Question for any Respiratory Therapists on line...

I am using the Respironics BiPAP Auto SV unit. I am on oxygen. 5LPM at 6300 ft. I have a lung infection and a cold. When I cough, I apparently do not open my mouth because the device in line (to keep oxygen from going back into the SV) rattles so loud it wakes me up (wife too). SV is pushing air out and my cough is pushing the air back into the SV, so the oxygen device does its job. Any suggestions as to how I can "soften" the rattling sound made by the oxygen device? It is REAL loud.

Thanks...Dave

First I an not a respiratory therapist just a CPAP user I'm confused it seems as if you would open your mouth when you cough it would be more effective at clearing your airway thus reducing the frequency of coughing . I also don't understand the oxygen at the altitude you listed as Sacramento it close to sea level . Maybe you need additional medical treatment in order to clear your lungs. Last year I had bronchitis and I was prescribed a nebullizer treatment every 4 hours it really made a difference. Hope you start feeling better soon

imsleepynomore, my fault, I had a much longer post and deleted much of the info you just asked about.

1. You would think I would open my mouth and maybe I did. I was asleep when it started happening. I feel like I MUST have opened my mouth to cough, but why would the pressure go through my nose too??
2. I am in South Lake Tahoe, not Sacramento. We are staying at a campground up here right now. Hence, "6,300 feet" altitude. My altitude at home is 226 ft above sea level.
3. Additional medical treatment, you are correct. I am getting a lot of additional medical treatment. I use xopenex and Albuterol in my nebulizer, I am on a corticosteroid to open up my damaged small airways (in my lungs of course) and many other things. My body has seemingly been a "Perfect Storm" for medical problems the last 7 years. Example: Corticosteroids to open my small airways also was a contributor to my current problem --- I have a ruptured biceps tendon -- distal. I will have surgery the 23rd to suture it back to the bone. Lung problem contributes to other problem. Prednisone let to significant weight gain. I then lost the weight, more prednisone and gained it back, only to lose it, only to use more prednisone and so on. There are other examples, but I am getting sufficient medical care. Even a trip to the National Jewish Hospital in Denver in 2007.

Thanks for the kind wishes, I am tired right now, but feeling better. Antibiotics are catching up.