02-17-2023, 12:27 PM
Negative/Adverse Reaction to BiPAP Need Help
Hello everyone and thank you for your time and attention. I had posted the following message on Reddit and was told that I should seek help on Apnea Board.
I'm having a really bad time with this whole CPAP/BiPAP experience and it really has me stressed out. I did a sleep test about a year ago, with terrible sleepless nights for weeks after, and I just had my device fitting today, wore it for a couple minutes as the technician set the straps (full face mask), and now I'm having what I feel like are breathing problems all over again - like after my sleep test.
It's a number of things that combine to make this an overall horrible experience for me, here are two big ones:
I'm just so freaked out about the experience. I tried lying there in bed and now I'll feel like I can't breath. And then I start panicking.
Some Relevant Background:
I was prescribed a BiPAP (E0470) for my obstructive sleep apnea (full face mask). Pressure setting is 25. I'm 40 yrs old, male, 6'2" 230 lbs a little overweight. Have asthma and a deviated septum. Mouth breather. Been physically active most of my life, including a lot of sports into college, until having children in my early 30s, going back to school, and then dealing with sports injuries and a somewhat stressful 9-5 made me a bit sedentary. Caught COVID in April 2022, I was double-vaxxed before, and I feel like I have had long-COVID since then, and my breathing has been pretty fragile. I hadn't had an asthma attack since I was a kid, but I was starting to find that my childhood asthma seemed to have returned. Post-COVID, I have had pre-hypertension, pre-diabetes, been going in for all kinds of tests to figure out why I feel a general sick feeling most days.
After my quarantine, I did my overnight sleep test and it was a horrible experience for me. I recall just having the feeling of ragged breathing, shortness of breath, sleepless nights, for weeks after. My apnea was worse than it had been before. It felt like it took weeks for my breathing to get back to feeling like how it was pre-sleep test.
In fact, the worst of my current health conditions (listed above), really started to surface in the weeks after this sleep test. It's like COVID did a number on me, but the sleep test just exacerbated it all.
My Current Problems:
Yesterday morning, I went in to get my BiPAP fitted and the technician had me demo it. I had the hardest time getting used to the pressure. The technician had to significantly ramp down the pressure just to get me to be able to endure it - from 25 down to between 7 or 11. Again, it feel like I was drowning on air - I know it's a silly concept, but that's how it feels for me. And I only wore it for like 2 minutes.
Probably the worst part of this experience is post-device-wearing sickness - or what I feel like it is. When the device came off, I feel like I'm down one lung. I feel like it's so much harder to breath, like the atmosphere is suddenly so heavy. The feeling was such a shock that I immediately asked the technician if it's possible for your brain/body to form a dependency on the device. It felt like my lungs were starved of oxygen.
In addition, my lungs felt wrecked, beat up. My breathing felt ragged, like my inhale was weak and I couldn't take in air. I immediately kept yawning and it would go on like that for hours. I felt lethargic, drained, really weak, and sick. About a half-hour to an hour later, I kept having to burp. I have this feeling like I have a fist in my chest, upper ab, right below the sternum... like I have to give a big belch, but I just can't. I mentioned earlier that I noticed I would occasionally "snore" during non-sleep breathing - this is not typical for me. I also notice that when I yawn, I feel like the air is even more restricted going in. I feel like this is device-related. I remember feeling horrible like this after my sleep test and it took weeks to recover to pre-sleep test status.
It's been about 20 hours or so since I did my BiPAP fitting and I still feel these horrible feelings. I tried going to sleep and I can't. When I lay down, I feel like I have a weight on my chest and my lungs are having to work harder to inhale. As I sit at my computer typing this, I notice that I have to try to inhale deep because it feels like I'm not getting air. My blood oxygen readings on my Apple watch and my pulse oximeter show between 95%-100%. But, for some reason, I feel like I can't catch a breath. On top of all the physical problems I get left with, I have now developed some mental health issues.
I dread wearing the device. It freaks me out and I've never been this scared of something before - I hate feeling sick like I did post-sleep test and like I do now, post-device wearing. Just the breathing issues alone and this sick struggling feeling that I've been feeling all day, post-device-wearing, it has scared me into not wanting to wear it. It only took 2 minutes of wearing the device to make me feel this terrible.
And I really don't think claustrophobia is playing a part in this. I'm fine with wearing masks. The biggest problems is dealing with the drowning on air feeling (when trying to adjust to the device) and then this horribly persistent sick, wrecked, ragged, feeling that I get after wearing the device - which is, again, how I felt like after doing the sleep test.
Has anyone out there had a similar experience? Could my adverse experience have been connected to COVID?
Thank you.
I'm having a really bad time with this whole CPAP/BiPAP experience and it really has me stressed out. I did a sleep test about a year ago, with terrible sleepless nights for weeks after, and I just had my device fitting today, wore it for a couple minutes as the technician set the straps (full face mask), and now I'm having what I feel like are breathing problems all over again - like after my sleep test.
It's a number of things that combine to make this an overall horrible experience for me, here are two big ones:
- I have such a hard time adapting to the pressure - I feel this sensation of drowning, when I first try to put it on and it freaks me out. It's like I'm waterboarding myself with air;
- After wearing the device, like even for a couple minutes while getting fitted today, my lungs feel wrecked. My breathing feels ragged and weak. I can't stop yawning. I've been burping a lot. I feel like I can't get air. I feel like I'm on the verge of an asthma attack and like there's something in my lungs that I just can't cough out. I really want to emphasize that post-device-wearing, I feel physically beat up. I don't think this is supposed to happen.
I'm just so freaked out about the experience. I tried lying there in bed and now I'll feel like I can't breath. And then I start panicking.
Some Relevant Background:
I was prescribed a BiPAP (E0470) for my obstructive sleep apnea (full face mask). Pressure setting is 25. I'm 40 yrs old, male, 6'2" 230 lbs a little overweight. Have asthma and a deviated septum. Mouth breather. Been physically active most of my life, including a lot of sports into college, until having children in my early 30s, going back to school, and then dealing with sports injuries and a somewhat stressful 9-5 made me a bit sedentary. Caught COVID in April 2022, I was double-vaxxed before, and I feel like I have had long-COVID since then, and my breathing has been pretty fragile. I hadn't had an asthma attack since I was a kid, but I was starting to find that my childhood asthma seemed to have returned. Post-COVID, I have had pre-hypertension, pre-diabetes, been going in for all kinds of tests to figure out why I feel a general sick feeling most days.
After my quarantine, I did my overnight sleep test and it was a horrible experience for me. I recall just having the feeling of ragged breathing, shortness of breath, sleepless nights, for weeks after. My apnea was worse than it had been before. It felt like it took weeks for my breathing to get back to feeling like how it was pre-sleep test.
In fact, the worst of my current health conditions (listed above), really started to surface in the weeks after this sleep test. It's like COVID did a number on me, but the sleep test just exacerbated it all.
My Current Problems:
Yesterday morning, I went in to get my BiPAP fitted and the technician had me demo it. I had the hardest time getting used to the pressure. The technician had to significantly ramp down the pressure just to get me to be able to endure it - from 25 down to between 7 or 11. Again, it feel like I was drowning on air - I know it's a silly concept, but that's how it feels for me. And I only wore it for like 2 minutes.
Probably the worst part of this experience is post-device-wearing sickness - or what I feel like it is. When the device came off, I feel like I'm down one lung. I feel like it's so much harder to breath, like the atmosphere is suddenly so heavy. The feeling was such a shock that I immediately asked the technician if it's possible for your brain/body to form a dependency on the device. It felt like my lungs were starved of oxygen.
In addition, my lungs felt wrecked, beat up. My breathing felt ragged, like my inhale was weak and I couldn't take in air. I immediately kept yawning and it would go on like that for hours. I felt lethargic, drained, really weak, and sick. About a half-hour to an hour later, I kept having to burp. I have this feeling like I have a fist in my chest, upper ab, right below the sternum... like I have to give a big belch, but I just can't. I mentioned earlier that I noticed I would occasionally "snore" during non-sleep breathing - this is not typical for me. I also notice that when I yawn, I feel like the air is even more restricted going in. I feel like this is device-related. I remember feeling horrible like this after my sleep test and it took weeks to recover to pre-sleep test status.
It's been about 20 hours or so since I did my BiPAP fitting and I still feel these horrible feelings. I tried going to sleep and I can't. When I lay down, I feel like I have a weight on my chest and my lungs are having to work harder to inhale. As I sit at my computer typing this, I notice that I have to try to inhale deep because it feels like I'm not getting air. My blood oxygen readings on my Apple watch and my pulse oximeter show between 95%-100%. But, for some reason, I feel like I can't catch a breath. On top of all the physical problems I get left with, I have now developed some mental health issues.
I dread wearing the device. It freaks me out and I've never been this scared of something before - I hate feeling sick like I did post-sleep test and like I do now, post-device wearing. Just the breathing issues alone and this sick struggling feeling that I've been feeling all day, post-device-wearing, it has scared me into not wanting to wear it. It only took 2 minutes of wearing the device to make me feel this terrible.
And I really don't think claustrophobia is playing a part in this. I'm fine with wearing masks. The biggest problems is dealing with the drowning on air feeling (when trying to adjust to the device) and then this horribly persistent sick, wrecked, ragged, feeling that I get after wearing the device - which is, again, how I felt like after doing the sleep test.
Has anyone out there had a similar experience? Could my adverse experience have been connected to COVID?
Thank you.
