This may lead to quickly gulping or sucking in air, forcing it into your esophagus instead of your lungs. When this occurs, you might fall out of your natural breathing rhythm and start hyperventilating. When you inhale high pressures, it might be simple, but exhaling might cause panic, anxiety and a feeling of choking or suffocation. This is particularly hard for individuals using mid- to high-CPAP pressures. Exhalation problems: You might be having trouble exhaling over the consistent air pressure CPAP delivers.Your apnea episodes aren’t being corrected, therefore in your unconscious panic you could suddenly experience a choking sensation and gulp the air in rapidly, forcing it into your esophagus. When your mouth opens up while you’re sleeping, the CPAP machine may not be able to deliver the air to your longs, but rather the air escapes through your mouth. Mouth breathing: You might be a mouth breather and wears a traditional nasal mask.When you have a stuffy nose, you might not be able to get the right CPAP air pressure you require, therefore you gulp the air by mouth and there it goes, down into your esophagus. Nasal congestion: You could have nasal congestion from allergies, a cold or the flu.As you’re trying to obtain more air in your lungs, you end up quickly gulping air which is forced into your esophagus instead. Pressure is set too low: You may have your pressure set too low where it’s too inadequate to resolve your apnea episodes.The extra air you get has no place else to go, but to your esophagus and then belly. Pressure is set too high: Your CPAP pressure could be set too high or higher than you need.The most common aerophagia symptoms are:Īnybody can experience aerophagia, even individuals who don’t use CPAP and those who don’t have Sleep Apnea. As this air builds up, it can cause significant discomfort in your bowels and belly. It’s a condition that occurs when you have air entering your gastrointestinal tract, including your intestines and stomach. What is Aerophagia?Īerophagia is excessive air swallowing. Some patients experience CPAP-related gas due to aerophagia. When tolerated and patients are compliant, it’s extremely effective for preventing Sleep Apnea.īut, this doesn’t mean using a CPAP machine comes with no side effects. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy provides a consistent flow of air to help keep your upper airway open to prevent it from collapsing while you’re sleeping.

Upper chest discomfort abd cpap