Machine makes me yawn

My equipment is making me yawn. Unless I am dead tired, shortly after putting on my mask, I have to yawn. This I can typically only do if I remove the mask. This continues with such frequency that I am unable to use the equipment. I am new to all of this equipment. I started with a DreamStation auto CPAP and DreamWear. I have severe sleep apnea. I sleep on my side. The DreamWear made me feel like I was suffocating. Because of my yawning, I insisted that the doctor let me try autoBiPAP even though he said I didn't meet the criteria. Even with the autoBiPAP, I am still yawning. The doctor told me he didn't know why I was yawning, which doesn't increase my confidence in him. I would like to try the ResMed autoBiPAP instead of the DreamStation, because the ResMed has a more aggressive algorithm for treating apneas. Right now, I am using nasal pillows. Ultimately, I would like to try ASV, but my doctor said Medicare is unlikely to approve it. The alternative is a dental appliance. The respiratory therapists at the DME supplier I use seem neither smart enough nor conscientious enough for their work. They have made many mistakes. There have been defects in the machines. Overall, there seems to be a lack of quality control in the field of sleep medicine.

Any ideas about these matters? Any solutions? Thanks.

What are your pressure settings please?

Don't get carried away about lack of quality control, etc. re the machines or people, rather than by what may be a very small matter of needing the lower pressure raised a bit - it's very common for it to be set 'wide open' thinking it will allow the machine to deal with any apneas that occur, but in fact it's extremely hard for people to breathe properly at a low of 4, and it also makes it hard for the machine to respond to higher events in time to prevent future ones. It also would explain the yawning - your body wanting to take in more oxygen. But not knowing more about your situation, it's hard to say... so please tell us what the settings are. You may well not need a bipap machine. What did your script call for - you should have a copy as it's yours by law.

Believe me, the machines were defective--the data from the DreamStation was inconsistent with that from DreamMapper (the mobile app), and both were wrong, because the number of hours listed for each was wrong. The "check mask fit" function failed on two machines--it didn't blow air. The Performance Check function did not work properly on one machine. You should not jump to conclusions in the absence of knowledge.

My most recent pressures were: IPAP 90% pressure: 13.0; EPAP 90% pressure: 8.0.

You just started this journey, yet are making assumptions and conclusions all over the place. We'd like to help, but the 'absence of knowledge' is what I said was the problem - not enough info provided to go on, and you've provided results of a report from a bipap machine rather than the prescribed pressure settings for an Apap (which you were orig. prescribed and which would in fact tell us a lot). The reason for the time discrepancy between the machines may well not be what you assume either, so settle down for a minute and start over. And please provide the prescribed setting levels originally given after your study... not the results of the bipap you were switched to. And forget Dream Mapper etc. for the moment as well... the time of day when you access reports may be important to what you see - most machines operate on a noon-to-noon clock so reading 'last night's' reports read after noon can completely skew what you're looking for - by no means the answer to everything, but a possible issue to take into account... again, with lack of more knowledge. We're trying to help, and for you as a newbie to ask for it, then come back with nastiness, won't get you what you want.

You asked about yawning, and a pressure setting not high enough to provide enough 02 could well be the problem, but we need to sort out first what's what.

I don't make assumptions, and your nastiness is not helpful.

I know that time is computed from noon to noon--I am a Smith College graduate and am well-informed.

How about a little more information...

90% of the time your IPAP was 13 or below, and
90% of the time your EPAP was 8 or below.

What are your median pressures?

nancysl wrote:I know that time is computed from noon to noon--I am a Smith College graduate and am well-informed.

Curious....Didn't know Smith had a "Sleep Apnea" major.

I am an uneducated, ill-informed nobody, but I would consider the yawning to be a good sign, not a bad one. PAP is designed to change the way you breathe when asleep, but it also changes the way you breathe before you fall asleep. Your lungs are slightly expanded by it. It takes a while for the slight changes in the physical aspects of breathing to get completely deciphered by the nervous system and factored in. I am unaware of yawning being an indication of a problem with PAP. Your doc was just being honest when he acknowledged the lack of scientific data on the question. And yawning does not generally prevent the use of the equipment.

My OSA was also severe, and I experienced something similar with the yawning. In my case, it went away eventually.

Yawning is a response by the body to lack of sufficient oxygen.

nancysl wrote:My equipment is making me yawn. Unless I am dead tired, shortly after putting on my mask, I have to yawn. This I can typically only do if I remove the mask. This continues with such frequency that I am unable to use the equipment. I am new to all of this equipment. I started with a DreamStation auto CPAP and DreamWear. I have severe sleep apnea. I sleep on my side. The DreamWear made me feel like I was suffocating. Because of my yawning, I insisted that the doctor let me try autoBiPAP even though he said I didn't meet the criteria. Even with the autoBiPAP, I am still yawning. The doctor told me he didn't know why I was yawning, which doesn't increase my confidence in him. I would like to try the ResMed autoBiPAP instead of the DreamStation, because the ResMed has a more aggressive algorithm for treating apneas. Right now, I am using nasal pillows. Ultimately, I would like to try ASV, but my doctor said Medicare is unlikely to approve it. The alternative is a dental appliance. The respiratory therapists at the DME supplier I use seem neither smart enough nor conscientious enough for their work. They have made many mistakes. There have been defects in the machines. Overall, there seems to be a lack of quality control in the field of sleep medicine.

Any ideas about these matters? Any solutions? Thanks.

Just stick with it.
Your assumptions are inaccurate and your condescending "know-it-all" attitude isn't very helpful for us to TRY to help you.

I had "the yawns" (and feeling the need to take deep breaths) for awhile when I first started, too (mostly during the daytime). From what I've read of others' experiences, I believe it's somewhat normal with this new way of sleep-breathing.

If you want help, we'll try to help you.......but dial back the attitude a bit. We were all new at this at some point.


Den

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I agree that yawning can be a response to low O2. There's an easy way to monitor your O2. Get an inexpensive SpO2 meter at a pharmacy that you wear on your finger. The one I have can track my O2 all night and give me the min, max, and average. Normal SpO2 should be around 95% to 100%, although my doctor told me it can be as low as 92% during sleep without causing any problems.

Other causes of yawning include fatigue, side effects of medications, heart defect or disease, vasovagal reaction (vagus nerve affecting blood vessels), hypothyroidism or electrolyte imbalances. Some of these are related to low O2 levels.

Better breathing can be confusing at first. A body figures out about how much CO2 should trigger a change in breathing and about what that should do to O2, and then along comes something that makes it breathe better (such as PAP) and that just throws everything off for a while.

Think I should mention here that I received a PM from the OP, a very nasty, entitled one telling me what and what not to do, and I don't think she'll be back (I didn't respond).

I'm still trying to figure out what Smith College has to do with anything.

I used to go out with someone that graduated with honors from one of the Seven Sisters and she had the common sense of a potato. I know some completely clueless MIT grads too. I never assume anything about people based on their schools.