Newbie needs help with aerophagia, pressure settings

This is my first post but I've been reading for the last month and need help.

I just had my study done about 6 weeks ago. I had a split study and had 57 events in the first 143 mins (1 central, 1 apnea, 55 hypopneas, snore index 1215, rdi 25.8, arousal index 31.2, lowest SaO2 82%). They put me on CPAP and titrated me from a pressure of 5 up to 10. I had no events at at any time on the CPAP but woke up with extreme gas.

I left with the basic M series and a pressure of 10. I continued to have problems with waking up bloated and passing gas. I learned how to decrease the pressure myself and lowered it to 7 but still had it. I finally met with the sleep doc 2 weeks ago to go over my study and he suggested to lower it to 5. I asked if my hiatal hernia could cause it and he said possibly. I also have a large uvula and still have my tonsils so he said if I can't tolerate CPAP the only other alternative is surgery.

After reading about aerophagia here, I called my DME (Apria) and requested a machine with C flex or A flex to see if it would help. After a week of phone tag they finally agreed to give me a loaner for a week to see if it would help. So I picked up a REMstar pro with c flex (no humidifier) and tried it 2 nights ago (pressure 5, c flex 3). Felt terrible the next morning and still had bad gas. It was also hard to get used to and I felt I was breathing out of rhythm on it.

Questions.
Can a hiatal hernia cause aerophagia?
Does c flex really help with it? Does a flex help more?
Does anyone have a low setting of 5 and it still be therapeutic?

I don't want to give up and definitely don't want to go the surgery route! Thanks for any help!

It sounds to me like you don't have a particularly savvy sleep doctor. I have had almost no experience w/aerophagia so I'm bumping this up in the hopes that the more experienced here can help you.

There have been many, many posts on this topic because it is a common problem, so do a search for sure.

I havet this problem too. Here is what I have gleaned: check into silent gerd--it is your LES or lower esophogeal sphincter that is letting air into your stomach and that could be caused by silent gerd, or gerd in general (heartburn--you don't have to feel the burn to have it!)

It can be positional. For me and a few others it is less on the back than the sides--I can feel myself filling up like a baloon on my side!

Yesterday I saw a sleep doc for the first time (what a joke, but I'll save that for another post) and the only helpful thing I got out of him was to sleep on a 20-30 degree wedge pillow to see if that helps. My wedge for gerd is probably less than this, so I'll try bumping it up some to see if that helps.

Try the ramp, some have said that most aerophagia occurrs before you fall asleep. So if the pressure is lower that would help. You can set your ramp for as long as you need, I think. I had mine at 40 min for a while.

Don't give up and I think you will find that UPPP is falling out of favor in the surgery world. I would avoid it. I'm having my tonsils out but won't consider uppp.

Jen

I also forgot, some people find that bipap works much better than aflex or cflex to relieve aerophagia. Some people say it cured them of it. I'm on bipap from the beginning, so it obviously didn't help me.

Jen

Thanks for responding Jen and Slinky.

I don't have a wedge pillow but will try propping my head up tonight to see if it helps. Let me know how the wedge pillow works for you, I may buy one if it helps.

I'm also going to give the c flex machine another try tonight after I lower the c flex setting to 2. If I do exchange my machine should I specify a M Pro so I can get data off of it? Does the card and software come with it?

Thanks again!
Chas

The wedge pillow worked for me. I had aerophagia the first two nights (and was not forewarned) so I looked up some tips here at this forum. Got a wedge pillow and never had it again. I am not actually sure why - I slept with a high angle of pillows previous to the wedge and the wedge actually brought my angle down some, so I am not sure if that was it, but it did work.

Good luck!

Dawn

chas wrote:Thanks for responding Jen and Slinky.

I don't have a wedge pillow but will try propping my head up tonight to see if it helps. Let me know how the wedge pillow works for you, I may buy one if it helps.

I'm also going to give the c flex machine another try tonight after I lower the c flex setting to 2. If I do exchange my machine should I specify a M Pro so I can get data off of it? Does the card and software come with it?

Thanks again!
Chas

I don't think propping up with pillows would work as well. You have to be really careful that you aren't putting any pressure on your stomach from bending at the waist because that will force stomach contents up just as bad as lying on your back will.

I have been sleeping on a wedge for some time and I think it helps a lot. The sleep doc suggested maybe the angle on my wedge wasn't steep enough but I put a second wedge under the first one and slept at probably somewhere between 35 and 45 degrees last night and it didn't improve it, so I'll go back to the way things were.

If you have any back issues be careful which wedge you purchase. Most are only 20 in long which will only prop up upper back, head and shoulders. I had to do an extensive search to find a 30+ inch wedge (that didn't cost an arm and a leg!) to go all the way down to the hips the way a hospital bed would. The wedge I bought is called medslant and is available at http://www.amazon.com
with very good reviews. It is too expensive, but it is the only one I could find that was long enough for that price!

Bed Bath and beyond does sell bed wedges. I have a shorter one that I used during my last pregnancy. Maybe they have more selection by now.

If you get an M pro, the card will come with it, but you will have to find software elsewhere and I would recommend the twofactors mako card reader for your pc. Do a search and you will find more info. I'm not that knowledgeable, but I do have one on the way.

Jen