CPAP - lungs hurt

Okay,

I have been on CPAP for several years with limited improvement. Numbers look good, AHI is in .4 - .7 range - pretty darn good but I still feel like crap half of the time. My compliance is near-perfect. I am set to Auto mode with the allowable range being between 8-20. Usually the machine puts my 90% pressure at around 8.9. If the low end of the allowable range is set much lower, I start to feel like I am suffocating.

My issue is this, when I wake up in the morning, a lot of times my chest/lungs hurt from what feels like air flow related discomfort--hard to describe. Almost like my lungs are being over inflated or something...can't figure it out. My pressure isn't that high...

Does anyone else get this sensation? Any ideas what it might be?

I am using a Wisp Nasal mask with a Philips Respironics CPAP - no humidity added.

After several years of cpap, and now this, tell your doctor.

Try humidification and see if that helps.

D.H. wrote:Try humidification and see if that helps.

try not making stupid ignorant "suggestions".

Unexplained chest pain would be considered an emergency.
Suggesting a change in humidity is irresponsible.

Guys...my heart is fine...thanks to my recent nuclear stress test an the like...not an issue...

What I am feeling is more related to a soreness in my throat and lungs that almost feels like I am getting pumped up like a balloon. Again, hard to describe...almost like what you might if you have ever been to the beach and got a breath full of water and the next day you feel it. There is no fluid or anything like that...

sleepyruss wrote:Guys...my heart is fine...thanks to my recent nuclear stress test an the like...not an issue...

there are a lot of things that can cause chest pains that aren't heart related.

I would say that if you were a newbie, your muscles are being stretched by Cpap and the sensation will go away in time, but you're not new and could have something going on - not necessarily serious, but certainly worth getting checked out. It's important to remember that we all get older, Cpap or no Cpap, and that many things can come up that are only incidental to Cpap/Osa. Just because we can go online and look at all the criteria or list of symptoms for thousands of medical conditions and then decide which ones fit, does not make us doctors and does not do labwork! Go see your doctor. Have you seen a gastroenterologist recently? Many of us have had problems with acid reflux and it's possible you're having 'silent' GERD overnight.

I was on cpap therapy for about 4 years, when my lungs started to get sore. My EPR was maxed out. My doctor ordered a Vpap and it worked for me. I used the Vpap for around 6 months (a long time after my lungs stopped hurting). Now I am back on my S9, but the Vpap is ready to go if the symptoms pop up again.

Sheriff

Nice catch, Julie!
GERD can indeed sneak up on us as we age.
Sometimes, raising the head of the bed or trying a wedge pillow may help.
But do see a gastroenterologist.