Need help

I am from wi and in San Diego. I have never had problems flying. I just started cpap two weeks ago and my flights were excruciating the minute they pressurized the cabin. Lower gut pain like really bad gas. Traveling alone with an 8 year old and really scared. Any thoughts or ideas..?

Sort of hard to help. Abdominal pain when flying makes me think more of digestive gas that gets trapped as the cabin pressurizes and de-pressurizes, rather than anything CPAP related. Were you using your CPAP on the plane and swallowing air, maybe?

Don

No, I was not using it on the plane. Could it have been trapped in my stomach from 2 weeks of cpap. I,m a total newbie

It would be helpful if you could register your equipment. There is a link in my signature block that shows you how.
It would also be helpful if you could post your pressure settings.

It does sound like mild aerophagia that has you swallowing air during therapy.
What is happening on the aircraft is a depressurization that lets the air pressure lower from ground level to what would be the pressure at about 5,000 feet. This happens very quickly. If you have air that you have swallowed during CPAP therapy and is now passing through your intestinal tract, it will expand because of the lower pressure. Intestines are very sensitive to expanding and get to be quite painful.

So, getting ready to come home, you might consider skipping therapy the night before your flight until you can get home and address the problem.

Any chance you just forgot that you'd had e.g. overripe grapes or something prior to flying?

I know that my machine is a Phillips respironics and my pressure is 13

I'll bet this has little or nothing to do with your cpap. Beans and sour grapes aside,
this could also be anxiety.
If this happens every time you fly, you doctor can prescribe something to help you when you fly.

Bring Tums with you for a wile until you've figured it out. If the gas moves up, it could get very uncomfortable.

According to a friend who has worked as an airline attendant and a relative who has traveled overseas several times, the gas is an expected part of flying.

Ask your doc maybe about something like this?
http://www.medicinenet.com/simethicone/article.htm