Irregular heart beat when using certain masks

I feel like I must be imagining this but I wonder if anyone has had this experience and can offer any solutions.

My default mask is a Mirage FX for her nasal mask but I'm trying to find something more comfortable as it feels so hard on my face that I just feel beat up in the morning. And it goes from just below my eyes to the edge of my face...just seems too big. But it gets the job done.

In an effort to get a mask I'm comfortable with I have, in my short apnea history (started October 2, 2013) tried nasal pillows, a Wisp and lastly Sleepweaver Advance cloth mask. My favorite and the only one of the three that I can sleep through the night with is the Advance, although my AHI numbers go up with it. My numbers are on the low end ranging from 0.0 to 0.9.

My question and concern is that with each of these masks my heart seems to beat irregularly. It seems to happen when I'm inhaling. With the Advance I don't notice it happening until I'm waking in the morning.

Before I started treatment, I was diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse and put on a beta blocker for a while until I did some research and learned that it probably wasnt something I wanted to take forever. I remember telling my dr. that it my heart hurt when I lay on my left side. But he never really answered me and i just tried not to do it. After a couple weeks of cpap I noticed my heart seemed to hurt less and I could lay on my left side some.

Can anyone offer any insight? Am I not getting enough air with these masks? Is that even possible?

I'm also trying to find a chin strap that doesn't agrivate my face/jaw muscles and TMJ issue.

Thanks all

DreamBig wrote:
In an effort to get a mask I'm comfortable with I have, in my short apnea history (started October 2, 2013) tried nasal pillows, a Wisp and lastly Sleepweaver Advance cloth mask. My favorite and the only one of the three that I can sleep through the night with is the Advance, although my AHI numbers go up with it. My numbers are on the low end ranging from 0.0 to 0.9. .

Thanks all

These are amazing numbers...what are you worried about.? Stick with the Sleepweaver.

Go to Pad-A-Cheek.com and half of your problems will be answered. Seriously! Many people here depend on those (esp. the liners) and they're designed by a forum member.

Laying on your left side is often associated with onset of atrial fibrillation. Or at least this has been reported. You might want to look into this.

LSAT - I'm not worried about my numbers. I know that overall compaired to many, my numbers are great or nothing or whatever. I do look at my numbers because I want to be aware and learn but my question and concern is based on what I feel and right now that is not well.

Julie - I am looking at the site right now. Looks like some helpful stuff.

Hegel - I don't like the sound of that. But if it is the case that this may be an issue for me, I'm even more convinced I did the right thing in firing my longtime dr who was in no hurry to see me after a grand mal seizure sent me to the ER which is what started me down the road to a sleep apnea diagnosis. I guess I need to make a dr appt.

Thank you

DreamBig,
I was experiencing more palpitations after my first year on CPAP and like you, wondered if there was a relationship. After a full cardiac work-up, following an abnormal EKG, I was found to have rate-dependent left bundle branch block. Something I never would have considered for me and completely unrelated to the treatment. Although, a more common irregularity, atrial fibrillation, is correlated with just having the sleep apnea. Make your appointment tomorrow.

Went to the pad a cheek site but don't see a liner for the Sleepweaver products.

Two things - write to Karen (of PaC) and ask if she has anything that can be used with SW, or else look at ZZZ liners - you can't use them for as long as the others - more disposable, but they might help... tho' I don't know if they make more than one design. How many other masks have you tried?

I just emailed Karen about liners for Sleepweaver masks, so we'll see what she suggests.

I have tried a full face mask (resmed product that I don't even care to go find the name of. This was given to me by a worthless RT)
Resmed nasal pillows that I didnt feel I was getting enough air from and wouldn't stay in place (given by the same RT when I said I couldn't use the FF)
Mirage FX for her (my go-to mask, but I don't love it or look forward to it). A sample from my sleep dr after I told her I was having trouble.
A Wisp that I thought would solve all my problems, but the cloth straps and connections to the headgear seemed to aggravate my TMJ issues.
And finally, a Sleepweaver Advance, an older model from my sleep dr who said she had a sample I could have.

I did not have a titration study (long story) so have been going at this on my own. After explaining this mess to my insurance they have granted me another mask. Have not yet heard from my RT (this one is with Apria and not much better than the first) to make an appt to get another mask.

I really don't know what to get. I'm thinking I should try the newest Sleepweaver Élan or Advance. I will get no more for 3 months.

I was experiencing the same issue and it turned out to be atrial fib - - it is not uncommon at all for people that have A-Fib to also be candidates for CPAP - - I think to some degree they are finding that they sometimes go hand-in-hand in some patients. I was under the impression that my A-Fib was sometimes brought on by sleeping on my left side, but my cardiologist said that lying on your left side puts everything in a position that simply makes the A-Fib much more noticeable, the left side sleeping does not really bring it on.

At any rate you should speak with your doctor about A-Fib to see if that is a problem for you - - as you know valve issues often lead to A-Fib. They sent me home with a small heart monitor that I could use at night when I slept and would save the data for later evaluation - - that is how we determined I had a good case of A-Fib, maybe they could do something similar for you.

I would doubt that it really has anything to do with using different masks.......I think that part of your problem is just a coincidence.

Disclaimer: I am not a Doctor, but I did sleep in a Holiday Inn Express

Not a Dr. TH ~ thank you for your insight. You're probably right about the coincidence.

I've done the Holder monitor. It's been several years and my dr said everything looked good, even though I've felt some weird heart goings-on since I was a kid. Maybe it's time to do it again while I have fantastic insurance.

I've often wondered if lying on my left side made things worse...I know it feels worse

Can I ask what you do for your A-fib? I really don't want to take drugs because there's always some side effect but some of this stuff is seriously scary.

well I started with a beta blocker - I think that is somewhat standard for the first drug. That didn't work and things got worse so I tried another drug that was acctually a heart rhythm drug that I had to go to hospital for three days while they made sure it didn't cause additional heart problems.....I forget the name of it but it is another somewhat common anti arythmia drug that has to be administered in the hospital under observation, apparently some people have some reaction to it that makes heart worse. That drug did nothing so the last drug they tried was the strongest anti arythmia drug they use and it acctually helped a lot.....it was Amiodarone, and you are correct, these drugs often have terrible side effects...........after several years of the Amiodarone and testing for common dangerous side effects every six months I ended up with a Thyroid problem brought on by the drug and I had to get off of it even tho it did help my A-Fib. I looked into a catheter ablation procedure, but they said in all honesty that I would probably need several ablation procedures to get the A-Fib to quit, so after a lot of research and soul searching I ended up doing a Cox Maze procedure that was open-heart, but instead of going in through sternum, they did a less invasive form of the operation where they went in the right side of my chest, deflated my right lung and then get to the heat that way -- much shorter recovery time than breaking through sternum. The operation was successful and I have been completely A-Fib free since 2010. The operation was a hard to do, but I knew that I had a much higher chance of success with this procedure and it worked out well for me...........the recovery was very painful for the first five or six days, but total recovery time was pretty short.

I do know from my research that sleep apnea can definitely aggravate A-Fib, not so sure that Apnea acctually causes A-Fib, but it will certainly make it worse, so my advice to anyone that has apnea is to take it very seriously and get on CPAP to keep the apnea from causing other problems. I am not saying your issue is A-Fib, but it does sound very similar to what I was experiencing - - especially when you report that sleeping on your left side makes it feel worse.

Thanks for sharing your experiences and I'm sorry you've been through so much.

I'm off to meet with a surgeon regarding my gall bladder.

You mention you've never had a titration so it would be interesting to know what pressure settings are you using, EPR, Ramp,Humidity, how many hrs you sleep?

Hi DoriC
Sorry I didn't reply sooner. I don't have it set up to notify me when my post gets replied to. And I think I was so discouraged I had to take a break from thinking about it.

My pressure range is 5-11.
EPR is on full time
Ramp is off
Humidity is 2.5
My sleep hours vary from 6-9

I had my GB removed mid December and haven't pursued any cpap/heart issues because I was recovering which was not as smooth as I expected. I just started another topic about my mask causing my teeth to hurt. Very discouraged.