sufficating

Exhausted · Post by **Exhausted** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 3:28 pm

Has anyone else felt like they are suffocating when using a passover humidifier? I don't feel like I am getting enough air? Without it its fine except I am too dry when I wake up so I need the humidifier.I just wonder if anyone else felt like that?

ahujudybear · Post by **ahujudybear** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 5:03 pm

Maybe it's because of the sensation you feel with the cooler air moving through your nose, that it feels like something is happenning. With the warmer, more moist air, you don't get that sensation, so it doesn't feel like you're getting any air.

Just a guess.

- JB

qrlylox · Post by **qrlylox** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 8:41 pm

I felt like that too at first, Exhausted. I posted on another message board and got some good feedback. Mainly some felt its from being "air hungry" and maybe having to work to hard to exhale.
But I tried turning the humidifier pressure down little by little until I was still getting the moisture, but not feeling like it was so stuffy.
Here is the link to that thread - http://www.talkaboutsleep.com/message-b ... hp?t=10962
(in case this doesn work, its on talkaboutsleep.com, message board for Sleep Apnea, dated May 25, and topic is Nasal Mask question - air seems so stuffy.
Good luck! Stick with it!

IWannaSleep · Post by **IWannaSleep** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 8:59 pm

qrlylox wrote:...But I tried turning the humidifier pressure down little by little until I was still getting the moisture, but not feeling like it was so stuffy....

Hmmm, my humidifier is totally pass through and has no pressure setting. Since it's a closed system the pressure and air flow coming from the machine should be the same with or without your humidifier in the loop. If you are detecting a difference in flow with vs. without the humidifier then maybe you are introducing a leak in the system when you insert your humidifier.

Ron

ahujudybear · Post by **ahujudybear** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 9:11 pm

... or maybe qrlylox meant to say "temperature" instead of "pressure"??

qrlylox · Post by **qrlylox** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 9:39 pm

oh geez! Sorry yes, Qrlylox meant to say temperature!
Its late....!

IWannaSleep · Post by **IWannaSleep** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 9:42 pm

Qrlylox, ever since you started posting I have been trying to figure out what your name means... it suddenly hit me ... can you say Curly Locks?

cool.

Ron

qrlylox · Post by **qrlylox** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 9:52 pm

You got it, Ron! My hair is... well... my husband says he can measure the relative humidity by sticking a yardstick in my hair.
I have Botticelli hair (and a Rubenesque body damn it) - and dont ya know i've always hated it. Everyone says they pay big money to get this curly look and I go complaining about it! Goes to show you, we're never happy!

elliejose · Post by **elliejose** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 9:58 pm

I also have that suffocating feeling no matter what humidifier or no humidifier I am using. So far exhaling is a real problem for me and I wake up close my nose and gulp air through my mouth until I feel better. I have tried straight cpap Resmed S7 (14), a two week autopap rental Resmed Spirit with download to the MD, am now on trial with a Remstar Plus/C-flex and suffocation is a tad better, but the integrated humidifier is giving me fits. I still have to turn the ramp back on in the night, because I can't get back to sleep because of having to work so hard at exhaling. DME says next step is a bipap, but I don't go back to the MD till end of July.
Don't know if it is worth a try to ask to try the Remstar Auto before bipap or what? I am surely looking forward to the rested and alert feeling that I hear comes from treatment.

Sleepless-in-QuadCities · Post by **Sleepless-in-QuadCities** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 10:27 pm

A couple of years ago, when I first started on CPAP, I had similar difficulties as you described in your post, Exhausted. My nose would be dry and hurt when I awoke in the morning. I talked my doctor into prescribing me a humidifier, which also happened to be a passover type, and experienced a similar suffocating sensation. I felt more comfortable without the humidifier, which surprised me. I gave-up on the humidifier after a few days, and other then suffering from a dry mouth/throat occasionally from a mouth leak, I do pretty well without it. My nose doesn't get sore and crusty the way it used to when I first started on CPAP. I think it is because my nose eventually became tolerant of the nasal pillows, and really had very little to do with the humidity in my case.

How long have you been on CPAP? Are you also using nasal pillows? Where are you experiencing the dryness without the humidifier? I am new to this Site, but I hope this post is helpful, if for nothing else, at least to know you are not alone.