How Can You Tell If Your CPAP Settings Aren’t Right?

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Since you use your CPAP machine each night, it’s essential that you stay comfortable each time you use it. In order to stay as comfortable as possible, your air pressure level is an essential consideration. If you’re not as comfortable as possible, you risk our CPAP being less effective. You also lower your chances of using it like your doctor prescribed.

It’s important to note that everyone is different, which means there isn’t one universal air pressure setting for every CPAP user. This is why the machines allow you to adjust it, and we don’t recommend that you try to adjust your CPAP’s air pressure setting without consulting your doctor. We will give you several indicators that mean it’s time to start a conversation and get a pressure adjustment.

Signs That You May Have to Adjust Your CPAP’s Air Pressure

You may not experience all of the following symptoms. Also, the symptoms could come and go based on how the air pressure fluctuates and your environment. However, we listed the biggest indicators below.

  • Wearing your CPAP is uncomfortable.
  • You wake up with a dry nose and mouth, and you have the humidification going.
  • There are significant air leaks around your mask.
  • You find yourself breathing through your mouth.
  • Fluid starts to leak from your ears.
  • You wake up bloated because you swallow air.
  • Your apnea-hypoxia index raises above the average reading per hour.
  • You feel fatigued and tired throughout the day.
  • Your eyes are dry when you wake up.
  • You find it difficult to exhale against the air coming in.

How to Gauge if Your CPAP Pressure is too High

It can be very uncomfortable if you get far too much pressure in your airways, nose, mouth, or mask each time you use your CPAP machine. Not only can this reduce the effectiveness of your therapy, but it can stop you from sleeping as deeply as you should.

You could find yourself waking up several times throughout the night and having trouble falling asleep. In turn, you could see a resurgence of tiredness and fatigue during the day, and this is what your CPAP equipment is supposed to help treat.

The higher air pressure can lead you to swallow air when you sleep because you have too much coming at you through your mask. Swallowing air is called aerophagia. When you wake up, you can end up with stomach bloating, discomfort in your abdomen, and painful gas problems that take hours to go away.

Depending on how high the air pressure is, you could experience other symptoms like fluid leaking from your ears because it gets forced into you ear canal during the night, or you could have a burning sensation in your throat or nose. This can lead to hearing issues, ear infections, or broken eardrums.

How to Gauge if Your CPAP Pressure is Too Low

If your CPAP’s air pressure is too low, your CPAP therapy won’t be very effective. The goal of a CPAP machine is to keep enough air pressure flowing into your airways during the night to keep it open. If there isn’t enough pressure, your airway could collapse.

If it does, you won’t get the oxygen you need to stay asleep all night. One of the biggest indicators that your CPAP’s pressure is too low is that you’ll register five or more hypopnea or apnea events every 60 minutes. In turn, your therapy isn’t doing a good job. You’ll have more negative side effects associated with traditional sleep apnea symptoms.

You could feel starved for air, wake up gasping, high blood pressure, chronic fatigue, and waking up multiple times during the night. A second sign that your CPAP air pressure is too low is that you start snoring very loud when you have your CPAP equipment on and running. It has to keep your airways open during the night. Check that your mask isn’t leaking first.

If it’s not and you’re snoring, it’s time to adjust the pressure to make it stronger. The third sign that your air pressure isn’t adequate is that you wake up gasping for air. This is commonly called aerophagia. Each time you gasp for air, you accidentally swallow it. You’ll wake up to pain, bloating, belching, and gas.

Why Am I Still Snoring With My CPAP?

Steps to Take if You Need to Adjust Your CPAP’s Air Pressure

The first thing you want to do is schedule an appointment with your sleep doctor. It doesn’t matter what symptoms you’re experiencing; you’ll have to discuss it with your doctor. When you get to your appointment, your doctor will most likely ask you to have an in-lab sleep study.

Depending on the results, they’ll start you on therapy to help adjust and calibrate the best air pressure settings. This is why you shouldn’t try to adjust the air pressure at home on your own. It’s easy to adjust it too far and experience many of the same symptoms you already have.

You could also consider using an automatic CPAP machine. Some of the higher-end models have an automatic pressure feature. These machines come equipped with sensors that monitor your airway.

They will automatically adjust the air pressure if you snore or if your airway collapses. They usually have a host of performance tracking data that your sleep doctor can monitor. You can also ask to try a new CPAP mask type like a nasal or full-face mask.

If you don’t have a humidifier in your home already, it’s a good idea to add one to add moisture to the air. This moisture can help battle the dryness that comes with having a constant flow of air each night. Finally, you can switch up your CPAP machine, and this can be very beneficial if your current one is years old.

As always, remember to talk to your sleep doctor. They’ll help you find out what’s wrong and correct it, so your therapy is as effective as possible.