving installation )
My current measure of friendliness for instructions or advice is "can my 85 year old mother-in-law follow this advice".
I'm a techno-geek, so I found and began using SleepyHead before I looked for this forum. Almost nobody new to CPAP is like us. Please appreciate that fact.

My 86 year old father wrote software. He would have no problems following that advice. Plus you know it is hard to give advice when you don't know the details. When was the last time you called a mechanic and said "My vehicle makes funny noises" and expected an answer without specifying what kind of vehicle (bike, car, truck, make?) or the actual noise?

[palerider]

Couple things that made me feel like I was smothering. Ramp pressure started too low. Nasal pillow size was too small

I had that same feeling with the medium p10 pillows, switched to large for better breathing. I haven't used ramp in so long I don't remember what it was like for me

[Greg Riddle]

Couple things that made me feel like I was smothering. Ramp pressure started too low. Nasal pillow size was too small

I had that same feeling with the medium p10 pillows, switched to large for better breathing. I haven't used ramp in so long I don't remember what it was like for me

I turned the ramp ferrite off because of the smothering feeling