- Hi, everyone.
My name's Nick, and welcome to my channel, CPAP Reviews.
For those of you already subscribed, thanks
for your support, I really appreciate it.
And for those of you tuning in for the first time,
this is an education channel on snoring, and sleep apnea,
and the products you use to treat the condition.
So if you'd like to learn more, please consider subscribing
and joining our little community.
Now, like most medical therapies, CPAP therapy
does have a few side effects, unfortunately.
And today I'm gonna be talking
about three common side effects
and things we can do to help alleviate those side effects.
Okay, so the first side effect
we'll discuss is called aerophagia,
and that's a fancy term for air building up in your tummy.
So with aerophagia, instead of the air from the therapy
going down into our lungs, it's basically going down
our esophagus and into our stomach, building up
in our stomach and it can be quite uncomfortable.
So, what's causing this?
Well, it's normally caused by incorrect pressure levels.
So if your pressure is excessively high
and it's overwhelming your body's natural ability
to breathe that air into the lungs, that can cause it.
Alternatively, if the pressure's too low
and we're still having apnea,
those moments where you are having apnea
and doing that, that gasping,
can cause that air to travel down our esophagus,
into our tummy also.
Another condition that can cause aerophagia is congestion.
If you really congested up in your sinuses,
that can cause us to mouth breathe (inhales)
and suck air in through our mouth.
And that combined with the positive airway pressure
can also lead to aerophagia as well.
Now, with the mouth breathing,
if you are wearing a nasal mask and supposed
to be breathing just through your nose, but over nighttime
you start breathing through your mouth as well,
then that can also cause that air
to travel down into our stomach.
Excalation problems can also cause aerophagia.
So, if you are struggling to breathe out
against the pressure there, because the pressure's too high
or you're just body's not quite used to it yet,
that can lead to you bringing
that air into your stomach as well.
So, what are some of the solutions?
Well, firstly, we need to have a look
at our pressure settings and our pressure relief settings.
So, we need to fine tune this a little bit.
If you are on a high pressure, consider dropping
the pressure down a little bit to see
if that helps alleviate it
and also try putting up the pressure relief settings
on your device.
So that's that exhalation relief that you get.
Secondly, we wanna have a look at our mask.
If you're on a nasal mask, maybe consider trying
a full face mask, 'cause there might be a chance
that you're actually mouth breathing over nighttime
and that's causing the air to go down into your stomach.
Next, you can look at adjusting your sleep position, okay?
And sleeping on a little bit of an angle upwards,
so a 30 to 40 degree angle should help improve that as well.
And lastly, we can try what's called a BiPAP machine,
which is a machine that is a lot easier to use compared
to your standard positive airway pressure devices.
Now, the next side effect we're gonna talk
about is probably the most common
and that's dry nose and throat really, really common.
Nearly everyone who tries CPAP therapy
has this at one point or another.
Now, what's happening here is basically, all that air flow
is just drying at your upper airway.
Really quite simple.
So, the CPAP machines do have humidifiers.
So, it's really important
that we learn how to adjust those humidification levels
and our heated tube levels if we have a heated tube.
So, if we are dry in the throat and the nose,
obviously we wanna add more moisture to the air
which normally means increase in the humidity levels.
And also, normally increasing the heated tube level
as well, especially if we're in a cold climate.
But, you really need to sort of tinker with those settings
and make sure that they're working as optimal as possible
if we are getting dry nose and throat.
Another thing you might wanna look at
is preheating your humidifier.
So, that's actually making sure the water
that's in your chamber is nice and hot
before you start using the therapy.
We also might wanna look at the mask we're wearing.
So if we are wearing a nasal mask
and we are breathing through our mouth over nighttime,
that is gonna cause a lot of dryness,
'cause that air will be shooting out of our mouth.
Next, if you don't have a heated tube, consider going
and buying a aftermarket heated tube or a heated tube
if your machine can take a heated tube system.
Heated tubes are great, they're the way to go.
So, make sure you look at that.
A great aftermarket heated tube is called Hybernite,
and I'll put a link into the description
of the video where you can pick that up from.
All right, and the last thing
is, again, with the CPAP pressure's
the higher the pressure, the more it's gonna dry you out.
So, we really need to aim at bringing
that pressure down as low as we possibly
can while still maintaining control of our sleep apnea.
And it is really easy to do,
but you really need to learn that stuff.
Please, please, please just don't go and take
your MD, or your GP, or your sleep (indistinct) word for it.
Don't take our word for it.
It's so easy for you to look at your own data
over a week in your home, and then use that to guide you
as to where your pressure needs to be.
And as long as your apnea-hypopnea index,
your AHI is less than five,
you can keep bringing that pressure down.
It's as simple as that.
Just use that as your guide.
All right, it's so easy.
AHI less than five and you're on 13, try it at 12.
If it's still AHI less than five, try at 11.
And you can keep bringing that pressure down
as long as that number's less than five.
Real simple, aye.
So simple sleep apnea.
The last side effect we'll have a talk
about is dry sore eyes.
And, this is normally caused by mask leaks.
So instead of the mask sealing well,
there's air leaking out and over the course of a night,
it's causing our eyes to dry out
and overwhelming the eyes' natural ability
to stay nice, and moist, and lubricated.
So, what can we do?
Well, I think the first thing you wanna look at
is how you're obviously adjusting your mask
and maybe do what we call a mask seal test
before you actually go to sleep.
So, that's actually running your machine
at a higher pressure while you adjust it
so that when you fall asleep
and you have your ramp period
or the machine ramps up automatically
to adjust for your sleep apnea,
you know you've already kind of got it set
for a higher pressure.
Secondly, we wanna be obviously cleaning
our mask, making sure that seal is nice and fresh,
and that we're replacing it at the recommended rate
or near abouts which is probably two to three times a year.
The longer you have that mask seal,
the more it's going to start to leak over time.
That's basically how it works.
And, obviously, your head gear
and other mask components as well.
So, make sure your mask is always kept nice and fresh,
that you're adjusting it correctly,
and that you're running that mask seal test.
You can also look at getting some mask liners,
which are like a material liners
that go sort of underneath your mask
and then your mask goes on the top of them.
There's a few, just Google CPAP mask liners
and there'll be heaps that pop up there for you as well.
If you're still not having much luck,
you can look at getting some sort
of artificial tears from your pharmacy.
Make sure you get those nice thick ones,
they're kind of like a gel-based ones
and they work really well as well to alleviate that dryness
and just help protect those eyes when you are sleeping.
Obviously, turn off any fans, air conditioners
and things like that as well.
All right, guys, well, that's it for today.
If you are having some other side effects
from your CPAP therapy, I'd love to hear about them.
And if you've also found ways to overcome
those side effects,
I'm sure the little community that we've built
would love to hear it, 'cause you can guarantee
that there's someone out there reading
that who's gonna be suffering from the same problems.
As always, thanks for watching.
I hope you enjoyed it and have yourself a great day.
See you later, bye.