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+--- Thread: Does anyone else swallow air with their mouth shut? (/Thread-Does-anyone-else-swallow-air-with-their-mouth-shut)
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Does anyone else swallow air with their mouth shut? - picante - 01-12-2019
The last 2 nights I've caught myself swallowing air without ever having my mouth open. It just goes from my nasal passages into my mouth. So last night I started poofing the extra out through my lips, since I was awake.
It just seems strange; does anyone else have this happen?
RE: Does anyone else swallow air with their mouth shut? - SarcasticDave94 - 01-13-2019
I also use the F20 and I swallowed a bit of air when I first started using my ASV, a higher level of CPAP. After a short time, my body adjusted, and no more air swallowing.
to your success
RE: Does anyone else swallow air with their mouth shut? - ardenum - 01-13-2019
yes anything above 18 pressure i swallow even on nasal
RE: Does anyone else swallow air with their mouth shut? - PaulaO2 - 01-13-2019
Okay, I think we need to clarify what the OP is asking/saying.
You aren't asking about air going to your stomach, right? But air leaking out your mouth with the mouth closed?
If that is correct, then yes. It is called lip leaking and is quite common. There are several ways to deal with that. The best way is a full face mask (covers nose and mouth). If you cannot tolerate this type of mask, the next thing is a chin strap. The sides of the straps can keep the cheeks from inflating which discourages lip leaking. Not always, but enough. There is a chin strap called the PAPCap that is specifically for lip leaking.
If you mean air getting to the stomach, even with the mouth closed, that is also quite common. Air swallowing can happen with mask changes (going from one type to another) as well as pressure changes (raising the min pressure if on APAP or increasing the pressure if on CPAP).
RE: Does anyone else swallow air with their mouth shut? - picante - 01-13-2019
(01-13-2019, 04:56 PM)PaulaO2 Wrote: Okay, I think we need to clarify what the OP is asking/saying.
You aren't asking about air going to your stomach, right? But air leaking out your mouth with the mouth closed?
Thanks, Paula02. I am indeed talking about swallowing air. Aerophagia has been plaguing me since the beginning of CPAP Nov. 29th. I've had to lower my pressure and the amount of time I spend on the machine. This is because I need to lower my gut pain in order to eat. My BMI is now 16.6.
I've been trying out a soft cervical collar to keep my mouth shut and chin forward. It does do that most nights, but I've now become aware that I swallow air even with my mouth shut. It doesn't make much sense to me yet, how my mouth still gets excess air (that I swallow), especially considering that my nasal passages are constricted, depending on how severe my nighttime reflux is.
I have woken up right as it's going down my throat in a big lump (I guess I'm not chewing it enough, LOL). It makes a funny sound.
So I've been purposely pushing it out of my mouth – pffffftt! – whenever I'm awake.
RE: Does anyone else swallow air with their mouth shut? - picante - 01-14-2019
(01-13-2019, 02:11 PM)crowtor Wrote: yes anything above 18 pressure i swallow even on nasal
I'm still swallowing air at 6 cm pressure. I lowered from 12 cm.
RE: Does anyone else swallow air with their mouth shut? - Sleeprider - 01-14-2019
Aerophagia is when the CPAP pressure overcomes the lower esophageal sphincter and enters the stomach instead of the airway. If the air is being ingested as a result of swallowing air, this may be a behavior that can be changed. You may be having difficulty learning and adjusting to exhale over the constant pressure of the air delivered by CPAP. Inhalation of high pressures may be easy, but exhaling may cause anxiety, panic and a feeling of suffocation or choking. When this occurs, the patient may fall out of the natural rhythm of breathing and hyperventilation may occur. This can result in a quick sucking in or gulping of air, and that air may be forced into the esophagus rather than the lungs. Air ingestion may also be a result of obstructive apnea and in your effort to get more air into your lungs, you gulp air in quickly and it is forced into the esophagus instead.
You seem to be aware of this air swallowing at times. What do you think is causing it, or what are the circumstances? Your air pressure has been cut to very low levels and there is not much more we can do other than refer you to a doctor for medical evaluation of the problem, or counseling if it is an anxiety disorder.
RE: Does anyone else swallow air with their mouth shut? - AlanE - 01-14-2019
After I lost a bunch of weight, aerophagia started to happen. I am making the assumption the two are related in my case since nothing else has changed in my life. I had to reduce my min pressure from 10 to 8 and I turned on EPR and set it to 2 so I could exhale with less resistance. So far I have not swallowed air since. Are you using EPR?
RE: Does anyone else swallow air with their mouth shut? - picante - 01-14-2019
(01-14-2019, 10:56 PM)AlanE Wrote: After I lost a bunch of weight, aerophagia started to happen. I am making the assumption the two are related in my case since nothing else has changed in my life. I had to reduce my min pressure from 10 to 8 and I turned on EPR and set it to 2 so I could exhale with less resistance. So far I have not swallowed air since. Are you using EPR?
That's encouraging. Yes, I'm using EPR 2. From what I understand, the machine doesn't go any lower than 4, anyway.
Since Friday I've had oxygen hooked up to CPAP, and that's improved my oxymetry, so before I go to sleep I'm going to run a trial at 5.4 cm pressure and see how my SpO2 responds.
Was your body mass index low when aerophagia started?
RE: Does anyone else swallow air with their mouth shut? - picante - 01-14-2019
(01-14-2019, 10:41 PM)Sleeprider Wrote: Aerophagia is when the CPAP pressure overcomes the lower esophageal sphincter and enters the stomach instead of the airway. If the air is being ingested as a result of swallowing air, this may be a behavior that can be changed. You may be having difficulty learning and adjusting to exhale over the constant pressure of the air delivered by CPAP. Inhalation of high pressures may be easy, but exhaling may cause anxiety, panic and a feeling of suffocation or choking. When this occurs, the patient may fall out of the natural rhythm of breathing and hyperventilation may occur. This can result in a quick sucking in or gulping of air, and that air may be forced into the esophagus rather than the lungs. Air ingestion may also be a result of obstructive apnea and in your effort to get more air into your lungs, you gulp air in quickly and it is forced into the esophagus instead.
You seem to be aware of this air swallowing at times. What do you think is causing it, or what are the circumstances? Your air pressure has been cut to very low levels and there is not much more we can do other than refer you to a doctor for medical evaluation of the problem, or counseling if it is an anxiety disorder.
Hi Sleeprider, I got a clue about the circumstances yesterday from my oldest friend, who has graduate degrees in public health and is also quite ill. She described vocal cord dysfunction, how she got it diagnosed, and where to find the breathing exercises that will stop these spasms. It can be caused by reflux acids.
That is the very area of my throat where the strange lumpy gulp occurs, with a bit of a gurgly noise. I've tried the exercises today, and they clear my airway pretty noticeably.
Exhaling does cause the feeling of suffocation you mention, but mostly at the higher pressures, not at 6 cm with EPR 2. I just posted above that I'm trying an experiment tonight.
And the O2 concentrator trial is going VERY well, so I will post about that soon, too. I've been super-depleted from too many grueling medical encounters, but today at the dentist's office was delightful, because he knows a lot about the apnea /reflux feedback loop, and thinks I can resolve the reflux if I can spend more time on CPAP.
He also knows more than the sleep doc about analyzing apnea data. He took a good look at my before- and after-O2 oximetry reports, and said, Wow, that's like night and day!