Feeling pumped full of air

[DanielJ]

Hi, would appreciate some help please. My Dad has been using a basic NHS machine for over a year now and recently had the setting increased from 10 to 12 but now refuses to use it as he feels he is being pumped full of air at night and struggles to breath.

Is it that the setting is too high for him or is it a machin problem? I noticed in the foum that there are different types of machine that relax the air flow as your exhale. Do these work better and does anyone know if they can be obtained on the NHS?

Thanks

[Joe McManus]

Hi Daniel, thanks for joining the CPAP forums!

Most machines go up to 20 so 12 isn't all that high a pressure but obviously it depends on the patient's needs. I think it would be good to establish whether he is actually overburdened with air e.g. swallowing air etc. or whether it's a perceived too high a pressure.

Circumstances that can add to the feeling of high pressure is when you are clogged up during a cold etc. Nasal sprays may help in that sense, to make sure the airways are as open as physically possible so the air can go through without obstruction that could be removed easily.

Whether or not the machine has a problem would be quite hard to find out. Some machines have a card reader with data that can be viewed by a clinician.

The variable pressure machines you speak of come in two flavours. The first are those with exhalation relief. Respironics calls it C-Flex, ResMed named it EPR. NHS should be able to provide one of those as they are very common in modern machines (going back at least 2 years).

Both manufacturers claim better patient compliance so you could indeed argue they work 'better'. It's more a matter of the whole CPAP experience being more comfortable as oppose to better. It definitely reduces that feeling of having to strain to breathe out.

The second flavour of variable pressure machines are autotitrating CPAP, sometimes called APAP. They mostly come with C-Flex or EPS as well but its main feature is to be able to automatically determine the CPAP user's best setting. So in your dad's case it might have found that 12 is too high and go back to 11. And when he has a cold with congested airways, it may automatically jump back to 9 or 10 etc.

Another advantage of an auto CPAP is that when physical changes happen over a few years, say weight loss, then the machine can compensate for the changes and adjust automatically accordingly, without having to wait for a consultation to re-set the fixed pressure.

If your local hospital is unable to provide him with exhalation pressure relief or an auto CPAP, you may want to consider the £400 or so investment in buying one privately. If budget is an issue it could be paid off on a credit card over several months. That how I financed mine when I first went private.

[mart9012]

I found I didn't really like the feeling of being pumped full of air when I first started using my machine. So I would use the "ramping" setting so that it would start very lightly, but would increase after a set time (usually after I was asleep). I have to say now I have no problem with the pressurised air (in fact I quite like it now)...

[JackTheSnorer]

I agree on the ramping, it's a great feature that lets you ease in to the full pressure. By that time I'm normally sound asleep already so I don't experience any discomfort from the pressure.

Does his machine have a ramp setting that perhaps can be enabled or tweaked?

[katiemcewan]

Sounds to me like a clfex machine with ramp time will do your dad the world of good. It would help to know which exact machine he has.

[acebass]

Even my aged Resmed S6 has 3 ramp settings and I always use the twenty minute one, rarely do I have to reset it, usually alseep by the time full pressure is achieved, but then I do not go to bed until I start to feel tired and then read until I feel i am ready for sleep.