Bipap bloating stomach questions

Hi Everyone,

Hope you all are doing well. I have been diagnosed with sleep apnea for over a year now. I got a CPAP machine but even though events were less than 5 i did not feel i had good sleep quality. I went for a titration study 2 weeks ago and was told I need to be on BiPap machine.

I got my Bipap machine yesterday (Resmed and mode was Bipap ST) i was told my settings which best helped me in the sleep study were 19 Ipap/14 Epap with 10 as res back up. Trying it for first night i felt it was much more aggressive than what i had with CPAP i ended up waking up within 2 hours with extreme bloat that i was sort of vomitting air it was so uncomfortable, never felt that with CPAP. Going into bipap i had thought this was a problem of the past but apparently not. I am now confused on what to do, clearly the settings are aggressive as i had never ever felt uncomfortable on cpap nor i recall that feeling in sleep study but perhaps thats because they try different things that they never actually tested it for long time, which sucks.

What can i do ? (I am using Nasal pillows for what it is worth with chin strap) I know i should keep them ipap and epap 5 apart (maybe more?) I do want to sleep well but i am scared to have a similar experience like yesterday, what can i ideally lower settings to to avoid this feeling? and should i immediately call up my doctor on monday to let him know settings are not working for me?

I am looking for advise on how best to utlize the bipap machine i have and what i can ask of my doctor as i slept yesterday thinking all my problems are gone to find i have worst feeling i ever had

Appreciate your advise and insight and patience with me and i will be happy to follow suggestions.

Thanks alot

wiki/index.php/Aerophagia

Most likely related to pressure settings and impossible to know why you didn't have it on the other machine without seeing real data

OSCAR https://www.sleepfiles.com/OSCAR/
http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph ... stallation
http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph ... rpretation

Also need to know why you ended up needing this particular machine and why they chose the ST model which is pretty much the worse choice when it comes to helping someone not have aerophagia issues.

If your AHI was less than 5 on the other machine...I can't see even remotely why they wanted to put you on a bilevel machine with a back up rate at high pressures and high PS with every breath.
I could see putting you on bilevel to see if it helps you feel better depending on what the old AHI was composed of but the ST model in ST mode...the absolute worse choice IMHO. There were better options.

Moemah, in another forum where you posted, I see that your doctor told you you have central apnea. I mention this so Pugsy can weigh in further.

here is what miss e refers to-

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=179563&p=1356640#p1356640

Miss Emerita wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 08, 2020 12:42 pm

Moemah, in another forum where you posted, I see that your doctor told you you have central apnea. I mention this so Pugsy can weigh in further.

I suspected central apnea but with a reported AHI less than 5 and per his other post here...less then 3 often.
That's not very many centrals even if all his AHI were centrals.
Original diagnosis was obstructive, put on cpap/apap and had a few centrals pop up maybe. He never followed up with the advice in the other thread here. No reports to review or anything. Might have been something related to exhale relief being used or not. We just don't know enough because there was no follow up given.

To be put on the ST model machine with less than 5 centrals per hour....assuming all the AHI is centrals which we have no idea because of no data review...man that is a giant leap and IMHO way over kill with a machine that is less than ideal anyway even if he had a truck load of centrals.

ST mode with the back up rate...that's going to be high fixed pressures with every breath and 5 PS....prime recipe for aerophagia issues.
His question was what can be done with this machine....depending on what pressures he needs to resolve the obstructive issues...maybe nothing with this machine to relieve the belly issues and treat the apnea issues.

Giving a ST machine in ST mode...way over kill for an AHI less than 5 even if all were centrals. I suspect more of a fishing expedition here but without more details it is impossible to do more than answer the original question which was what sort of changes could be made to this machine that wouldn't cause the belly issues...and in this mode at these settings...the answer is unfortunately....none.
Now if maybe he could get by with less pressure to deal with the OSA side of things but in all honesty 5 PS to deal with centrals is sub optimal anyway. He really needs a higher PS for central treatment anyway....5 isn't enough to do a good job.

The original APAP data needed to be evaluated...was EPR a factor in centrals and the AHI...were they maybe false positives because of poor sleep?