Strange Chest Pain

First, I'll stop you at the common sense reply: Yes, I AM going to the doctor about this asap! I have an appointment first thing in the a.m.

However, I have a suspicion this is related to CPAP. Please read on.

About a month ago I was hospitalized for A-Fib. It's something I was diagnosed with a while back, ran the whole gamut up to and including an angiogram, but came out clean on all counts. No blockages, etc. It seems my only problem (besides apnea) is high blood pressure. Well, the A-Fib (heart flutter) was drawn directly to my CPAP (or rather my lack of using it). After I got out of the hospital, I immediately went back to my CPAP machine and my A-Fib and high BP both vanished.

Then, however, something else took its place.

I've been using my CPAP consistently for the past month and have noticed a discomfort in the right side of my chest that almost feels like a "poke" or a pulled muscle. In fact, that's what I thought it was for the longest time. Now, however, I'm starting to wonder if it's my CPAP. Is the pressure too high? Too low? Or -- as my wife fears -- could I have inhaled mold or something from the machine that's causing this discomfort?

Have any of you heard anything like this before? I'm not wheezing or coughing, but the discomfort seems more intense when I exhale completely. No clue what it could be, but my BP and A-Fib, pulse, etc. all continue to be normal.

I'd appreciate any help or info you can give me prior to my doctor visit.

Thanks so much!!!
MJ

are you using CFLEX?

Yes, I am.

What pressure and machine are you on. (The Icon says you have a Remstar plus CPAP... is that right?)

Are you sleeping in one position all night?

Yeah, I have a REMstar.

My max pressure is set on 15.5. I've had problems with air in my stomach and waking with memories of dreams, changing position (as if the mask isn't doing any good at all), but since getting out of the hospital, it's been pretty good. When the mask is fitted well, I usually wake in the position I fell asleep.

I hope that your Doc is holding Md as either: Internist, Cardiologist, Pneumologist. Otherwise, it could be a waste of precious time.

My seriously uneducated guess would be muscle strain from breathing out against the pressure.

Lets hope it's nothing serious.

Keep us posted.

Yes, lets hope your doctor determines that its nothing serious!

When I first started CPAP, I did experience some "chest pains" in certain areas between the ribs, similar to a light muscle strain. I would notice a mild sensation particularly when I took a deep breath and always in the same place. It was like I was not used to taking such deep breaths and having my chest expand so much. This went away after a little while.

I'm not clear on how long you've been using CPAP on a regular basis, but there is a good chance it is simply a matter of your rib cage expanding more than what has been normal for you.
When I last visited my cardiologist, he asked me if I had any chest pains and I said yes, but assumed it was from using the CPAP. Having just performed an EKG and sonogram of my heart without any indications of problems, he decided that there was no reason for concern and it was likely just muscles being stretched more than normal (as has been suggested).

That said, the risk is too great to not get it checked out!

I am newbie.I learn more thing from this forum....
Thanks.

For what it's worth, I started CPAP on 10 November with a pressure of 10, standard CPAP. Shortly afterward I started having the same problem with the chest pains waking me up in the early morning hours and they would go away within about 45 minutes of stopping my treatment. I was also sent to the ER by my doc and got checked out and everything was fine. ER doc agreed that it was probably from the CPAP and my not being used to expanding my lungs as much. This continued until two days ago when it just stopped. Now I wake up with no discomfort at all. By the way, I just bought an AUTO machine that would probably take care of the problem had it not stopped, but at least now I have an auto for home and a standard for travel.

So, hang in there, make sure it's not a true medical problem. One thing I did to help ease the pain, and I don't know if this will work for you, but I dropped my pressure from 10 to 8.5, kept watch on my data, and checked my blood oxy through the nights to be sure I was getting good therapy. The drop in pressure did not eleminate the discomfort all toghether but made it less discomfortable and I was able to sleep OK.

Good Luck.

MJ, I just ran across this, so I will pass it on.

A reasonably good early screening procedure to determine if the pain is from the heart or elsewhere is to simply apply pressure from your hand to the area that has the pain. If the pain intensity changes when you apply the pressure, it most likely is not your heart. If it doesn't change, further investigation with the cardiologist is needed.

The idea is that you can't press hard enough on yourself to effect the heart.