Feel Like I'm Suffocating

[Guest]

I have been having trouble wearing my mask. I feel like I am suffocating in it. I have not been wearing it much lately and about 6 weeks ago started expereinceing dizziness and vertigo that has lasted every single day for about 3 weeks. My husband thinks it's because I am not wearing the mask. I tried the new Swift LT and have concluded that nasal pillows are NOT for me. Soyala Nasal is still the only mask that I can wear. I have tried them all!!! Thank goodness for CPAPAUCTION.com Has anyone else experienced any of this???

Debbie

[Snoredog]

are you still feeling like you are suffocating with the Soyala?

What is your pressure setting?

[atruvirgo]

The sleep doc set it at 7. I talked to Laura and she suggested bumping it to 10 since my Apnea;s were still at 12. I bumped to 9 (being conservative) and at first it felt okay, but the last week I have been taking it off because I feel like I can;t breathe. I am using the Soyala Nasal. I will not try any other masks. This is the only one that is comfortable and doesn;t leak, although it does feel stuffy and hot and I can't breathe well at the moment.

[ozij]

I have been having trouble wearing my mask. I feel like I am suffocating in it. I have not been wearing it much lately and about 6 weeks ago started experiencing dizziness and vertigo that has lasted every single day for about 3 weeks. My husband thinks it's because I am not wearing the mask. I tried the new Swift LT and have concluded that nasal pillows are NOT for me. Soyala Nasal is still the only mask that I can wear. I have tried them all!!! Thank goodness for CPAPAUCTION.com Has anyone else experienced any of this???

Debbie

The text underlined by me implies your dizziness and vertigo stopped after 3 weeks.
You also seem to say that you haven't been treating you OSA for the last 6 weeks. Neglecting OSA is not a good idea at all.

I bumped to 9 (being conservative) and at first it felt okay, but the last week I have been taking it off because I feel like I can;t breathe. I am using the Soyala Nasal. I will not try any other masks. This is the only one that is comfortable and ;t leak, although it does feel stuffy and hot and I can't breathe well at the moment.

Not being able to breathe well when lying down can be a result of your lungs filling up with water because your heart is malfunctioning. Please contact your GP to rule out other problems.

If the only problem is hot, stuffy air in you mask when you use it, play around with your humidifier - or heated hose if you have one. You may be getting too much heat and too little humidity, or you may be getting too much of both.

O.

[Panhandler]

Are you using the "Ramp" feature? I found that if it was set too low I felt like I couldn't get enough air.

[TossinNTurnin]

I'm not sure how to respond because truthfully, I think there is something wrong if you are still feeling you are suffocating after all this time.

In the beginning, I had a hard time, and even felt like i wasn't getting enough air,and struggled with that .... instead of just ignoring the machine and "drifting off. Without consciously doing so, I was trying to "control" my breathing, or breathing rate.... instead of just letting the machine adjust to me.

At that point, I spent a lot of time distracting my mind so that I "forgot" about the machine. Ironically, I will say that if I "worried" about other things (we were in the process of moving at the time and I was worried about financial issues) I realized, 10 minutes later, that I had been breathing just fine. The only thing that was in my way of breathing effortlessly was my own hyper consciousness of the CPAP machine.

Of course, then my issue was to stop worrying so much as it was disturbing my sleep...

But truthfully, it was when I was "distracted" by other worries, that I realized the machine worked just fine.

I dont' know if you have a TV in your room, but how about wearing the mask for 30-60 min while your engaged in a drama?... or... do you have a cassette or MP3 player?.... use headphones and listen to a book, or soothing music. Dream about what kind of choices you'll make when you win the lottery... fantasize about how that girl or boy who teased you in junior high needs your help desperately and you realize how truly pathetic they really are.... whatever...

The point is.... when it comes to the machine... watch the Sopranos and "fugedaboudit". After a short bit, you'll develop a "faith" with the machine.

[Snoredog]

it has been humid down south in your area where it is normally very dry, I would empty the humidifier and make sure heat is off. Too much humid air can make you congested. if you are using the humidifier to warm the incoming air, well that doesn't work so well.

Other thing would be pressure from the mask on the outside of your nose especially on the sides of the nose. If you can take your index finger and thumb and apply pressure on the outside of your nose where the mask generally applies pressure and cause blockage or reduce the air flow in your nose that can be a problem. That is why I use a larger mask so that it doesn't apply pressure to that area. If I feel with my fingers in that area I immediately become congested.

IF the vertigo and dizziness persist I would push the doctor on getting a Cervical MRI done. you want to look for anything in the cerebellum area such as a Chiari malformation.

[birdshell]

This may be a trivial suggestion, but...

When using a nasal pillows mask, I have found that occasionally I feel that I cannot breathe. I have to adjust them against my nostrils and then, magically, the air comes through.

I cannot explain exactly how this phenomenon happens when I *think* I have put the mask on correctly with the pillows in the correct place. However, I have had this happen with the original Swift, the ADAM Circuit/Breeze pillows, the CL 2 pillows, the Hybrid pillows, and the Liberty pillows. Thus, it is a tested technique!

I also found that at 4-5 cm, I feel that I am suffocating. I know that others start their ramping there, but it just doesn't seem to work for me.

Best wishes, and I hope that your answers are as simple as these. We all have to find out own, and no one here is an MD dispensing advice, as far as I can tell.

Karen

[megaleads]

You may find that it is very beneficial to have your GP doctor prescribe an overnight Pulse/Ox study. This tiny machine can be rented from any home medical supply store for less than $20 per night.

By using a pulse ox meter you can do a mini sleep study on yourself because you are able to monitor your pulse and oxygen levels. The test results will show you if your oxygen levels are dropping and if they go down too far you will see your pulse spike up.

If this is happening you are most certainly not getting enough CCs of air. Often times this can be due to seasonal allergies / sinus irritations etc... who know what... the point is that you may need an auto CPAP machine instead of just a standard CPAP.

An autopap adjusts to the pressure that you need by measuring your lung volume and knowing if you are having an apnea... it automatically adjusts the pressure needed to maintain your airway.

This can literally be a lifesaver since your heart races to keep your oxygen levels high enough in your brain when your blood ox levels drop into the 70's range.

This is a VERY inexpensive test that you can usually have done for the asking. Call your doc... have him just call the prescription in to your home medical supply store.

[irishdame]

I had trouble breathing at first. After about 2 months I got use to it and now I KNOW I breath much better with it on as I am a very shallow breather. You GOT to keep it on and you will get use to it. I KNOW how hard it is to feel like you can't breath. The other suggestion I have is to turn off your heat on your machine if you have it. Just use it in winter....Hope you find peace soon. I am still trying to be patient and even tho I still wake up 3-4 times a night and still sleepy all day after 6 months. I still wear it every night and hope for the best.....

[gasp]

I have been having trouble wearing my mask. I feel like I am suffocating in it. I have not been wearing it much lately and about 6 weeks ago started expereinceing dizziness and vertigo that has lasted every single day for about 3 weeks. My husband thinks it's because I am not wearing the mask. I tried the new Swift LT and have concluded that nasal pillows are NOT for me. Soyala Nasal is still the only mask that I can wear. I have tried them all!!! Thank goodness for CPAPAUCTION.com Has anyone else experienced any of this???

Debbie

This happened to me when I first tried pillows. It turns out I was using ones that were too small. I now am quite happy with the airflow using a size up. I also have less chafing with the larger size too. They kind of poof out at the entrance to my nares whereas the smaller ones went inside more (I thought they were supposed to) and the holes were not big enough to provide proper breathing in or out.

[atruvirgo]

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. I have thought perhaps one of several things was happening:
One is that I do have irregular heart beats and I don't think I am getting enough oxygen. (I will ask about the meter to check at home)
Two is that the auto cpap sounds good but my doctor isn;t real good about anything but the basics...I will emphasize with my primary care about the dizziness vs the reg cpap machine
Three perhaps my mask is smaller than I really need
Four someone once mentioned that drilling a small hole in the Soyala mask does help since its port for exhaust is rather small (hence quiet too )

I will try all of your suggestions and see how it goes....happy napping!!


Debbie