Davo wrote:Thanks Mitzi , yes currently on another mask for couple of weeks now , I originally had the Comfort gel mask from respironics and the bridge of the nose became bruised, even after repeated trys to adjust it it, still leaked in the area near the eyes and after the cut now at the bridge would not heal. The Pharmacy recommended the Mirage Swift nasal pillow mask.My nose has healed finally now, and with a scar, but the 'nasal only' mask has not been blowing in the eye area now, but still have eye discomfort. Spoke with nurse earlier today and requested lowering the pressure setting again. She will consult Doc for me. Last night tryed to increase the humidity setting to MAX #5 but still no eye relief. I'm still trying to work with CPAP.

Thank you. I've been having that same problem with the eyes feeling dry, gritty, burning.
I'm currently (after 10 months) seeking an alternative mask style to use to correct this
problem. I will try the Mirage Swift.

God Bless and Sleep Well

I have sleep apnea and have been on the CPAP for 11 years. I started at 19 and had to have it lowered within 12 months. I have had three studies over the years. Recently I experienced daisness, inter ear, and headaches. I also visited a ENT doctor. He said that I could have lost my hearing. Last night I had a headache so I slept without the CPAP and the headache went away. I will revisit my doctor soon.

i have been on cpap for a year now and yes it plays havoc with your sinuses and hearing mine i set at ten it as improved my quality of life in one way. i dont fall a sleep now through the day

they found out i had sleep apnea after going in to hospital with pneumonia
were i died and they got me back after a minute and a half i ended up in HDU
i was in for three weeks

by the way i am new on this forum i am looking forward to posting
on here as it means that i am not alone and i can ask for help from all of you


speak soon big andy

My nephew was also experiencing bouts of vertigo, vomiting, dizziness and ringing in his ears. Turned out he has Menieres disease.

My husband used his CPAP machine for the first time this week, with pressure set at 16. When he woke up in the morning, he started vomiting violently, had a severe headache and severe vertigo. He was in such distress that I called an ambulance.


Dear Lisa and Lisa's hubby,
You have assumed that the fact that the CPAP was used for the first time and had vertigo, nausea amd vomiting and head ache the next day. so the CPAP must be the cause for all that followed and you are probably right too.

I'd like to think outside the box just to make sure you are not barking up the wrong tree.
What if all these did not have anything to do with the CPAP and were just a coincidence ?

Assumning you are using a nose mask. If the pressure is as high as 16 it is reasonable to assume that the apnea is severe. Now the question is whether the apnea is Obstructive apnea or Central apnea. If it is just obstructive apnea if the pressure is too high one cannot breathe against this high pressure and automatically as a reflex action will exhale through the mouth and within a few minutes one would remove the mask for good as it is not possible to breathe if the pressure was too high.

I tend to believe that if your apnea could be central apnea. then symptoms like nausea, headache, vertigo vomiting etc are are nurological issues including ear ache and ringing in the ears. It is common knowledge that apnea patients have a high risk for hypertension as well as stroke. From this point of view I believe that you should ask your doctors to do a doppler ( ultrasound) of the arteries of the neck to make sure thre are no blockages especially in the vertebral arteries that run through the cervical spine feeding the PICA ( posterior Inferior Cerebellar Artery) which in turn supplies blood to the part of the brain stem that controls the autonomous system including breathing, swallowing, hearing, speech, vision etc etc...

I am not suggesting I am correct but we need to rule out TIA ( transient Ischemic attack ) that is a precurser to a stroke as a TIA could give all the mentioned symptoms.

I have suffered from sleep apnea since 1989 and suffered a brain stem stroke in 2000 caused by a blocked vertebral artery. So I know from personal experience besides some of the above symptoms I also used to have migraines with visual disturbances. My doctors failed to diagnose my condition and even labelled me a hypocondriac. On 7th April 2000 I was rushed to emergency and was sent home after being told I had a migraine. On 13th April 2000 I suffered a massive stroke in my sleep at 4.00am I lost a ton but have regained most and have recovered 95%. Thank God for that.

Yes a doppler of the neck arteries is necessary to rule out a TIA.

I have been using the cpap machine now off and on for year and half, but i stopped because of i felt like i was bloated. I have had two surgeries which did NO good, still have to have cpap, and i am having the bloating again.
I would like to tell Lisa40 and her husband, that I hope that he is doing better. I already can not stand the cpap but for some reason lately am afraid not to use it. I am trying to lose weight so I might can come off of it.
Anyway, any help about the bloating would be very much appreciated.
I just got a new mask... mirage II swifft nosemask ......its ok.
thanks
karen

I had problems with the eye irritation also. I think I've remedied that was a satin eye mask to keep the venting air from drying out my eyes.

My granny needs to know if swallowing the air while she uses the CPap machine could be causing her to have excessive gas.

Anonymous wrote:<<

Anonymous wrote:has anyone had any problems with vision after using the CPAP?
<<
<<My husband is experiencing double/triple vision and only since using the machine.

After 2 months on CPAP I've noticed that my vision gets blurry. It's as if the moisture in my eyes is thicker and cloudy. After a few blinks it clears up for the moment but comes back a short while later. It may be from mask leaks but also possibly from the normal air that escapes through the exhale holes in the mask.

Yes I have had the same symptoms too. I regard it as either air blowing onto the eys or the mask is putting too much pressure on the eyes when I shift around and sleep at night. My eyes will be blurry in the morning and sometimes one eye is blurrier than the other for most of the day Sometimes its the right eye and then sometimes its the left. Other days my eyes are just fine, but the moisture in the eyes seeming thicker, is exactly what I experience here and there. I'm sometimes at the computer most of the day too, so part of this can be from eye strain as well.

I'll probably try somthing different than a full face mask which tends to push/slide up towards the forhead and thus placing pressure at the base of my eyes. One time I put too much water in the resevoir and woke up trying to breath under water..that was a nice scare :O) I've NEVER had this problem until I started using the CPAP & Full Face Mask.

All in all I really like the CPAP machine and it helps a great deal...once I get the pressure or blowing air off my eyes I'll be a happy camper :O)

New to apnea but not ear trouble (though not a medical person)... at this point I would suspect that violent inner ear trouble is likely due to BPPV (Benign Positional Paxomial--may have spelled that incorrectly--Vertigo). If the vertigo is violent during movement (especially when changing the head from vertical to horizontal positions and vice versa) and improves upon being still for a few minutes, then it is possible that BPPV is to blame. This means that an inner ear crystal (otoconia) has come loose in the inner ear and is floating in the inner eat liquid. This is the most common cause of violent dizziness (however I went to three doctors and three weeks went by before someone knew what to call it!) It was a HORRIBLE month for me. The cause can be uknown. I have chronic otis media effusion (fluid in the ears) which I believe causes ear ringing (and plenty of post nasal drip) and am nervous about starting CPAP because I am concerned about dust and mold allergens blowing into the back of my throat and creating more sinus/ear trouble. BPPV usually resolves itself within 30 days. Sometimes it does not. The crystal either disolves and/or the eye/brain coordination compensates for the new difficulties.

i too use a remstar plus cpap machine user at level 16. i have been using this machine faithfully since late january and have had periodic, but mild earaches at the beginning and now only very occasionally. This morning though, i woke up with vertigo and nausea (on the verge of vomiting but haven't). It isn't so severe that i haven't been able to function but i am concerned about it and will not use the machine tonight to see how i feel in the morning and what my doctor has to say..
When i began using the CPAP, he had indicated that the level of pressure i was using could cause the earaches, so there's no no question in my mind that use of the CPAP is responsible for the way that i am feeling today.

Now, after my first night on CPAP, I am awake with mild vertigo and pronounced ear "stuffiness." Related fact: Allergy season is at its worst here.

I had ear aches for the first week or so, and I'm only at a 6. I attributed it to getting into bed with a normal respiration and pushing too hard against the pressure while exhaling. Now I get into bed and leave the mask off for a couple of minutes until my breathing slows. No more ear aches.

Aerophagia is the swallowing of air and it is a well known possible side effect of CPAP therapy. Talk to your sleep doctor about it.