Am I doin' it rong? Can't exhale fully with EP=4.
Hi folks!
So, i finally got my S9 auto bipap, on loan for 3 weeks free, $375/month if I need it longer.
I tried it for 20 minutes and it aggravated my back injury ::frownie::. After 10 days to recover, I am going to try again.
I ran into a problem when I tried it before, which kept me from sleeping. I felt like i could only exhale about half the air in my lungs, with each breath. That was on IP=8, EP=4 (and on auto, but i checked the readout and it was staying at those pressures).
Every 4 or 5 breaths I would feel compelled to open my mouth, to let out the stale air that had built up in my lungs.
Is there something I am missing, something I should be doing?
If I'm lucky, this problem is also why the machine hurt my back (where my diaphragm attaches) and so I can solve both issues at once.
Thanks, always for your advice and experience!
RE: Am I doin' it rong? Can't exhale fully with EP=4.
Nila, 4 cmH2O on the exhale pressure setting is VERY low and most people would have no problem breathing out against such a low pressure.
I would definitely discuss this with your doctor as it seems to me that you might have other issues here... perhaps with your diaphragm itself... who knows... I think I remember someone else who had this problem, but they had
UARS, but may not be the same thing here.
If your diaphragm is being "stressed" with such a low bit of extra exertion (required to breathe out against a pressure of only 4 cmH2O), there might be something wrong with the diaphragm muscle itself or a growth or cyst that is creating the pain near the diaphragm as it expands and contracts beyond it's "normal" amount to force air out of your lungs with the higher pressure.
Again, I'm not a doc, I'm just throwing my thoughts out there...
Anyone else have thoughts on this?
SuperSleeper
Apnea Board Administrator
www.ApneaBoard.com
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
RE: Am I doin' it rong? Can't exhale fully with EP=4.
(06-15-2012, 05:21 PM)SuperSleeper Wrote: Nila, 4 cmH2O on the exhale pressure setting is VERY low and most people would have no problem breathing out against such a low pressure.
I would definitely discuss this with your doctor as it seems to me that you might have other issues here... perhaps with your diaphragm itself... who knows... I think I remember someone else who had this problem, but they had UARS, but may not be the same thing here.
If your diaphragm is being "stressed" with such a low bit of extra exertion (required to breathe out against a pressure of only 4 cmH2O), there might be something wrong with the diaphragm muscle itself or a growth or cyst that is creating the pain near the diaphragm as it expands and contracts beyond it's "normal" amount to force air out of your lungs with the higher pressure.
Again, I'm not a doc, I'm just throwing my thoughts out there...
Anyone else have thoughts on this?
Thanks for the link. I do have apneas, so if UARS is defined as 'no apneas' then I guess that is not me.
I do have something wrong with my diaphragm muscle, and all my muscles. It's genetic (familial) but in 25 years the docs have not been able to figure out what it is.
I actually thought the whole-body muscle problems could be _caused_ the apnea, as lack of oxygen to tissues while sleeping. That was part of my motivation in getting the machine.
The forum genie suggested this thread
http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-...-with-CPAP
in which a guy has a similar problem exhaling, but advice seemed to focus on his dry mouth issues. Apparently I'm not the only one with this problem...
RE: Am I doin' it rong? Can't exhale fully with EP=4.
Here is another article "Flow Limitation/UARS and BiPAP" by Barry Krakow MD
http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-...-and-BiPAP
RE: Am I doin' it rong? Can't exhale fully with EP=4.
(06-15-2012, 10:17 PM)zonk Wrote: Here is another article "Flow Limitation/UARS and BiPAP" by Barry Krakow MD
http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-...-and-BiPAP
Thanks for the informative article.
I didn't feel any anxiety when trying out the bipap, and I don't in general have problems with anxiety. Does this help to know?
RE: Am I doin' it rong? Can't exhale fully with EP=4.
Dang, none of you awesome folks have any advice? I am going insane from lack of sleep. ::multiple frownies::
RE: Am I doin' it rong? Can't exhale fully with EP=4.
Depending on the machine I changed my TiMax (Resed) to 3 seconds to give me time to exhale. On my respironics the rise time is three. This helps me. Sorry in the long time to respond.
A lot of techs set it to 1, not enough time for me to exhale. On the ResMed I put the Ti Min at .3 seconds. Good luck.
At that rental price I would buy a used machine. Doesn't have to be the S9 auto, just an auto.
