BrainsNeedSleep

It depends -- I find on occasion I have the same issue, and it is painful and - inconvenient, shall we say - but it seems to occur mostly on nights when I have caught myself sleeping on my back with my mouth open. Since that's suboptimal position for me, I do things to reduce the frequency, and find the aerophagia reduced as well. I don't know, but my guess is that when we are having an obstruction, the air has to go somewhere, and if the trachea is blocked, down the swallowing hatch it goes. One other thing I find helps it move on is gentle belly massage with both hands pressed against that whole area, something I learned in a Tai Chi class. My sympathies.

Sorry, hit the return button too soon... if you read the link below, I wonder if that would be of some use to you. Where are you located?

Hey, @CourageousCyanTurtle0370, read https://myapnea.org/blog/complex-sleep-apnea

Ahh, @Gram, I wish you were still here....I'd ask you to go read the article on complex sleep apnea under the Research tab up top, and print it out and take it to your sleep-care doc....

@Barbs, have you read the article on here by Robert Thomas on Complex Sleep Apnea? It's under the Research tab up top. If your "restorative sleep" still isn't where you want it, check out his article and see if it intrigues you. I use SleepyHead, too, and think it's the best thing for me to track my sleep. I keep a graph diary of food (sugar/wheat = brain fog) and activity and compare that to better and less-good sleep nights. You?

Hi -- who are you, @MQuante?

I will have to disagree politely with @DanM here and say that exhalation relief on some machines -- I don't know your F+P -- can make ALL the difference between using and not using your PAP. Some of us are claustrophobic and while my pressures are higher than 4, if you are not used to it and get panicky feeling, I would not want to "get used to it" -- I'd take the thing off. Ask your DME, if you can't tell from the manual, if there is some sort of flexible exhalation adjustment on that machine -- and if you can't stand the air, even with Dan's great suggestions for trying to get accumstomed to the machine/mask, then ask for the DME to swap you to something WITH that air relief. It is NOT necessary to suffer needlessly with these blasted contraptions, IMO, and I am adamant about some of these issues. Respironics has something called "C-Flex;' ResMed has their own version, I forget what it's called. In any event, the machine automatically backs off the pressure a little bit so you don't have to struggle to exhale. Good luck.

Yeah, I like the "less cumbersome" approach, @WiredGeorge! I keep seeing your remarks about mask liners...maybe I'll try some. Any in particular you recommend? I know some people make their own...

It may take you a little bit of time to get that brain out of "wake the heck up!!!" mode, and it may occasionally get bumpy, but FINALLY you are getting what you need. Hang in there. It will get better! I've had mine since childhood, too, and while I was diagnosed in 2008, it wasn't until just this past December that I actually started getting GOOD sleep and the right treatment. When I first started using CPAP, I had someone else's mask (leaked like crazy) and no help and no brain to ask for it, but after weeks, I did begin to see that I could make it a couple of hours before I got too exhausted...then three...then four...so even with "two steps forward and one step back," I made progress. You will, too.

@diligentapricotleopard8586 Wow, that was a long time between being made aware and getting treatment started, but good for you and hope it helps!