Posted by EnglishEric on March 20, 2010 at 01:22:51:In Reply to: Could this issue be linked to CPAP posted by Bob04 on March 17, 2010 at 09:47:11:
Hi Bob04, Both Sandman and D.H. are veteran communicators on this forum compared to me and you would be wise to listen and act on their advice. I am not a doctor - but I have experienced very similar feelings to yours and found my own non-drug solution, it works for me so I am just throwing it out there. For a long time I would wake up not exactly gasping for breath but finding it difficult to breath because of my deviated spectrum (which laser treatment failed to improve) - this was always accompanied by pain in the lower abdomen. Initially I found that sitting up in bed with or without the cpap was helpful as indeed was a hot pad but the real break through for me was when I was in hospital (nothing to do with osa) and of course I used my cpap and they attached a blood oxygen monitor clip to my finger. The finger clip continuously set off the alarm so the staff took an interest and found that my blood oxygen levels were much better without the cpap so we developed a routine whilst I was in hospital whereby I took a short 20 minute break (from the mask) once or twice a night, did some deep breathing exercises to get my levels up and back to sleep with the mask on and pain gone. I still use this routine today but I now have my own finger monitor. With regard to your chest pains I have never felt anything like fluid or whatever but used to feel my rib bones as if the lungs had been too extended, that is also not a problem for me now. I can also associate myself with your speculation that air might be forced into your stomach because if I prowl around at night I do pass copious amount of wind which I don't identify with diet but this action certainly helps relieve a painful tummy. To reiterate, when I visit the bathroom I also walk around for a few minutes doing breathing exercises, don my mask and back to sleep. I hope this helps but as Sandman and D.H. said personal anecdotes are no substitute for a medical consultation, albeit that my routine was developed by junior hospital doctors and nursing staff whose superiors were not impressed. English Eric