Relatively new with problems & questions

Hi, I'm new to this forum and diagnosed 1 year ago. I've been struggling every since. I'll try to make my story as short as possible.
June, 2008 PCP sent for first sleep test at 162 pounds. Six months later he told me I have sleep apnea and sent for titration study. I only slept 1 1/2 hours that night and was given a ResMed S8 Elite II with a pressure of 5. I couldn't even breathe. I actually kept waking up because my heart was pounding and fluttering and I felt like I was suffocating. I knew the pressure was too low. By this time it's Feb., 2009 and I'm sent to the sleep specialist and I've gained almost 30 pounds, unfortunately most of it in my stomach. He agrees to increase pressure to 7. I can tell it's still not enough. I begin having trouble breathing even during the day and am diagnosed with asthma. Co-incidence? I don't know. Is there anyway that breathing the humidified air/pressurized can cause asthma? Fortunately, when my pressure was increased to 7, someone calls and walks me through it so he doesn't have to come out and I now know how to do it myself. I also had problems with the mask because I'm a mouth breather and tried several masks and chin strap and other ways to keep mouth shut. I noticed with the full face mask that it just doesn't feel like I'm getting the same pressure as with the nasal mask even though the pressure is the same. I've tried different pressures (up to 8.2) and different masks during the past 8 months. During this time there were only 3 days that I had and AHI of 5 or less. I felt better on these 3 days than I have in 20 years! Otherwise I would NOT be pursuing this whole matter. At 57 years old, I also had acne everywhere the masks touched my face as if I were 15 again. I eventually fixed that by putting barrier tape on my face before I put on the mask. Works great. I was having a problem with my machine (in the middle of the night it would wake me up because I'd be overwhelmed by the smell of burning plastic!). I brought it in to be checked and was given the ResMed S8 Autoset Vantage as a loaner while mine is being checked/fixed. Because I've gained 40 pounds by now, and have never really gotten a good reading on what my pressure really should be I was very happy. Unfortunately another problem presented itself. Somehow I'm now burping all night long! This machine does not have the EPR thought and I wonder if that's why I'm burping/swallowing air? It seems as though if something could go wrong for me with this, it has. Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions that could help me? I would apprecite it very much.

Burping: The burping is actually a symptom of something called aerophagia.

The word "phage" in Greek means "to eat." Aerophagia is literally to eat air. In the modern context, it means swallowing too much air, a common cause of gas in the stomach and belching.

This is sometimes a result of CPAP Therapy. Unfortunately, the best solutions for this problem are not a catch all but instead an attempt to find the middle ground between needed CPAP pressures. A few approaches can be found on the relevant CPAP Wiki page here:

wiki/index.php/Aerophagia

Ozij also wrote some great tips on the subject in a recent thread:

viewtopic/t46412/Go-home-and-live-with-it.html#p416798

I'm sorry there's been so much difficulty with your transition into treatment. Know that there is nothing new under the sun and someone here (more than a several someones) have been where you are and will offer some great tips.

unfortunately I scared off other responses. I'll just bump this back to the top.

If no one answers your questions specifically - Your questions are ones you can find answers to by searching the forum and the wiki (accessed by clicking on the banner or the light bulb icon on the top).

Thank you Katherine for your support and the links. I appreciate your help.