CPAP and gurgling noises

My husband has been using a CPAP for 5 or 6 years now and the quieter the machine gets, the noisier he becomes. His mouth falls open and he will gurgle and blow out air from his mouth. There is no pattern to this, his breathing may be easy and quiet for awhile, start loudly blowing air through his mouth and gurgle periodically. He wears the smaller mask and it has been checked for proper fit. He had a chin strap fitted for him, but that gave him tight strap marks under his chin in the morning. We have an oscillating fan and even a window a/c which helped during the summer.

There's really no getting around the opening of the mouth if he doesn't use a chin strap. It's either chin strap or move to a full face mask.

DebT wrote:My husband has been using a CPAP for 5 or 6 years now and the quieter the machine gets, the noisier he becomes. His mouth falls open and he will gurgle and blow out air from his mouth. There is no pattern to this, his breathing may be easy and quiet for awhile, start loudly blowing air through his mouth and gurgle periodically. He wears the smaller mask and it has been checked for proper fit. He had a chin strap fitted for him, but that gave him tight strap marks under his chin in the morning. We have an oscillating fan and even a window a/c which helped during the summer.

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Den

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Does he have the same problems if he sleeps on his side (presuming he's back sleeping now)?

Yes my husband likes to sleep on his back, if I nudge him he will try and roll on his side. It helps, but not always. Is there anything that can be tried to alleviate the noise? There is no steady rhythm to his sounds.

Hi - he must get off his back because that provokes many more apneas if nothing else, and that can be done in various ways such as using foam wedges or pillows behind him, and I bet his snoring etc. gets a lot better as well on his side. To help keep his airway open, cpap or no cpap, he could try a soft (small) cervical collar from the drugstore (it's not a big klutzy thing for whiplash ) and it'll keep his head up better.