CPAP plugs my ears. Is this normal?

[oscar98]

Every single night I put the mask on and my ears plug up. It happens immediately upon swallowing while having the cpap on. It effects my hearing and is a bit uncomfortable and stays that way until I remove the mask in the morning. It's the same feeling you get when you travel up a mountain and the pressure builds in your ear until it pops.

I just figured it was normal until I mentioned it to my husband today and his pressure is quite a bit higher then mine and he does not have the ear problem.

[Wolfhound668]

Mine plug up but my pressure is only (?) 9 so its not too bad. When I get this on an airplane my "fix" is to plug my nose and "blow" through it. Of course this isn't possible with a mask on.

[oscar98]

Mine plug up but my pressure is only (?) 9 so its not too bad. When I get this on an airplane my "fix" is to plug my nose and "blow" through it. Of course this isn't possible with a mask on.

My pressure is also 9. The hold the nose and blow trick makes my ears worse when they need to pop. My mom used to tell me to do that when I was a kid and I always thought she was being mean until I later learned it works for everyone else.

[jules]

is it the cpap or is it the mask and your muscles or even how your heart is beating?

I can try to explain more in time - not this second - I am seeing someone for myofascial pain treatment - much of my pain is in the ears and she is doing trigger point work on my head

pain can show up in the ears from elsewhere too as I used to get piercing pain in my ears when my heart was in fibrillation from the vagus nerve

[oscar98]

jules, I'm pretty sure it's the pressure of the cpap. It happens no matter which mask I use and doesn't resolve until I remove the pressure either by lifting up the mask or shutting off the machine and then swallowing or yawning to get my ears to pop.

At first it was just annoying but I wasn't making it through the night with mask on. Now that I'm able to keep the mask on for a good 8 hours it is bugging me more.

[kurth83]

I don't have a machine yet, but I had the same thing happen to me in the titration test.
After thinking about it I realized there was nothing I could do about it so I just ignored it.
It was really hard to talk too.

Keep in mind that your ears can have either more or less pressure than the surrounding
air.

CPAP increases your ear pressure when you swallow.
Blowing while holding your nose does the same thing, so it gets worse,
and if you blow very hard will damage your ear-drum.

To fix it theoretically you would have to hold your nose and inhale,
sucking air out of your ears.

Once you get into holding your nose however, the mask pressure is gone
and you can just swallow a bit. Our blow and inhale muscles are pretty strong,
and ear-drums are pretty delicate, so I would shy away from pressure equalization
other than swallowing if I could. Also, because swallowing equalizes pressure gently,
it is less likely to suck germs into your ears causing inner ear infections.

- Kurt

[LinkC]

Mine have done that from Day 1. I was an avid SCUBA diver for many years and pressure equalization becomes second nature to divers as they change depth up and down.

What I do is drop my jaw (keeping mouth closed) and move my jaw rapidly from side to side. You should feel your inner ear "moving" if you are doing it right. It works every time for me. Might take several tries before you get it right. I do it without even thinking about it every time I turn on the machine.

[oscar98]

Thanks for all the tips. I'll give it a try and see if it relieves the pressure.

As long as there's no concern with the pressure on the ear drum for that many hours and as long as it isn't painful I guess I can live with it if that's the price I pay for sleeping and breathing at the same time.

[DreamDiver]

I experience this at pressures from 9 to 12.5 cm H2O. It doesn't happen all the time. A couple swallows of water in the morning undoes the pressure change for me when it happens. It's not painful -- less annoying than an air flight -- even less annoying than a ride up I-40 towards Black Mountain heading west from Old Fort (several thousand feet elevation change in just a short distance). I just live with it.

[Gerald]

Oscar.....

I experience the same difficulty....but I Ignore it. The problem is caused by small Eustchation Tubes....the channels that connect the inner ear with the throat. Mine are small....I have a little difficulty when flying....and I never was able to scuba dive because I couldn't easily clear my ears.

You might have some chewing gum handy when you're bothered with blocked tubes. Lots of pilots chew gum to make the pressure changes more comfortable....and you can do the same with your CPAP machine.

[fisamo]

Since you're using nasal pillows... Have you tried yawning? Usually, that helps, as well. I just don't know how long it will help you, though, because you'll need to close your mouth again when you lie down to sleep.

[BlackSpinner]

I have it if I go to bed too late and end up yawning in my mask. I have learned to swallow and sometimes I find pulling my earlobes in various directions seems to help. If none of it does I lift my mask and balance them that way.

[jules]

a couple of the exercises I have been told to do to help open my E-tubes and get rid of the fullness in ear sensation are included in this video - I realize it is for TMJ but I had found it last summer and two of these came back up in this treatment I am undergoing now - I think LinkC is close to another - ones I were told is open mouth up wide and the jut lower jaw forward just a picture is worth 1000 words I have been told

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O8ArvMOzqQ