I need fresh air

How can I change that feeling of stale, warm rubber/plastic/silicon/whatever smell that I find difficult to bear? It's one thing when I convince myself its OK when falling asleep with it, but another thing experiencing it when awaking, and I feel a need to get "fresh air".

Is it possible to bring in cool air from outdoors into the intake on the back of a CPAP machine without making the room cold?

Aromatherapy would be the next best thing; better even, considering what happens outdoors.
{{{car exhaust, wood smoke, unlucky skunk}}}
I discovered this allowed my nose to find its bliss:
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/Pur-Sl ... -Pack.html

Nice. I can agree I experience what that product description mentions.

Don't agree with the principle of adding one smell to cover up another, since its adding more impurities to the air, but I may have to do that.

davep700 wrote:How can I change that feeling of stale, warm rubber/plastic/silicon/whatever smell that I find difficult to bear? It's one thing when I convince myself its OK when falling asleep with it, but another thing experiencing it when awaking, and I feel a need to get "fresh air".

Is it possible to bring in cool air from outdoors into the intake on the back of a CPAP machine without making the room cold?

Are you using heated humidity? If so, you could try turning it off and using "passover" mode.......water in the tank but no heat.
Keep your distilled water in smaller containers in the refrigerator and fill up the tank before bedtime.
Keep the bedroom cool.


Den

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Water in the fridge - great idea.

davep700 wrote:Don't agree with the principle of adding one smell to cover up another, since its adding more impurities to the air, but I may have to do that.

As long as it's a perfectly safe scent and you don't have an allergy to it and find it appealing, I don't see how adding a pleasant smell is an impurity. If it would help I'd go for it.

Anything in the air that produces a scent could be considered an "impurity".
The Pur Sleep products use all natural essential oils, approved (correction--designed) for use with cpap,
--although I found some more pleasing than others.
Another point: Never put this stuff in your tank!
You need to be able to move the scent source any distance away from your machine at a moment's notice.
When I tried these, the little plastic bags were too small for the discs.
I hope that has been remedied. Otherwise, have little part bags or bead bags handy.

Thank you. Good tips.

There's also talk about masks for those sensitive to odors or "airing out" CPAP masks and hoses. May look into that.

Tried the cold water trick last night. Found the air to be chilly to my nose, like being out in the cold rain. However, it was a bit more comfortable all in all - almost like being without a mask. Maybe I can fine-tune the temperature somehow.

Unfortunately though I found myself without a mask when waking up. I only got 1 hour 24 min in.

Maybe i can tape down the mask straps to my face with exercise tape, so it's a more conscious effort when trying to remove it?

[quote="chunkyfrog"} approved for use with cpap, [/quote]

Where is this stated? I am pretty sure that Pur-Sleep does not have FDA approval or approval from any CPAP manufacturer. If they did, it would be stated somewhere on their website.

That's not to say that the product will harm you or your CPAP. I just don't think there is anything that distinguishes Pur-Sleep essential oils from the regular off-the shelf essential oils.

Found a good post about taping mask with band aids , etc to create some minor pain upon removing it

viewtopic/t109213/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1 ... k#p1039484

WindCpap wrote:[quote="chunkyfrog"} approved for use with cpap,

Where is this stated? I am pretty sure that Pur-Sleep does not have FDA approval or approval from any CPAP manufacturer. If they did, it would be stated somewhere on their website.

That's not to say that the product will harm you or your CPAP. I just don't think there is anything that distinguishes Pur-Sleep essential oils from the regular off-the shelf essential oils.[/quote]

Oops! My mistake; I see it says "designed for use with cpap".
I do wonder why they use some of the scents they do, but some folks like fruit and candy smells.
And I thought I was weird!
I like herbal scents mostly, but a sage and citrus works for me.
I now use a Yankee Candle auto air freshener. It has worked for several months with no fussing.

davep700 wrote:Tried the cold water trick last night. Found the air to be chilly to my nose, like being out in the cold rain. However, it was a bit more comfortable all in all - almost like being without a mask. Maybe I can fine-tune the temperature somehow.

Unfortunately though I found myself without a mask when waking up. I only got 1 hour 24 min in.

Maybe i can tape down the mask straps to my face with exercise tape, so it's a more conscious effort when trying to remove it?

Depending on the temperature of your bedroom........
I have one smaller container with distilled on the night stand near my bed with my CPAP. I just add a little water every few nights to top it off. I also have a pretty cool bedroom......about 60 - 65 degrees......so I pull the hose under the covers with me so my body heat warms it up a bit more. By the time it gets to my mask it's "just about right".

Den

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The great thing about using aromatherapy with CPAP is you can control the level with great precision due to the fact that the CPAP inlet is fixed in space (unless you tug it off the nightstand).

I moved my machine to the center of my bedroom and it helped.

However, I still wake up with a suffocating feeling, need to remove the mask and take a few deep breaths. Unfortunately I usually drift back to sleep before I can reseat the mask properly.

My nasal airways feel narrow and that also makes the situation difficult. I use Afrin nasal spray some nights when I'm especially stuffed up. I'm not sure what my exact condition is, but Afrin works at decongesting (on occasion only).