CPAP & chest pain

[DocWils]

Well, if you have an AHI of 17 with the machine, then your problem is the machine is not doing the job, which could well explain the chest pain. Resmed users may and should correct me, since I do not know the Resmed display, but you should be looking for an AHI of 5 or less if your therapy is to be effective, and the chest pain may well be your chest muscles struggling to compensate for your events. In which case, you don't need a pulmonologist, you need to bring your results in to your sleep doc and get the machine adjusted.

[me50]

What type exactly is your S9? Is it an elite, auto set, etc.? Are you using the ramp feature so your pressure increases gradually depending on how it is set up?

Just a few things that would be helpful to know. I am sure others will have some more thoughts on this.

[John108]

"My unit is the ResMed S9 Auto-Set. The EPR setting is at "full time" and the EPR level is set to "2.""

Also, I have the H5i humidifier and it is set to 2.

John

[me50]

what pressure setting did they have it set after your sleep study before changing it to 15?

Can you ramp it for more than 20 minutes and see if that helps you and maybe start your minimum pressure a little higher than 5?

just a few thoughts

[bwexler]

It would help you to download the Sleepyhead software. To analyze your data. It will tell you what is going on and when. Any adjustments you make without looking at the data first is like a turkey shoot with a blindfold.
There are lots of educational items in the wiki on this site.
If you are not a computer nerd your grand kids would probably enjoy helping you. I know my oldest grandson, now 25, was offering to teach anyone with a computer when he was 4.

[zonk]

My AHI level the other night when I used the machine showed 17.

What shown for Total AI, Central AI, Pressure and Leak

[PaulaO2]

If you do not want to use the software, you can press and hold the two silver buttons (one has what looks like two check marks, the other has an "i").

On that screen the first tab is the "Sleep Quality".
Turn the knob to the second tab to the "Sleep Report".
Tap the button on the knob. This switches the focus from the tabs to the menu inside the tab. As long as the top line says "1 day", this will work for you.
Turn the knob to scroll down the menu.
Below "leak" will be the information for the breakdown of the AHI. That will be the numbers you need to know.

[Kjlittle61]

I have pains in my ribs on my left side which is the side insleep on all night. I believe it may be gas but my question is why would CPAP cause that? And my back hurts also and have puffy eyes.

[Beej]

It could be aerophagia - the air going into your stomach rather than only into your lungs.

Just in case, you might want to discuss this left side pain with your doc to rule out other causes.

[Burningman]

Subject: Chest pain

Hope you are doing better.
I have had severe osa since I was a child.
In the 60's / 70's / 80's...  they did not know what OSA was. Profession: mechanical engineer with an associates in biomedical electronics.

I was given my first cpap in 2001. Continued to have the unit upgraded to the next, and the next.
My apnea began to compound in the following years due to long commutes, long days, and the lack of uninterrupted sleep. This resulted in pressure increases. I began at level 8, then over the next 2 yrs, I was increased to 10-12, then 12-15.

I was not overweight and I am an asthmatic. I was swimming a mile 6 days a week, averaging 23 minute miles. I mention this because it plays to my lung capacity.

I as I moved into my 50's, my seasonal allergies and my energy levels began to wain. I would find myself waking up around 2am, ripping my mask off my face. My chest was tight, and often coupled with sweating. This went on for years, when one night my chest pain was bad enough to justify a trip to the ER. Triponin levels were zero, BP was excellent, bpm was 52. They told me it was anxiety attack. Then the chest pain events were occurring more frequently, where they convinced me to take an antidepressant. (which DID NOT WORK)

Additional yrs past, and the chest pain continued, as well as ER visits. I had a completed cardio workup, to include nuclear dye infusion for a CT scan. The cardiologist told me I had the heart function that of a 20 yr old. Yet, the chest pain events continued, and they were becoming more accute. This propelled me to do a deep dive.

What physicians overlook, or simply will not tell you, is that prolonged periods of breathing at these high levels can develop secondary issues, such as gurd, swallowing of air (air entrapment), esophageal irritation. In addition, our brains see this activity as abnormal.

This leads to sleep disruption, strange dreams, etc. Prolonged aggravation to the air can result in developing chest pain by simple triggers, such as, swallowing food to quickly, sitting on the ground where you are bending over, applying pressure to the stomach valve, which then can trigger the chest pain. This is the result of a learned response by our body. 

In short, high pressure levels will inevitably cause an issue of chest pain.  My pain is centered on the sternum, and is intermittent. I will use a medication at times to arrest the pain.

IMPORTANT: Make sure you have a complete cardio workup before doing anything.

In June of 2020, I had the Inspire implant to control my apnea. It is not doing as well as I would have hoped, but I continue to use it. I am on my 3rd programming of the unit. As long as I am on my side, my sleep breathing has improved. I use a mobile app called Snorelab, which is an excellent tool for monitoring my overall sleep.

Final note: if you are looking to improve your quality of life, find a doctor that performs a procedure called "hyoid suspension". See Youtube: Dr. Abidin. It is a safe, benign procedure. And, can be easily reversed. It's limitations are determined by the type of pallet, throat and location of your hyoid bone location.

Use Inspire only as a last resort.
Good luck.

Kurt