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+--- Thread: Aerophagia and nausea (/Thread-Aerophagia-and-nausea)
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RE: Aerophagia and nausea - staceyburke - 07-25-2023
Then it is most probably central apnea then but again the collar is about 15$ and you could try it. It sure will NOT cause more apnea if you wear one and you can compare.
If they are central then a machine to treat it is double the price of a Cpap and hard to get approved through insurance and it will take awhile also.
RE: Aerophagia and nausea - rpierce - 07-27-2023
I had a chance to talk to a sleep tech with my provider on Tuesday. EXCELLENT NEWS! He suggested changing EPR Ramp, Level 1 to EPR Full, Level 2 to try to reduce the aerophagia. IT WORKED! I've had two nights with none to minimal aerophagia, and the nausea related panic is gone. (To be fair, I've also been able to lengthen my first session to take it past the 1 am - 2 am window.) The machine also feels much more comfortable to use.
Now the next question is why my AHI is so high. The sleep tech suggested just giving it time to acclimate more. I had an AHI if 16 on Tuesday night and 9.5 on Wednesday night.
I'm starting to come around on the idea that positional apnea may be happening. The tech suggested my leak rate was too low, implying I was tightening my mask too much, and suggesting I may be pulling on my jaw. At least twice Tuesday, I noticed a fluttering in the left side of my neck when I woke up. And I think my chin may have been tucked towards my sternum. Does this sound positional?
On the night of Tuesday the 25th, I noticed such an event happened at 4:54 am (according to an accurate clock.) My machine clock is almost certainly 3+ minutes slow based on my known alarm clock time. so that places me noticing at 4:50-4:51 am according to the machine timestamp. My data shows a CA at 4:47, which sounds about right for me to recognize it, realize it is something I should write down, and wake up enough to check the time.
Looking at my Wednesday data. tidal volume seems like a good indicator of how awake I am. I had a cluster of events, mostly CA, from 0:26 to 0:34, which matches with me going to sleep. I'm mostly clear of events until tidal volume suggests I wake up at 2:34 and it takes me until 2:55 to get back to sleep. I had a cluster of 5 CA's from 2:48 to 2:53.
Second session, I have a lot of events, mostly CA's, as I try to get to sleep. I wake up at 6:09 and there are a lot of CA's until I give up and take the mask off.
Third session, lots of CA's as I go to sleep. I wake up 7:20-7:27, and have a bunch of CA's.
Also of note, I'm realizing some of the reason I am having trouble going back to sleep, and what may contribute to me waking up, is that my spouse is snoring loudly. I think she probably needs a sleep study and a CPAP of her own....
It seems the time I spend going to sleep, and the time I spend getting back to sleep while waking up, are when virtually all my CA's happen, and outside of those times I'd probably have a normal AHI. Any thoughts?
RE: Aerophagia and nausea - Jay51 - 07-28-2023
You have a couple of options IMO. You can keep using your current pap machine and a soft cervical collar and try to get the high # of CA's down. Sometimes there is treatment emergent cental apnea that can go away after a few weeks, etc. Basically you are breathing better and getting rid of more co2. Co2 in the blood is the signal to the brain to breathe. With less, less signals to breathe.
In the next few weeks, if things don't improve, you can start campaigning for a different machine. Watch you AHI #'s. If you are on insurance, and your AHI is consistently greater than 5, you most likely will get moved up to a higher level machine. If no insurance, only other options is probably out of pocket. But many different ways to purchase out of pocket.
RE: Aerophagia and nausea - rpierce - 07-30-2023
Thanks so much for the info, everyone! I do think the soft cervical collar might be worth trying.
After two weeks on CPAP, I am now on a forced three week break from the machine! I just had sinus surgery 48 hours ago. Given how much the machine helped (AHI 16 is bad but it’s so much better than AHI 112, and I’m now having to use lots of pillows to keep my head elevated as required by the sinus surgeon, which sounds like it might cause positional apnea!) I’m afraid I’ll be reduced to a near zombie by the end of it.