Are full face masks an enabler for aerophagia?

[tyrone747]

I'm struggling to use as much pressure as I would like due to waking up in the night bloated and nauseous with aerophagia. I'm wonder if breathing through the mouth under a full face mask makes aerophagia more likely than breathing CPAP through the nose. You would think mouth breathing would make swallowing air more likely but when I look at anatomy pictures it looks like it doesn't matter which way you are breathing. Both routes expose the throat to air upstream of the esophagus/trachea fork. If mouthing breathing under a FFM makes aerophagia more likely I'll simply use my nose cushion mask and tape my mouth.


Also, I'm wondering if stomach sleeping can worsen the problem. It's my preferred position but it does put pressure on my stomach which I'm thinking may make any aerophagia I have feel worse due to the extra external pressure.

[Stom]

Dunno. All I can say is that for me the mask type doesn't seem to be the issue, rather the pressure does. And oronasal masks can require more pressure to achieve the same treatment of sleep apnea as nasal masks. So, the issue might be more complicated than the anatomy picture might imply.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4990949/

[katestyles]

Dunno. All I can say is that for me the mask type doesn't seem to be the issue, rather the pressure does. And oronasal masks can require more pressure to achieve the same treatment of sleep apnea as nasal masks. So, the issue might be more complicated than the anatomy picture might imply.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4990949/

As Pugsy is so fond of saying, YMMV.

It seems that many aspects of OSA are experienced differently by different individuals. For one person, aerophagia is not an issue. For another it depends on the mask, for another on the pressure. For yet another it depends on the position you sleep in.

Our unique-ness makes it hard to predict, so yes - make a decision based on what you can and cannot tolerate, then run with it.

[kteague]

Might be an interesting experiment for you to see what works for you and let us know. I've never used a full face mask yet get air in my belly. Have noticed that even slight position changes can make a difference for me. Left side is worse than right. Even on the right side I try to roll my shoulder forward a bit. When my chest opens up by having my shoulders perpendicular to the bed or rolled slightly backward I get more air in my stomach. Can't explain it, just what I've noticed. I have a slight hiatal hernia so what works for me may not work for someone with normal anatomy.

[zonker]

Might be an interesting experiment for you to see what works for you and let us know. I've never used a full face mask yet get air in my belly. Have noticed that even slight position changes can make a difference for me. Left side is worse than right. Even on the right side I try to roll my shoulder forward a bit. When my chest opens up by having my shoulders perpendicular to the bed or rolled slightly backward I get more air in my stomach. Can't explain it, just what I've noticed. I have a slight hiatal hernia so what works for me may not work for someone with normal anatomy.

interesting! i, too, have been diagnosed recently with a slight hiatal hernia. i do not present with heartburn. but have occasional bouts of, not exactly aerophagia, but gas nonetheless. unlike you, it's my right side that is worse.

i will try to remember to do that roll the shoulder forward thing to see if it has any effect.

[palerider]

I'm struggling to use as much pressure as I would like due to waking up in the night bloated and nauseous with aerophagia. I'm wonder if breathing through the mouth under a full face mask makes aerophagia more likely than breathing CPAP through the nose. You would think mouth breathing would make swallowing air more likely but when I look at anatomy pictures it looks like it doesn't matter which way you are breathing. Both routes expose the throat to air upstream of the esophagus/trachea fork. If mouthing breathing under a FFM makes aerophagia more likely I'll simply use my nose cushion mask and tape my mouth.

Well, you'd be right about that... since if you trace the paths of air and food... you'll see they cross over... which is why your trachea is in the front, and your esophagus is behind that, if things hadn't just 'growed that way' it would make much *MUCH* more sense to have your esophagus in the front, and trachea more directly connected to your nasal passages behind that... you'd be less likely to choke on your food... AND you could breathe while swallowing...

Also, I'm wondering if stomach sleeping can worsen the problem. It's my preferred position but it does put pressure on my stomach which I'm thinking may make any aerophagia I have feel worse due to the extra external pressure.

I don't know, one would think that if you were pressing on your stomach, it wouldn't let as much air get in there, whereas laying on your side or back would let even more air in.... but, I have absolutely no evidence to back up that supposition.