Whistling nose or Whistling Dixie

[Luthie2006]

Yikes, here I thought I had things licked! Has anyone's nose ever whistled with nasal pillows? I had put Lanisosh under my nostrils before I went to bed and some time in the middle of the night, my left nostril was whistling to me. Seriously. I think maybe this was an air leak whistling through. Like a door that is half closed with air rushing through that can whistle. Has anyone had this experience befor of the whistling nose?

[chefmate]

I could be wrong but I think whistling noise means that you are having large leaks. You should look at your machine's leak rate and it should be below 24 L/min for optimal therapy.

[Luthie2006]

Thank you. I think it means leaks too because when I went to readjust it, the noises stopped and then start again. Thank you.

[Pugsy]

I have had it happen. It's not necessarily a massive leak. More like a small leak through a tiny opening causing the whistle. Big leaks usually just rush out and way past the whistling stage. Usually for me pulling the mask away from my face and re-seating it would fix it but on occasion it would take multiple tries. I never really turned the light on to see what was happening but when it happened I would notice that the "fit" of the inner cone didn't seem to feel quite right. Never could put a finger on it but what I think was happening was the inner layer of that inner cone some how got out of whack or position and need to be re-inflated for proper position.

So a tiny leak through small opening causes whistling. Refit the mask and the leak stops and so does the whistling.

[Luthie2006]

Thank you Pugsy and others for explaining.

[robysue]

Yes I've had it happen.

As pugsy says, it indicates there's some leaking going on. But (continuing to mimic pugsy) that doesn't mean the leak is a LARGE leak that will show up in your data. Usually a whistle from the nostril/pillow interface means a very small leak, not a big one.

What to do about it: When this happens to me, I gently tug the pillows a tiny bit away from my nose and then let go. That allows the pillows to resettle against my nostrils and reseal against my nose. Most of the time this completely fixes the problem, and then I go back to sleep. Sometimes I'll notice that my nose is very damp (rainout) when I'm tugging the pillows away from my nose. If the nose is not too damp, I let it slide and go back to sleep. If the nose dampness is a issue, I'll turn the machine off and wipe my nose with the ever present cotton hanky that I sleep with. Then I turn the machine back on and reseat the pillows. I can do all of this in the dark and without much thought.

Occasionally if I can't fix the whistling/leaking by tugging on the pillows, I'll have to wake up enough to check whether the inner cone of my pillows has collapsed. If it has, I take the time to get the inner cone to point back upward where it should be pointing. That does require me to turn my machine off, and sometimes, alas, I have to also turn my bedside lamp on to see what I'm doing. Collapsed inner cones are a pain in the butt. If I have two "collapsed cones" in a given night, I *know* it's time to replace the pillows. If I have multiple nights in a row with a collapsed cone problem, I usually replace the pillows as well.

[jaybee72]

I have tried using a Swift FX, but I almost always get a crazy whistle going on. Only thing is, I do not have a leak when it happens! It's the air either going in or out of the little nozzles while in place. It drives me insane, so I don't ever use it even though I really want to.

[robysue]

I have tried using a Swift FX, but I almost always get a crazy whistle going on. Only thing is, I do not have a leak when it happens! It's the air either going in or out of the little nozzles while in place. It drives me insane, so I don't ever use it even though I really want to.

If you like the FX headgear, but you don't like the pillows, you might want to pick up a Swift FX Nano nasal cushion. It uses the exact same headgear as the Swift FX nasal pillows mask, but the interface is a small nasal mask instead of nasal pillows. You should be able to buy just the Nano cushion and use your unused FX headgear with it.

[RuthArt]

oh yes, it's happened to me, and I didn't know what to do, so I'm back using my nasal mask (my Swift FX just doesn't fit right...
probably because it's for a man, not a woman...I have a small head) I really would like to use pillows, so I may be going
shopping soon.