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+--- Thread: [Pressure] High pressure at midnight causing awake (/Thread-Pressure-High-pressure-at-midnight-causing-awake)
High pressure at midnight causing awake - makazaik - 08-26-2023
Hi all, I started CPAP therapy about a week ago.
Over the past few nights, I've noticed my AHI varies quite a bit from 3 to 33. I've adjusted my full-face mask to prevent leaks, but last night I awoke to a high pressure of 14.6 cm H2O and found it difficult to breathe. I held my mask firmly to ensure no air leaks, but the machine continued pumping at a pressure of 14 for some time. I had to restart the machine in order to breathe again.
Am I doing something wrong with my settings? Or is it just a matter of getting used to the machine? Additionally, I've been experiencing chest soreness and a feeling of tightness during the day. It feels like I can only take shallow breaths.
Please advise - is this normal as I adjust to therapy?
RE: High pressure at midnight causing awake - jwest - 08-26-2023
Do you only find it hard to breathe out?
You're on an APAP, so your machine is going to raise the pressure when it detects events, which is what brought it to 14.6cm last night. You can set an upper limit to the pressure that the machine can go to in the clinical menu. Maybe cap it at 12-12.5cm, where it seems to avoid most events.
Chest soreness is pretty common like that at high pressures. I used to get a lot of that when I first started at high pressures.
RE: High pressure at midnight causing awake - makazaik - 08-26-2023
Thanks, I just don't get the reason why continuous high pressure even I am conscious. I am expecting the machine will relief such pressure within short period of time.
RE: High pressure at midnight causing awake - staceyburke - 08-26-2023
You had one period of positional apnea. Positional apnea can NOT be controlled by pressure changes. You have to find out what position you are getting into and cutting off your own airway. Have you changed your sleep position? Sleeping on your back? Using more (or new) pillows? These things can cause positional apnea by chin dropping to your sternum and cutting your airway. Think of it of a kinked hose – nothing can get through – you have to unkink the hose… Because you only did this once all night I think it can be controlled by just making a change of sleep position.
IF you can’t make a simple change like changing to a flatter pillow helps then you will need a collar. I have a link to collars in my signature at the bottom of the page. It shows people who are not wearing a collar and the SAME person wearing a collar. There is a huge difference between the two.
You can see Positional Apnea when looking at the type of event and if they happen together. Grouped Oa or/and H events are positional.
RE: High pressure at midnight causing awake - Sleeprider - 08-26-2023
Minimum pressure 8.0, maximum pressure 13.0 with EPR 3 and fix the positional apnea. https://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php?title=Optimizing_therapy#Positional_Apnea
RE: High pressure at midnight causing awake - jwest - 08-29-2023
Because the machine does not remove pressure in the same way that it adds pressure. Put simply, the machine runs on a set of instructions (an algorithm) where it adds pressure for one set of reasons but removes pressure for different set of reasons.