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Throat irritated by CPAP?

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Posted by BC on June 09, 2009 at 08:04:54:

I am relatively new to CPAP (about 7 weeks), but have largely acclimated and am averaging over 7 hours per night. Now that I've gotten used to it, I don't want to stop (because it seems to help at least a little).

However, I am having pain behind my breastbone that seems to be connected to CPAP. I have a heated humidifier; if I set the heat/humidity to 3 or lower, then I can hear myself wheezing if I breathe through my mouth. (I don't wheeze without CPAP.) If I raise the humidity to 4 or 5 (the maximum), I don't wheeze, but I still feel some pain which is worse when I breathe in.

An allergist says my lung function appears fine. I wonder if the air pressure could be irritating my trachea. (Perhaps it was already sensitized through allergies or GERD, and the air pressure makes it worse.)

I recently increased the titration (from 4 to 6, so it is still low), and that seems to have decreased/eliminated my snoring, but it hasn't helped my throat and may have made it worse. I am not sure whether I am mouth breathing, but my mouth and top of my throat aren't dry. The problem is farther down.

Is this normal? Do you have any advice?

Thanks.

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