How to Minimize Air Swallowing With CPAP
Sleeping with the CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine can become a bit of a cumbersome experience, mainly because of the gas that one may end up swallowing involuntarily while asleep. Instead of travelling through the respiratory tract and making its way into the lungs, the air travels through the digestive tract and enters the stomach, where it stays. This can cause stomach bloating, which can not only be very discomforting, but also very embarrassing. Fortunately, there are a variety of ways to minimize air swallowing while sleeping with a CPAP machine.
Instructions
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1
If you begin to experience the air swallowing problem from the very first night that you start sleeping with the CPAP machine, you need to talk to your doctor and tell him about the situation. He would most likely decrease the level of CPAP in order to relieve your problem. You can also talk to your doctor if it would be alright to use CPAP machine with the exhalation pressure relief. The exhalation pressure relief will keep you from swallowing air involuntarily while you are asleep. Discussing all this with the doctor is really important, as he would first evaluate you to check if the air swallowing issue is not associated with some other medical condition that you may be suffering from. Once he is convinced that it is the CPAP machine that is causing this, then he can make an appropriate recommendation.
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2
Try to keep you chin pointing slightly upward while sleeping, instead of letting it point towards your torso. Keeping the chin this way would help you to minimize the amount of air that you end up involuntarily swallowing. In order to check that your chin is pointing is at an appropriate angle, make fist and try to fit it between your chin and your chest. This is the approximate amount of distance that should be there between your chin and chest. You can keep your chin in this direction with the help of a pillow.
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3
Sometimes, the air swallowing issue while sleeping with the CPAP machine is related to the dryness of the mouth. In order to prevent this from contributing to the problem, consider placing a humidifier in the room. With the humidifier in the room, your body will not try to hydrate itself by swallowing in case your mouth becomes dry at night.
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4
Determine if there is any particular food that is contributing to the air swallowing issue. Make a list of foods that you consume during the four hours before you go to sleep at night. This will help you find out the food, if any, which causes dryness in your mouth or otherwise makes the body swallow air while you are asleep.
 machine can become a bit of a cumbersome experience, mainly because of the gas that one may end up swallowing involuntarily while asleep. Instead of travelling through the respiratory tract and making its way into the lungs, the air travels through the digestive tract and enters the stomach, where it stays. This can cause stomach bloating, which can not only be very discomforting, but also very embarrassing. Fortunately, there are a variety of ways to minimize air swallowing while sleeping with a CPAP machine.Next%20stop%3A%20Pinterest "Pin It")
