CPAP SIDE EFFECTS PLEASE HELP

HELLO I WANT APPOLIJIZE ABOUT PUNCTUATION IN ADVANCE TYPING THIS ON MY PHONE AND IS A PAIN TO PUT IN PUNCTUATION I HAVE BEEN USING CPAP FOR 3 YEARS MY PRESSURE IS 14 DURING THE FIRST YEAR CPAP WAS AWSOME FELT GREAT BUT SLOWLY I STARTED NOTICING OCCASIONAL CHEST PRESSURE AT FIRST IT WOULD LAST A FEW HOURS AFTER I WOKE UP BUT NOW HAS PROGRESSES TO ALL DAY EVERY DAY AND THEN WHEN I LAY DOWN AND PUT MY MASK ON WILL GO AWAY WELL IN DEC08 GOT SICK OF THIS SO WEN T TO DR AND WITH ME BEING OVER WEIGHT DR THOUGHT WAS MY HEART HAD MORE TESTS THAN AN 80 YR OLD WILL EVER HAVE EVEN HAD A ANGIOGRAM IN 3-09 WHICH WAS PERFECTLY CLEAN DR SAID NOTHING WRONG WITH MY HEART EXCEPT FOR A FEW PVCS BUT MY BRAIN KEEPS TELLING ME ITS MY HEART WHICH I KNOW ITS NOT BUT STILL THINK IT IN BACK OF MIND ALL OF THIS HAS LED TO PANIC ATTACKS FROM CONSTANT CHEST PAIN/PRESSURE I HAVE FOUND IT DOES FEEL BETTER WHEN I GET LESS SLEEP SO IN EFFECT USING MASK ALOT LESS THAN 8 HRS ON CERTAIN NIGHTS ALSO HAVE DEVELOPED ASHTHMA SINCE CPAP HAS ANYONE HEARD OF THIS DR THINKS IM NUTS AND ISNT THE CPAP MACHINE BUT EVERY LUNG HEART TEST HAS COME BACK FINE EXCEPT FOR MINOR ASHTMA ANY SUGGESTIONS WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED (SORRY ABOUT SPELLING ALSO)

Woah! All caps an no punctuation! What kind of phone do you have so I can make sure I don't get one? I'm just teasing.

You know, I think you and I are related. I'm going through the very same thing right now with similar CPAP pressure and symptoms. My doctor is going to do a holter monitor to check my heart (I also get PVCs and tachycardia occasionally) and also check my thyroid levels.

BTW, I also have panic disorder.

I also have panic attacks and before I knew what they were, I went to every doctor thinking I was gonna die but every test came back normal. Now I know it's my brain sending me false alarms.
The other day on this site someone posted this link that I read and found very enlighting. You guys should take a look and see. For me my panic attacks are when I have to drive and for a long time I had a hard time driving without having one but after reading what that doctor said made so much sense. I had no panic attacks when I took a road trip the other day. Check it out, it is interesting reading.
http://mindpub.com/PanicAttacksinCOPD_chapter4.htm

I was also diagnosed with Asthma within weeks of starting CPAP treatment. Don't know if it's just a co-incidence? Although when I first began treatment, my pressure was toooooo low and I definitely had chest pain/flutters, etc. Scared me quite a bit. I was sent for cardiac workup (echocardiogram, stress test) and heart is fine. I believe it was because my pressure was so low. It felt like I wasn't getting enough air/oxygen and I believe I wasn't and that caused the hear/chest pain. I do know that once my pressure was higher, I no longer had the chest/heart/lung events. I do still have the asthma. My other theory is that the humidified air does something to your lungs. Just my theory, I have no medical training or reasoning for this other than a gut feeling. As for panic attacks, I used to have them until I started taking SSRI anti-depressants. Stopped them in their tracks. They also help with sleep.

Well, an interesting thing about the last letter and his experience of needing to raise his pressure to help with chest pain is that a lot of people here had sore chests when first beginning Cpap, but then just slightly lowered their pressure to get relief, or else their bodies became used to Cpap (breathing muscles were stretched and no longer sore) and felt better. The fact you're having chest pain now is interesting, but I'm wondering if you've looked into GERD (gastroesophageal reflux) because it's very common with OSA and many people have learned to deal with it by being careful about acidic foods and e.g. coffee, plus raised the head of their beds by about 6 inches. It doesn't sound like much, but those 6" apparently make a world of difference to many people who no longer are woken by acid reflux and who are also now more careful about their diets. Might be worth looking into. I have chronic gastritis for which I originally ran to get ECG's for, but now that I know what the problem is, have cut out aggravating foods and no longer have 'attacks' unless I slip up.

thatstrump2002 wrote:HELLO I WANT APPOLIJIZE ABOUT PUNCTUATION IN ADVANCE TYPING THIS ON MY PHONE AND IS A PAIN TO PUT IN PUNCTUATION I HAVE BEEN USING CPAP FOR 3 YEARS MY PRESSURE IS 14 DURING THE FIRST YEAR CPAP WAS AWSOME FELT GREAT BUT SLOWLY I STARTED NOTICING OCCASIONAL CHEST PRESSURE AT FIRST IT WOULD LAST A FEW HOURS AFTER I WOKE UP BUT NOW HAS PROGRESSES TO ALL DAY EVERY DAY AND THEN WHEN I LAY DOWN AND PUT MY MASK ON WILL GO AWAY WELL IN DEC08 GOT SICK OF THIS SO WEN T TO DR AND WITH ME BEING OVER WEIGHT DR THOUGHT WAS MY HEART HAD MORE TESTS THAN AN 80 YR OLD WILL EVER HAVE EVEN HAD A ANGIOGRAM IN 3-09 WHICH WAS PERFECTLY CLEAN DR SAID NOTHING WRONG WITH MY HEART EXCEPT FOR A FEW PVCS BUT MY BRAIN KEEPS TELLING ME ITS MY HEART WHICH I KNOW ITS NOT BUT STILL THINK IT IN BACK OF MIND ALL OF THIS HAS LED TO PANIC ATTACKS FROM CONSTANT CHEST PAIN/PRESSURE I HAVE FOUND IT DOES FEEL BETTER WHEN I GET LESS SLEEP SO IN EFFECT USING MASK ALOT LESS THAN 8 HRS ON CERTAIN NIGHTS ALSO HAVE DEVELOPED ASHTHMA SINCE CPAP HAS ANYONE HEARD OF THIS DR THINKS IM NUTS AND ISNT THE CPAP MACHINE BUT EVERY LUNG HEART TEST HAS COME BACK FINE EXCEPT FOR MINOR ASHTMA ANY SUGGESTIONS WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED (SORRY ABOUT SPELLING ALSO)

Hi guys, Im a newbie. Nice to join this forum.

Hi and welcome!
I have had asthma for about 12 years now, and when I first started on CPAP, I noticed that I got VERY congested with the humidifier on at all. I switched to just using the humidifier in passover mode, and have not had any more trouble. Just a thought.
When I was first diagnised with the asthma, I had to use several inhalers 4 times a day , as well as taking Singulair as a controller med. Now I only take the Singulair, and don't use any inhalers on a regular basis. I average using my rescue inhaler about twice a month. (That was reduced by me gradually over several months, pre-CPAP).
~joan

Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony. - Morpheus, The Matrix, 1999

I WAS DIAGNOSED WITH A SMALL HIATEL HERNIA AND ACIS REFLUX MY BED IS ELAVATED BUT THIS FEELING IS DIFFERENT THAN ACID I GUESS I JUST MUST BE CRAZY I THINK THE PRESSURE OF A CPAP IS BAD FOR YOUR L;UNGS LIKE I SAID ORIGINALLY THE LESS I USE THE CPAP THE BETTER MY CHEST FEELS VERY WEIRD

Your chest muscles are not used to being stretched, so they're complaining, but that part is normal and should go away.