Gasping for Air - only since starting with CPAP

[dsdoying]

Howdy - new user here just completing my first week with a CPAP and I have one question: Although I was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea recently, I never remember waking up and gasping for air....until I started using the CPAP, and from the first night, during the "falling asleep period", I find myself waking up (unaware that I had fallen asleep) gasping for air and having to breath in deeply several times to recover. So my question is....what's up with that? Is that normal? Should my pressure be higher? Any thoughts?

One thing to note - I just got laid off and lost my heath insurance temporarily - so I don't really want to have another sleep study or see the doctor to evaluate my pressure level (which is '8' BTW).

And finally - this is a great forum and I'm looking forward to learning a lot and also contributing when I finally get a clue! Thanks.

[BabyDoc]

Perhaps, are you are awakening because air is coming out of your mouth? I see that you are using nasal pillows. If you have an S9 Autoset, you should be able to check your SD card to see what happened at the moment you woke up. If it is showing a large leak, at the time you were gasping, perhaps you should add a chin strap to see if that helps.

[Sleepster]

Howdy - new user here just completing my first week with a CPAP and I have one question: Although I was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea recently, I never remember waking up and gasping for air....until I started using the CPAP, and from the first night, during the "falling asleep period", I find myself waking up (unaware that I had fallen asleep) gasping for air and having to breath in deeply several times to recover.

Hello, and welcome. BabyDoc may be right. Do you wake up with air hissing out of your mouth? Have you tried a chinstrap?

Another possible cause is CPAP-induced central apneas (CA's). You have the ResMed S9, but which one? The Escape, the Elite, or the Auto. If it's the Elite or the Auto, you can use software to check and see if you're experiencing CA's. If so, the usual remedy is to lower the pressure and see if they go away. The danger, though, is that lowering the pressure could induce obstructive apneas (OA's).

Even though you no longer have insurance, you or your former insurance carrier have already paid for follow-up services you haven't yet received. You should call your doctor and your equipment provider, explain what's going on, and see what they say. They may supply you with a chinstrap, or prescribe a lower pressure, at no additional cost to you.

[zonk]

Please tell us what S9 model do you have, it should say next to stop/start button and find out what are the setting for ramp and EPR
http://www.apneaboard.com/resmed-s9-cpap-setup

[dsdoying]

WoW! Fast replies - thank you so much for engaging and asking the right questions and providing your ideas! I have an interview I have to rush off to right now, so I'll read more carefully and respond more fully when I get back. In the meantime, I have an Elite model - although I don't know much about it's capabilities yet. Thanks again!

[jdireton]

ds,

If this is happening early in your sleep cycle (you state in your "falling asleep period"), you might want to check your machine "ramp" setting. If it starts at too low a pressure, or the ramp time is too long, you can feel like you're starving for air. This is common and normal, the same thing happened to me.

I'll leave it to the mod's to post the links to request the Clinician Manual for your machine. It has all the information you need to enter the forbidden setup area and adjust this setting. You should be able to set the time for "Ramp" from the normal user menu though. You can even turn it off completely. This is a comfort setting, not a therapy setting. Play with it until you find what is best for you.

Good luck! Keep posting questions here and we'll do our best to help.

[mjbearit]

Howdy - new user here just completing my first week with a CPAP and I have one question: Although I was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea recently, I never remember waking up and gasping for air....until I started using the CPAP, and from the first night, during the "falling asleep period", I find myself waking up (unaware that I had fallen asleep) gasping for air and having to breath in deeply several times to recover. So my question is....what's up with that? Is that normal? Should my pressure be higher? Any thoughts?

One thing to note - I just got laid off and lost my heath insurance temporarily - so I don't really want to have another sleep study or see the doctor to evaluate my pressure level (which is '8' BTW).

And finally - this is a great forum and I'm looking forward to learning a lot and also contributing when I finally get a clue! Thanks.

First off:

Secondly, Sorry to hear about your unemployment! I wish you luck with your interview today!

Since you are currently watching your pennies I would imagine, let me share a little something with you that I found out (because I'm just plain cheap!) I was non-compliant for a number of years (in other words my machine was in the bottom of my closet). When I first started using it again I would wake up from having opened my mouth. I never used to do that so I don't know what possessed me now! I did not want to spend a bunch of money on a chin strap to only use it for the few days I figured I would need it to retrain myself, so I went to the grocery store into the women's hair care aisle. You know those elasticized bands that are about 2.5-3 inches wide to hold back long hair? Well I found one with some rubber based designs on it. I used that placing it from my chin up at about a 45 degree angle to the top back of my head and the little rubber design thingy helped to keep it from moving. It was just enough elastic to keep my big mouth shut but not so tight that it was uncomfortable. It only cost a couple of bucks. Just a thought!

[zonk]

I have an Elite model - although I don't know much about it's capabilities yet. Thanks again!

Congrats its a fully data capable machine. Take some time and check the above video link which will show you everything you need to know about the S9 including the link to the manual by Email from this board. Probably the mask is the most important part of PAP therapy but with patience and practice it,ll get better and its said "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"

[SuperSleeper]

Welcome to the forum dsdoying!

Here's the link where you can request the clinician setup manual for your S9 Elite machine... email request procedure is in Section Three of this page:

http://www.apneaboard.com/adjust-cpap-pr...tup-manual

[trish6hundred]

Hi Dsdoying, Welcome to the forum! Sorry to hear about your unemployment and I hope your interview went well. I had to wind up using a chinstrap to keep my mouth shut during the night. For the longest time I tried to do without one but finally I just had to start wearing one and it did help me.