A couple questions

My husband was diagnosed with severe OSA about a month ago and got his CPAP last Friday. It is amazing to both of us what a huge difference just these few days have made in his mood and sleep quality. But on to my questions.

1. The past couple nights he has been taking his mask off in his sleep. Anyone have any suggestions on how to help him keep it on?

2. He says he feels as if he has 'air in the stomach'. Anyone else experienced this?

this are both very common problems ...
you should register and list the equipment you
hubby has ... then we can better help

there are many types of machines and masks
and we need to know which they are to give the
best help this forum can provide.

Welcome to you both

Just registered

germanchick wrote:2. He says he feels as if he has 'air in the stomach'. Anyone else experienced this?

It's called aerophagia and can, if it's bad enough, cause pain from the bloating.

It's from inadvertently swallowing air, or from the air getting pushed past the esophageal sphincter...air getting pushed down to the stomach instead of staying in the airway.

If a person has, or has had, GERD (acid reflux) it's possible that the esophagus has been damaged by the acid. The esophageal sphincter could be weakened.

Best way to stop aerophagia is by reducing the cpap pressure. If the aerophagia is causing very painful bloating, ask your husband's doctor if it would be ok to set the pressure lower on his CPAP.

It's better, imho, to get at least some treatment, even at a suboptimal pressure, than to have to give up on cpap altogether because of abdominal pain from bloating.

But I'm not a doctor!

To get rid of my aerophagia, I went thru each level of the flex feature.
My machine is now set with level 3 flex (max setting) and my aerophagia is gone.

I have always waked up with a bit of burping in the a.m. with CPAP -- so far (knock wood) I haven't had any major problems with pain, just a little bloating, which goes away after I'm vertical for a few hours.

On the plus side, I think the air going into my stomach has cured my acid reflux. I haven't needed an antacid since I started CPAP, and I'm even drinking tea again. A few nights ago, I overdid some pizza, and felt the familiar onset symptoms of heartburn, but didn't want to 'give in' and take an antacid, so I put on my mask and went to bed. Killed the heartburn in a matter of minutes. Maybe they can market CPAP as an antacid.

Min