CPAP machine keeping me awake??

I don't know what it is, but I can't sleep with the CPAP machine. Is it the mask? Is it the sound of my breathing in and out? I don't know.

I do know that if I keep a regular schedule and without napping (down at 9pm and up at 6), I can't sleep and wake up several times in the night. But if I go to bed at whatever time on a whim and not use the cpap, I can sleep. But either way the cpap machine keeps me awake. I do have a mood disorder, and over the last several weeks I have been coming down from psychotropic meds; so I don't know if that has to do with anything. (I am diabetic and need meds, but they wouldn't write me scripts for that because I was on so much medication.)

Do y'all experience this? How did you do with your cpap machine in the beginning?

Thanks,
NSA

I couldn't sleep with the CPAP either when I started.
Then I noticed the I was subconciously waiting for that strange annoying noise to stop, so I could fall asleep. I did two things to handle that:
One was to tell myself - in a friendly but firm way that this is what I'm going to have to sleep with from now on. The noise won't stop, it's here to stay.
The other was to imagine two places I had been in during vacations, where the noise of rushing water was loud. One was the seashore, another was near an alpine stream.

Both these helped me give up the unconcious monitoring of the sound, and relax into sleep.
O.

I can't comment about your medical history, but we found that the Whisper Cap helps with the noise. It's an inexpensive accessory that you can buy on cpapdotcom. Also when we lowered the cflex setting and eventually turned it off, it seemed quieter. Just some tips you can try. Good luck.

I use a white noise machine. It has a setting with gentle waves washing on a shore. I set it for 1 hour and very rarely do I hear it shut off.

i use a air purifier with a hepa filter, as white noise. a fan could also work. It is also good if you have noisy neighbors to drown out noise. Everyone has had problems with getting used to there cpaps noise, pressure, leaks etc... hang in there your cpap will help you get better sleep.

I have a ResMed machine; it's quiet. I also have it sitting on a library step (1-step thingee) beside my bed, so it's below my ear level. Might try sitting it below your ears ans see if it helps.

an electric fan or white noise generator helps, so does placing the CPAP on a rubber mat to absorb vibrations, dont cover CPAP as it may block the air intake

The only time I ever noticed any noise, is when the machine was turned on without the humidifier hooked up. At least that is how it is with my machine.

Wow! What great ideas! Thanks so much. Well I am on my way to a good night's sleep.

I wear ear plugs to bed (the soft foam kind you can buy at the drugstore) and I don't notice the CPAP noise at all. I have been wearing the ear plugs for a few years now (before I got the CPAP), so I am already used to them. I realize it will be another thing to adjust to for someone who hasn't worn ear plugs in the past, but they are pretty comfortable and they work really well for me.

I have the same problem. It seems that I was sleeping better (in my opinion) without the machine than I do now with it. I can fall asleep on the couch watching TV, then go into bed and as soon as I put the mask on, I am wide awake and extremely frustrated. I am new to the use of the CPAP machine, just being diagnosed with apnea in January. I swear, if my husband wasn't being disturbed by my snoring, I would have trashed this thing a month ago. I will try placing the machine below me on a stool as suggested, but I also have a ResMed, which is quiet, relatively speaking. I have gone thru several masks to locate one that doesn't "leak" air into my eyes. This one is doing the same now......2 weeks after starting to use it. Do a lot of people go thru this adjustment? I am thinking I am either nuts, clinically depressed (from my response to being awake most of the night), or maybe need sleeping pills to help, which I am really NOT interested in doing..........but what else? I appreciate the impute anyone can give me.

BethK, you might want to start a new thread as this one is older. Please fill in you equipment in text in your profile and give us some details. You'll get lots of help. Kathy

I find that foam earplugs do cut out the noise of the machine itself, though my breathing is still audible - as you'd expect.

Check out this machine.

http://www.google.com/products/catalog? ... CCMQ8wIwAg#

It's a little on the expensive side but worth every penny. I put it on "Rain" and I hear nothing from my CPAP machine. I'm now addicted to the sounds the machine puts out and as soon as I hear it I'm asleep within just a few minutes. It also has "adaptive" sound meaning, as it senses louder noise it turns up the volume to drown it out and then back down when quieter. It has about 10 different sounds that were recorded from the real things, (waves from the sea, rain, thunder, white noise, babbling brook, crickets, etc.)

I just found this last night. It's patent-pending and looks to be very new to the market. I make absolutely no claims about it, but I thought I'd post it for consideration. (FWIW, I don't know how air circulation is managed with this thing. That was my first question when I saw it.)

It claims to soundproof the machine and eliminate the glow from any lights on it; of course, whatever noise you hear from your own breathing and/or the mask is not going anywhere.

Fair warning: The website is a bit cheesy, but there is contact information if you want to know more.

http://www.cpapsilencer.com/page1.php