My Loud snoring/Sleep apnea problem - What to do? Do I need a CPAP machine?

[Winston]

Update on my CPAP therapy:

Hi Everyone,
I got an important question and urgent problem. Last week I finally got my Z2 Auto CPAP device. It was great and all and looked brand new. I set it to auto cpap mode (apap 2) and set the range between 7 and 20, as someone here suggested before. The first night sleep was great. I felt more refreshed than usual, and best of all, I didn't feel drowsy during the day or doze off randomly when I am sitting like I always usually do, due to my apnea of course. So that was great. Excellent!

However, there was one unexpected problem. My stomach began feeling bloated the next day. Gas and flatulence followed too. Soon I felt stomach aches, as if I got an upset stomach. It was mild at first, but got worse as the night went on. I wondered if the CPAP caused it, but last year when I rented a CPAP device I didn't have this problem, so I thought maybe it was just a coincidence. Plus, sometimes during the Fall season when the temperature starts changing, my stomach will hurt for a while as it adjusts to the temperature change. But it's usually only for a day or two. As they say, "correlations is not always causation".

So I decided to continue the CPAP therapy and see. The 2nd day, the stomach pains got even worse, especially when I drank milk. It was ok in the day, but late at night it got more severe. I could not even sleep all night. I took all the remedies I had, such as Pepto Bismol, Alka Seltzer, and other stomach medicines. None of them helped. I was gonna come on this forum and post about it but I was too uncomfortable to type or sit at a computer. The pain finally got better in the morning after taking Advil. I was not able to sleep until the next morning. It was terrible.

The third night was better. But I still felt bloated and it also felt like something was "off" in my stomach. As though my intestines were twisting and a knot was being twisted inside my stomach. Are these called stomach muscle spasms? Or is this called an upset stomach? Or IBS (irritable bowel syndrome)? Either way, it felt icky. I felt like something was off in my stomach. The pain was mild but it just felt odd and off. I had a few upper abdominal pains. It felt like my stomach was sore and recovering from an injury or something. So I only ate light food throughout the day, to not give my stomach too much work. I also drank some baking soda to alleviate the pain, as a friend suggested. It did help, but something still felt off inside my stomach, like something wasn't right.

The fourth night was the same. Usually my stomach ache problems only last a day, so this was unusual. So I decided to stop my CPAP therapy for one night to see if my stomach would return to normal. Fortunately it did. Now my stomach feels normal again and I can sit in front of a computer and type, which I could not for the last few nights due to stomach pains.

What is going on here? Is this normal? Do people commonly experience stomach pains like this when they start CPAP therapy? If so, why? I imagine it would have something to do with the constant air blowing in from the CPAP which might disrupt something in my stomach right? What should I do? Any suggestions?

Some of my friends postulated that it may be due to bacteria entering my instestines from my body's immune system, because once I was able to finally get a good night's sleep without disruptions, my body went to work cleaning out toxins from my fat cells, and when it did, some extra toxins and bacteria were released, which caused an allergic reaction in my intestines. One of my alternative health lady friends suggested I drink a few drops of hydrogen peroxide in water to destroy the bacteria in my stomach or bloodstream. I tried that, along with some baking soda too, and it did alleviate the pain and allowed me to sleep, but the abdominal pains came back again the next night.

I have had irritable bowel syndrome before, long ago, about 10 years ago. But after I started taking fiber and Metamucil, it went away and never came back. Does IBS have anything to do with this? Does CPAP cause it?

Also, last year when I rented a CPAP machine, this didn't happen. So I don't get why it happens now? It seems inconsistent.

As of now, I've decided to take a break from CPAP so my stomach can rest and get back to normal, before trying again. What went wrong? Any idea? Should I put it on a milder pressure next time, like apap 1, which is below the default pressure of apap 2?

@Contrarian Expatriate have you experienced this before? If so, what did you do about it?

[Winston]

@Contrarian Expatriate

I have a few questions. Just got my Z2 Auto CPAP. It looks great. Good as new. However, I have a few questions and a problem issue. I'll email the supplier about it too of course, but I was wondering if any of you experienced the same or if it's normal.

1. The instruction guide says to change the filter every month. But I remember someone said you can just wash the filter and reuse them long term. Is that so?

Where do I get replacement filters? What's the easiest way?

2. The problem issue is that the apap setting worked at first. It was set at apap 2 (the default setting) and when I put on the mask the pressure readings were varying between 13 and 14 range up and down. But when I manually set the pressure range from 7 to 20, as the forum members here suggested, and as the YouTube tutorial videos instructed, all of a sudden the CPAP pressure became fixed. It stayed at 7 throughout the whole night and wouldn't budge. And yes I made sure it was on apap 2 and not cpap mode. When I tried to change it back to the original settings between 5 and 7 it then remained stuck at 5. It seems to always remain stuck at the lowest setting. It seems the apap worked in the beginning but once I changed the range of high and low values, the auto mode no longer works, not even if I put it back to the original range.

How did that happen? Is this a software bug? I certainly hope it's not a hardware problem. Have you experienced this before?

Does your Resmed AirMini start at the lowest pressure and then move up if necessary if it sense any obstruction during sleep? When you use auto cpap setting, does it start at the lowest setting and then if the sensors sense obstruction in your breathing, then it gradually increases the pressure? For the last few nights I noticed it's been doing that. I set it at 5 to 20, and it starts at 5, then later while I'm asleep it goes up to 8 or 9. When I wake up and check it, it's usually at around 8. So I presume it increases during the night when it senses obstruction in your throat right? If so, maybe my machine is working normally as it should after all? And the initial 13 pressure was just a fluke or an attempt to clear the airways first when first out of the box?

3. I got a question about my Nitelog software app that shows data from my CPAP. When I download the data from the device, it shows a report with green bars, yellow bars and red bars for the AHI, which is apnea hypoxnea indicator or something. So it seems that if apnea happens 1 to 5 times, it's green bar, which means good normal sleep. Yellow bar means 5 to 15 times for mild sleep apnea, and red bars mean 15 and above. Most of my bars are yellow. So does this mean that apnea happened 5 to 15 times per hour? If so, did the CPAP pressure prevent that apnea from occuring or was unable to prevent it? I'm a bit confused about that. Can anyone explain? I tried to look at the user manual from Breas, the manufacturer, but it said nothing about it. And the manufacturer doesn't like to tell me much for legal reasons, I guess they are afraid of getting sued or something. Americans are so paranoid about such things. lol

Does a lot of yellow bars mean that the CPAP treatment was successful and worked and gave me a decent night's sleep? It seems like it, because during the day I don't feel drowsy anymore and I don't doze off randomly anymore. Before when I would sit on a couch I'd doze off randomly. I hated that. It felt out of control. Now I no longer feel drowsy or dose off. So that's a good thing. Seems to have made a difference there.

Is the goal to get all green bars or are yellow bars good enough? Would I have to increase the pressure on the CPAP? I have it set for 7 to 20 on auto cpap. There is an apap 3 setting with more pressure than the default apap 2 setting. Are you supposed to increase the pressure so that you will have all green bars on Nitelog? What would a sleep clinician say? Any idea?

4. My mom may have sleep apnea too. She gets drowsy a lot during the day and has to take light naps a lot. At night she makes slight choking sounds too while she sleeps, my dad said. So I'm worried that she might have sleep apnea too, since she's a little overweight. However, you know how old people are, they are very stubborn and don't like doing new things or changing their routine, so me asking her to go to a hospital and doing a sleep study would only be met with stubborn refusal and resistance from her.

So I was wondering, if I hooked her up to my CPAP device and used Nitelog to monitor the data, would that be able to diagnose if she has sleep apnea or not? Would that be sufficient? Or would only the OSCAR software be able to do that? Can the program tell how often you choke or gasp for air during sleep?

If my Nitelog app can tell how many times that sleep apnea has occured with green, yellow and red bars, then in theory I can test if someone has apnea with it right? For example, if I hook my mom up with it, and the data report the next day shows that she has yellow or red bars, that means she has apnea more than 5 times per hour (yellow bar) or more than 15 times per hour (red bar) right? According to the apnea chart that is. So in theory that should work right?

[Winston]

It seems the universe is being a dick again. Right after my sleep apnea is fixed by the CPAP I got, now i have irritable bowel syndrome and stomach pains for no reason like i had many years ago. Likewise after i got my mercury dental fillings replaced i had gallstone problems and fell on my side.

It seems the universe doesnt like when i solve problems. Because when i do it transfers my problem from area to another, as if my destiny or karma will not allow me to fix a health problem unless another can take its place.

Why is the universe such a prick like that? Can u explain? Can u ask God?

Now that i can sleep well without apnea, every night my stomach has mysterious pains that makes no sense and should not happen. Why? I didnt eat anything bad or unusual. Last night i could not sleep til 10am. The stomach pain would not allow me to fall asleep.

Why? I see patterns like this all the time. But assholes like hypermak who think they are God always claim with 100 percent certainty that its always a coincidence and no asshole universe is causing anything. Why? How can he be 100 percent certain of that? Does hypermak have absolute knowledge of everything in the 4th and 5th dimension and higher? Lol. If not how does he know? Why is he arrogant when his arrogance is baseless? Very f***ing annoying.

[Contrarian Expatriate]

Update on my CPAP therapy:

Hi Everyone,
I got an important question and urgent problem. Last week I finally got my Z2 Auto CPAP device. It was great and all and looked brand new. I set it to auto cpap mode (apap 2) and set the range between 7 and 20, as someone here suggested before. The first night sleep was great. I felt more refreshed than usual, and best of all, I didn't feel drowsy during the day or doze off randomly when I am sitting like I always usually do, due to my apnea of course. So that was great. Excellent!

However, there was one unexpected problem. My stomach began feeling bloated the next day. Gas and flatulence followed too. Soon I felt stomach aches, as if I got an upset stomach. It was mild at first, but got worse as the night went on. I wondered if the CPAP caused it, but last year when I rented a CPAP device I didn't have this problem, so I thought maybe it was just a coincidence. Plus, sometimes during the Fall season when the temperature starts changing, my stomach will hurt for a while as it adjusts to the temperature change. But it's usually only for a day or two. As they say, "correlations is not always causation".

So I decided to continue the CPAP therapy and see. The 2nd day, the stomach pains got even worse, especially when I drank milk. It was ok in the day, but late at night it got more severe. I could not even sleep all night. I took all the remedies I had, such as Pepto Bismol, Alka Seltzer, and other stomach medicines. None of them helped. I was gonna come on this forum and post about it but I was too uncomfortable to type or sit at a computer. The pain finally got better in the morning after taking Advil. I was not able to sleep until the next morning. It was terrible.

The third night was better. But I still felt bloated and it also felt like something was "off" in my stomach. As though my intestines were twisting and a knot was being twisted inside my stomach. Are these called stomach muscle spasms? Or is this called an upset stomach? Or IBS (irritable bowel syndrome)? Either way, it felt icky. I felt like something was off in my stomach. The pain was mild but it just felt odd and off. I had a few upper abdominal pains. It felt like my stomach was sore and recovering from an injury or something. So I only ate light food throughout the day, to not give my stomach too much work. I also drank some baking soda to alleviate the pain, as a friend suggested. It did help, but something still felt off inside my stomach, like something wasn't right.

The fourth night was the same. Usually my stomach ache problems only last a day, so this was unusual. So I decided to stop my CPAP therapy for one night to see if my stomach would return to normal. Fortunately it did. Now my stomach feels normal again and I can sit in front of a computer and type, which I could not for the last few nights due to stomach pains.

What is going on here? Is this normal? Do people commonly experience stomach pains like this when they start CPAP therapy? If so, why? I imagine it would have something to do with the constant air blowing in from the CPAP which might disrupt something in my stomach right? What should I do? Any suggestions?

Some of my friends postulated that it may be due to bacteria entering my instestines from my body's immune system, because once I was able to finally get a good night's sleep without disruptions, my body went to work cleaning out toxins from my fat cells, and when it did, some extra toxins and bacteria were released, which caused an allergic reaction in my intestines. One of my alternative health lady friends suggested I drink a few drops of hydrogen peroxide in water to destroy the bacteria in my stomach or bloodstream. I tried that, along with some baking soda too, and it did alleviate the pain and allowed me to sleep, but the abdominal pains came back again the next night.

I have had irritable bowel syndrome before, long ago, about 10 years ago. But after I started taking fiber and Metamucil, it went away and never came back. Does IBS have anything to do with this? Does CPAP cause it?

Also, last year when I rented a CPAP machine, this didn't happen. So I don't get why it happens now? It seems inconsistent.

As of now, I've decided to take a break from CPAP so my stomach can rest and get back to normal, before trying again. What went wrong? Any idea? Should I put it on a milder pressure next time, like apap 1, which is below the default pressure of apap 2?

@Contrarian Expatriate have you experienced this before? If so, what did you do about it?

No, I have not. But these are all medical questions that I have no business weighing in on. Consult a medical professional for all your questions and concerns.

[Italianman]

It seems the universe is being a dick again. Right after my sleep apnea is fixed by the CPAP I got, now i have irritable bowel syndrome and stomach pains for no reason like i had many years ago. Likewise after i got my mercury dental fillings replaced i had gallstone problems and fell on my side.

It seems the universe doesnt like when i solve problems. Because when i do it transfers my problem from area to another, as if my destiny or karma will not allow me to fix a health problem unless another can take its place.

Why is the universe such a prick like that? Can u explain? Can u ask God?

Now that i can sleep well without apnea, every night my stomach has mysterious pains that makes no sense and should not happen. Why? I didnt eat anything bad or unusual. Last night i could not sleep til 10am. The stomach pain would not allow me to fall asleep.

Why? I see patterns like this all the time. But assholes like hypermak who think they are God always claim with 100 percent certainty that its always a coincidence and no asshole universe is causing anything. Why? How can he be 100 percent certain of that? Does hypermak have absolute knowledge of everything in the 4th and 5th dimension and higher? Lol. If not how does he know? Why is he arrogant when his arrogance is baseless? Very f***ing annoying.

Yeah, @hypermak is a dumb, autistic asshole. See: viewtopic.php?p=348213#p348213

Now get on your hands and knees and beg Asclepius/PAG the god of medicine for help.

[Italianman]

Update on my CPAP therapy:

@Contrarian Expatriate have you experienced this before? If so, what did you do about it?

No, I have not. But these are all medical questions that I have no business weighing in on. Consult a medical professional for all your questions and concerns.

Good luck with that, the average doctor uses techniques 17 years out of date and knows nothing about why people have failed immune systems and under-supplied nutrients is just the start.

[Winston]

I called my CPAP equipment provider and visited the sleep apnea forums. Apparently I have something called Aerophagia, it's common with CPAP users. Here are some links about it and how to treat it. I'm posting it here for my reference, and of course if anyone else is interested.

https://www.alaskasleep.com/blog/common ... ap-therapy

https://www.cpap.com/blog/swallowing-ai ... erophagia/

https://www.sleepapnea.org/treat/cpap-t ... solutions/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3525983/

http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php/Aerophagia

https://goodsleepanywhere.com/can-cpap-cause-gas/

This is what AHI means btw.

https://www.sleepapnea.org/ufaqs/what-is-ahi-represent/

A document sent to me by my CPAP supplier in Word format about Aerophagia:

Aerophagia Causes and Resolutions
Tracy R. Nasca

CPAP users who experience excessive belching, stomach bloating, stomach distension and agonizing gas pains may be suffering from aerophagia. It’s the medical term for the phenomenon when air enters the esophagus, goes into the belly and causes bloating. Aerophagia can be caused by eating, drinking or even talking too fast. It can occur with hyperventilation from anxiety, from chewing gum, smoking cigarettes and even during strenuous exercising.
For the CPAP patient, aerophagia and stomach bloating is much more prevalent than you might think. It’s not a subject many feel comfortable talking about, but this side effect of CPAP use is an important issue to discuss and with proper changes to therapy, it can be resolved.
Aerophagia occurs when air from a CPAP enters the esophagus and goes into the belly, rather than the airway and into the lungs. This can cause gas pains and distension of the stomach. It is common and can happen to anyone who uses CPAP. But when it becomes chronic, it’s a red flag, a symptom that can be overcome when the cause is properly determined.

There are many possible causes; the following are provided:

1. Your CPAP pressure may be higher than you require. The extra air has nowhere else to go – thus, it is directed in to the esophagus and on to the belly.
2. Your pressure may be too low and inadequate to resolve your apnea event. In your effort to get more air into your lungs, you gulp air in quickly and it is forced into the esophagus instead.
3. You may have nasal congestion from a cold, flu or allergies. When your nose is stuffy, you may not be able to receive the CPAP air pressure you need, so you gulp air by mouth and down into the esophagus it goes.
4. You may be a mouth breather, who is wearing a traditional nasal mask. As your mouth falls open during sleep, the air that is delivered by CPAP and intended to enter the lungs may instead, escape via your mouth. Your apnea events are not being resolved and in your unconscious panic to breathe, you may suddenly have a choking sensation and gulp air in quickly, forcing it into the esophagus.
5. You may be having difficulty learning and adjusting to exhale over the constant pressure of the air delivered by CPAP. This is especially difficult for those patients on mid- to high-CPAP pressures. Inhalation of high pressures may be easy, but exhaling may cause anxiety, panic and a feeling of suffocation or choking. When this occurs, the patient may fall out of the natural rhythm of breathing and hyperventilation may occur. This can result in a quick sucking in or gulping of air, and that air may be forced into the esophagus rather than the lungs.

Here are a few suggestions:

1. If you suspect your CPAP machine air pressure might be inadequate for reasons mentioned above (too high or too low), discuss a pressure change with your doctor.
2. Confirm with your CPAP provider that your machine was indeed set correctly as prescribed by your doctor. On occasion, mistakes happen and CPAP may be set incorrectly.
3. Expiratory pressure relief features are available on most CPAP machines today. Depending on machine brand, it may be called CFLEX, AFLEX OR BIFLEX on Philips Respironics brands and EPR (expiratory pressure relief) on ResMed brands. This feature automatically reduces air pressure upon exhalation and can help reduce or eliminate aerophagia. Contact your CPAP provider and inquire if this feature is enabled and set on your machine. This is commonly a patient controlled feature, so ask to be shown how to use it.
4. Consider if the mask you are using is the best choice. You may be a mouth breather yet using a nasal mask. Your mask may not be the best size or style suited for your face. If you experience frequent mask leak, or pressure point soreness from over tightening straps to eliminate leak, consider choosing a different mask.
5. Make sure you know how to properly fit and adjust your mask for best seal. After you have chosen the best mask size and style for your face, you must adjust it properly before sleep. Sit on your bed, turn the machine on, and place mask on your face with straps loose. Lay down in your sleeping position with your head on your pillow as you would normally sleep. Slowly pull the straps JUST UNTIL you get a good seal. If your mask has a dual cushion, it will need to be “seated.” After you have fitted and adjusted your mask using the steps above, to “seat,” gently pull the mask straight out and away from your face to allow the dual cushions to inflate properly. Lay the mask gently back onto your face . You should know, by feel, that a good comfortable seal is achieved.
6. If you suspect your aerophagia is the result of hyperventilation caused from anxiety, consider utilizing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy provided by a sleep specialist. Ask your sleep doctor for a referral.
Learning the cause of aerophagia is key to resolving it. As always, discuss this issue with your sleep doctor and CPAP provider to help determine your causes and resolutions.

The information included on this site is for educational purposes only. It is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Contact your physician or health care provider when you have health related questions. Never disregard or delay medical advice because of information you have obtained on this site.

[Contrarian Expatriate]

I called my CPAP equipment provider and visited the sleep apnea forums. Apparently I have something called Aerophagia, it's common with CPAP users. Here are some links about it and how to treat it. I'm posting it here for my reference, and of course if anyone else is interested.

Back when I advised you to have a medical professional set your device at the appropriate level for you personally, I had things just like this in mind.

[hypermak]

It seems the universe is being a dick again. Right after my sleep apnea is fixed by the CPAP I got, now i have irritable bowel syndrome and stomach pains for no reason like i had many years ago. Likewise after i got my mercury dental fillings replaced i had gallstone problems and fell on my side.

It seems the universe doesnt like when i solve problems. Because when i do it transfers my problem from area to another, as if my destiny or karma will not allow me to fix a health problem unless another can take its place.

Why is the universe such a prick like that? Can u explain? Can u ask God?

Now that i can sleep well without apnea, every night my stomach has mysterious pains that makes no sense and should not happen. Why? I didnt eat anything bad or unusual. Last night i could not sleep til 10am. The stomach pain would not allow me to fall asleep.

Why? I see patterns like this all the time. But assholes like hypermak who think they are God always claim with 100 percent certainty that its always a coincidence and no asshole universe is causing anything. Why? How can he be 100 percent certain of that? Does hypermak have absolute knowledge of everything in the 4th and 5th dimension and higher? Lol. If not how does he know? Why is he arrogant when his arrogance is baseless? Very f***ing annoying.

LOL, blaming me and my opinions for getting stomach pain? A great sign of maturity on your side, @Winston, it really does justice to your superior intellect and sense of spirituality... Why don't you consult a doctor? Don't they have those in Taiwan?

[hypermak]

Good luck with that, the average doctor uses techniques 17 years out of date and knows nothing about why people have failed immune systems and under-supplied nutrients is just the start.

@Winston

You should consult Dr PAG instead. He's got his Stanford med school degree and 20 years of experience on anything a human being can possibly know in his lifetime

[Winston]

Good news. This time my cpap therapy didnt give me any stomach cramps or bloating. Last night i talked to my cpap supplier. He told me to set a higher swing pressure and a higher minimum. So i set it to apap 3 instead of 2. And the range between 8 and 15. This time it felt much better. I was able to exhale properly and wake up without stomach cramps. Why is higher swing pressure better? Because it allows u to exhale better? What does swing pressure mean exactly? I would have thought that lower swing pressure was better but apparently its the opposite of what i think.

Heres an email i sent to my cpap supplier guy:

"Btw Tim.
Good news. I did what u said last night and set the CPAP to apap 3 and the pressure between 8 and 15. This time it felt much better. I didnt wake up with bloating or stomach cramps this time. What a relief. Thank God.

Should i keep these settings? Or switch to apap 2 and 8 to 15? I still dont understand what swing pressure means. The user manual for my machine doesn't explain what swing pressure means either. Why is a higher swing pressure better? Because it allows u to exhale more?

Thanks,
Winston"

Wow my head feels so clear and alert and rejuvenated. I havent felt this good way in a long time. Rock was right. I should have gotten this cpap thing years ago. If only someone told me about the supplier i found with low prices before. This cpap is definitely a life saver. I could kiss the machine. Lol. I feel like ive just done a long meditation and good workout or something. My body and mind feel very glad and rejuvenated.

[Winston]

Hi Everyone,
I was wondering. On ebay there are a lot of anti-snoring gadgets which pull your jaw forward and claim to stop loud snoring and sleep apnea. Do they really work for sleep apnea? Any of you try them before? I don't get how you can keep a silicone piece in your mouth all night without spitting it out during sleep.

I've seen clinics promote some type of new invention that pulls your jaw forward too. They custom make it for your jaw and teeth and charge hundreds of dollars for it. Any of you know if those things work?

Here are some examples from Ebay of what I'm talking about. I'll just post images. If you want to find them on ebay, just type "sleep apnea" or "anti snoring" there or something.







I don't get how placing something like this between your nostrils is supposed stop snoring? Strange.





There are even little micro CPAP gadgets now. lol. See below.







They got anti-snoring wrist devices too. lol. Crazy.





There's even an anti-snore magnetic accupressure ring you can wear on your finger. lol







Do any of these work at all? Or are they only for the most light snorers? Any of you try them before?

[Winston]

Bad news. The stomach cramping keeps recurring. Even if my stomach is empty which is illogical.

Any idea why my stomach cramps wont stop? Ever since i started using cpap therapy my stomach has refused to stop cramping. I thought change the exhale pressure would solve it. It does for a few hours. But eventually the cramping comes back in the afternoon no matter what i eat or even if i eat nothing. So no pattern or discernible cause.

I've taken pepto bismol, alka seltzer, taken good taiwanese and japanese stomach medicine, drank baking soda and hydrogen peroxide. Etc. They all give me relief for a while but the cramping returns later.

So i thought it was constipation and took fiber capsules which are similar to metamucil. That usually helps with irritable bowel syndrome. And this time it helped because after it made me take a shit i felt normal again. But after an hour the stomach cramping returned again.

What the f**k is going on? Why is the cramping so persistent and illogical and recurring for no reason? Is this a serious problem or just IBS? Ive noticed that my stomach cramps up when the season changes from hot to cold and vice versa sometimes, i dont know why. Maybe the stomach is sensitive to weather or seasonal changes? If so then that could be another cause but it shouldn't be this bad and frequent and persistent. Very unusual.

What do u think? I shouldn't be cramping if my stomach is empty right? Its not logical and unprecedented. Ive never had stomach pains on empty stomach before.

The cramps last for hours and hours and feels endless. Should i go to the hospital? What could be wrong?

[Winston]

I guess it's true that seasons and weather can cause stomach cramps. So its not just me. See below.

https://www.hunimed.eu/news/stomach-pai ... al-change/

https://999ktdy.com/mother-nature-may-b ... -bloating/

[Winston]

Btw bad news again. Last night i could not sleep at all. The stomachache happened again and lasted 6 hours. I tried every stomach remedy i had. Nothing worked. I couldn't sleep til morning and could not use CPAP.

Im pretty sure the CPAP causes it because when i don't use CPAP my stomach doesnt ache like that. However it doesnt make sense because if i had aerophagia the bloating would stop after i turned off the CPAP after waking up. However the strange part is that when I wake up i feel great and well rested. No stomachache. The stomachache doesnt happen until 6 to 12 hours later. Yesterday it didnt happen until 14 hours later. I thought it wouldnt happen at all and was relieved. But unfortunately it came 14 hrs later.

This makes no sense. Why would a cause and effect be delayed 14 hours like that? Yet im sure there has to be a connection because it only happens after i use CPAP. Also the stomachache is unusual because it doesnt respond to any treatment, not alka seltzer, not pepto bismol, not baking soda, not fiber capsules, not gas x, not the best Japanese stomach powder and tablets. Nothing. And it also happens on an empty stomach too. So its not caused by food.

This is a very mysterious and inconsistent stomach ache. It seems connected to CPAP. However i dont get why a stomach ache would be caused by something 6 to 12 hours prior. Usually something that causes a stomachache causes it right away in minutes. 14 hr delay in cause and effect is unusual.

Today i went to the stomach doctor in the hospital. He couldn't figure it out either. He thinks it might be related to my gallbladder which has some small stones and sludge in it. So he gave me some gas relief pills. He couldn't figure it out either. Because this stomach ache doesnt make sense and is not consistent or normal. Theres no clear cause. He did an ultrasound too but only found little stones and sludge in my gallbladder. Irritable bowel syndrome would happen in the lower part of the stomach, not the upper center part, he said. He doesn't know the cause either. He thinks it might be related to my gallbladder. However it only comes when i use CPAP. So that doesn't hold water.

Im not sure how i can continue CPAP therapy, even though its giving me great quality sleep and making me feel well rested and alert, if the price of it is that i have to suffer a 5 to 6 hour stomach ache everyday which cant be alleviated by any medicine or treatment and persistent and long. That really sucks. When a stomachache goes for 5 or 6 hours it feels like forever. Time slows down too. Feels endless. Can't think or type either. I kept yelling and lecturing my stomach "stop it! Theres no logical reason for u to be hurting! Dick!"

Perhaps the CPAP causes a small imbalance in my stomach which causes a chain reaction of events that doesn't manifest until hours later, or half a day later in my case? Even if that's so, it's still odd and unusual because stomachaches usually happen fast, not after a 12 hour delay.

What do you think @HouseMD?

I have a theory. It's nutty..... but it does make some sense.

My theory is that the universe does not like u to solve problems u are meant to have. So if u solve one problem another comes up to take its place. Because u are not meant to be problem free. Could be karma too. If its your karma to suffer a health problem and u avoid it, it will manifest in another form because u cant escape your karma.

You see, we live in a matrix ruled by a demiurge (look up Gnosticism or the Cathars of France, who were genocided by the Catholic church). The demiurge requires all of us to have our fair share of suffering. Thats why we all have our fair share of suffering. Its the price we pay for existence. Kind of like a tax or rental fee we pay to exist in this universe and be alive. The demiurge and its archons feed and parasite our suffering and pain and negative emotions. Its sustenance for them. (This is mentioned in the Carlos Castenada books too)

Therefore if u get rid of some of your suffering, other kinds of suffering will arise to take its place. Because u arent meant to live without some sort of suffering. A classic example is when a poor person becomes rich, and no longer has money problems, he or she will suddenly have problems in another area, such as health problems, mental problems, family problems, relationship problems, tragedy or terminal illness in his family, etc.

Im sure youve all seen that happen before, either in your life or others. Its a form of Murphy's law or just the universe balancing itself or making sure you dont get more than what u deserve. Or its a tradeoff, in that for every gain u get u gotta give up something as a cost in order preserve the balance. The universe has to balance everything so that it doesnt collapse or blow up.

Anyway i know that sounds kinda woo woo and metaphysical. But if u are a person who believes in a higher power and not an atheist, it does make some sense if u think about it for a while. Its definitely a possibility, especially in cases where things are mysterious and unexplained.

Another theory is that the CPAP causes an imbalance in my internal organs or stomach. But that imbalance doesnt manifest for 6 to 12 hours for some reason. Maybe slow effect.