Hi All:
I am a recently diagnosed "hosehead" (67 AHI; Desat to 61%; 19/13 bipap). I try to wait for my spouse to fall asleep before turning my machine on so she doesn't see my nightly battle and the noise doesn't keep her up.
I started with straight CPAP at 19 with a nearly silent Respironics Remstar Pro w/ C-Flex. The machine was great, but I could not easily exhale against the 19 pressure, even with the C-Flex. Within 3 days, I had a Resmed VPAP III BiPap initially set at 18/12, but after my overnight monitor recorded more than 40 desats of 4+, it was increased to 19/13. With the VPAP III, I could breath much easier, but the train whistle type whining of the machine made it difficult to fall alseep. Even worse, when my wife woke in the middle of the night, she could not fall back asleep due to the noise. I was very disappointed to have had a good night sleep, but then wake up and realize that my spouse spent the night on the couch because due to the VPAP noise. A few days later, I switched back to the Remstar Pro w/ C-Flex CPAP at 19, hoping that I could now tolerate the exhale against the 19--Nope! (Although, my spouse had a good night sleep and didn't evacuate to the couch) Now, I am trying the Respironoics BiPap Pro w/ Bi-Flex, which I find is slightly louder than the Resmed VPAP III, but the noise is a constant level (no whining), even during the ramp. My spouse was able to sleep through the night, but I had to let her fall asleep first and the noise made it difficult for me to fall asleep.
The machines and I are battling ... but I will win--my life depends on it!
What is the quietest Bilevel machine available? Any suggestions are appreciated.
BiPap Too Loud - Now Spouse Can't Sleep
4 posts
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HopefulTexan
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- Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2005 4:37 pm
- Location: Texas
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Born Tired
- Posts: 327
- Joined: Fri Sep 30, 2005 7:49 pm
Hi Guest,
Sorry to hear about the noise problems. This whole thing is definitely a process! My husband sleeps with a white noise machine on every night--really loud to drown out my Darth Vader noise. May be something to try for your wife. It even helps me to sleep better to have the constant white noise. And you do get more used to it as you go along.
Sorry but I can't address your machine question.
Hope things smooth out very soon. Try not to get discouraged. There a lots of very knowledgable people on this forum that will jump in and help you.
Esther
Sorry to hear about the noise problems. This whole thing is definitely a process! My husband sleeps with a white noise machine on every night--really loud to drown out my Darth Vader noise. May be something to try for your wife. It even helps me to sleep better to have the constant white noise. And you do get more used to it as you go along.
Sorry but I can't address your machine question.
Hope things smooth out very soon. Try not to get discouraged. There a lots of very knowledgable people on this forum that will jump in and help you.
Esther
My husband says, "Esther is not a morning person---and it goes downhill from there."
I Thes. 5:16 "Rejoice evermore."
I Thes. 5:16 "Rejoice evermore."
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christinequilts
- Posts: 489
- Joined: Sun Jan 23, 2005 12:06 pm
BiPAPs are always going to be louder then CPAPs- they have to change pressure significantly with every breath cycle...its ususally the up and down/change in sounds that is more annoying then a constant sound. Also they don't make as many BiPAPs as they do CPAPs, so there isn't the push from competition to make them any better for the most part. You might want to consider some sort of 'white noise'- anything from running a fan, using one of those white noise generaters, setting a clock radio between stations on low, or get a white noise CD to run at night. Your wife could also try wearing ear plugs if she really can't stand any noise at all. Hopefully she can adapt to the sound since you need to use it every night. You could remind her how bad it was when you were snoring all night long...she got use to sleeping with that noise, didn't she?
As for the suggestions of moving it further away- you really are not suppose to go over 10-12 feet of hose length...and with a BiPAP having to read every breath cycle so closely, you really don't want push the limits on hose length and have it get out of synch with your breathing rate. You can try putting it lower- even on the floor can make a big differnce then being right at head/ear level on a nightstand. You may want to put some pading under it- the rubbery self liner stuff works well to absorb any vibrations. Just be careful you don't do anything to block the air intakes and/or any cooling vents....my machine overheat in the middle of the night this summer becase the AC was set too high and the fan in my room got turned off by mistake. My machine was fine, but it took me over a week before I would trust it again...thank goodness I have a backup BiPAP ST.
As for the suggestions of moving it further away- you really are not suppose to go over 10-12 feet of hose length...and with a BiPAP having to read every breath cycle so closely, you really don't want push the limits on hose length and have it get out of synch with your breathing rate. You can try putting it lower- even on the floor can make a big differnce then being right at head/ear level on a nightstand. You may want to put some pading under it- the rubbery self liner stuff works well to absorb any vibrations. Just be careful you don't do anything to block the air intakes and/or any cooling vents....my machine overheat in the middle of the night this summer becase the AC was set too high and the fan in my room got turned off by mistake. My machine was fine, but it took me over a week before I would trust it again...thank goodness I have a backup BiPAP ST.
4 posts
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