Wife unable to tolerate CPAP noise.... Help!!!!

Equipment:
Respironics System One Machine
Airfit F10 Mask.

Location:
The machine is off the floor, resting on towels with a pillow over the top.

Insurance:
I am a Medicare patient and all of my co-pays are covered with a supplemental policy.
This machine is 5-10 years old so I wonder if Medicare will replace it for free.

Finances:
While insurance coverage would be ideal, I am in a position to write a check for the latest
and greatest equipment if it reduces the volume of sound dramatically.

The problem is partially psychological in that my wife associates the noise of a CPAP with a respirator.
Without going into long family history, I have lost several family members due to lung disease
and my wife, as caretaker, was exposed to their final months while on a respirator.

We have been attempting to work through this for many months without success. She has tried earplugs, meditation, etc...
Now, we have to sleep apart often which is very disappointing.

Is there any equipment (mask or machine) that would diminish the noise dramatically?
Any other suggestions?
We are desperate.

Thanks

Anthony

I keep my machine in a drawer of my nightstand. When it is running, the drawer is closed with just enough room for the hose. If necessary you could insulate the drawer, but, in my case, the machine (S9) is virtually silent. There are many nightstands with drawers and they are not real expensive.

Is it the machine motor noise she is hearing or your breathing (the Darth Vadar like breathing)?
Are you using a humidifier...with water in it?

The newer machines are probably less noisy in terms of machine motor noise but if it is mask venting or your breathing noise she is hearing then it's unlikely to change that type of noise.

What is the model number on the bottom of the blower? It's a 3 digit number with maybe DS or REF in front or behind the 3 digits.

What are your pressure settings?

atwnsw wrote:Equipment:
Respironics System One Machine
Airfit F10 Mask.

Location:
The machine is off the floor, resting on towels with a pillow over the top.

Insurance:
I am a Medicare patient and all of my co-pays are covered with a supplemental policy.
This machine is 5-10 years old so I wonder if Medicare will replace it for free.

Finances:
While insurance coverage would be ideal, I am in a position to write a check for the latest
and greatest equipment if it reduces the volume of sound dramatically.

The problem is partially psychological in that my wife associates the noise of a CPAP with a respirator.
Without going into long family history, I have lost several family members due to lung disease
and my wife, as caretaker, was exposed to their final months while on a respirator.

We have been attempting to work through this for many months without success. She has tried earplugs, meditation, etc...
Now, we have to sleep apart often which is very disappointing.

Is there any equipment (mask or machine) that would diminish the noise dramatically?
Any other suggestions?
We are desperate.

Thanks

Anthony

Buy these and have her wear them at night, and her problem is solved: https://soundoffsleep.com/

Have your Md write A new prescription stating that your old machine is not working correctly and get a new machine. Your System one should not be that noisy - something is wrong with it. Replace it before it quits working. Medicare will replace it after 5 yrs.

If this is a new problem, then maybe there is a problem with your machine - repair/replace.

To quiet a properly operating machine, open a cooler and set it over the machine. If still too loud, place some cloths on the cooler. I have not tried it but it should work.

TedVPAP wrote:If this is a new problem, then maybe there is a problem with your machine - repair/replace.

To quiet a properly operating machine, open a cooler and set it over the machine. If still too loud, place some cloths on the cooler. I have not tried it but it should work.

You know a Cpap machine needs air intake, so it can blow it back out for therapy, right? How does blocking air intake with a cooler over the top allow that to happen? I do NOT recommend this method to quiet a machine.

IF you want a method you can try tonight, use a fan in the room set high enough to create some white noise. Most people have a fan or two laying around the house that could work. Or, you can buy a 20" box fan for $20 or less at Lowes, Home Depot, or Walmart.

Mikebear wrote:

TedVPAP wrote:If this is a new problem, then maybe there is a problem with your machine - repair/replace.

To quiet a properly operating machine, open a cooler and set it over the machine. If still too loud, place some cloths on the cooler. I have not tried it but it should work.

You know a Cpap machine needs air intake, so it can blow it back out for therapy, right? How does blocking air intake with a cooler over the top allow that to happen? I do NOT recommend this method to quiet a machine.

IF you want a method you can try tonight, use a fan in the room set high enough to create some white noise. Most people have a fan or two laying around the house that could work. Or, you can buy a 20" box fan for $20 or less at Lowes, Home Depot, or Walmart.

Yes I understand. A gap is present so that the cpap hose can come out from underneath the cooler. This gap will allow air in, so inlet air is not blocked.

If the gap is next to the floor, please remove dust bunnies first.

Sounds like she has a certain amount of PTSD... Emotional work would work for her. As far as equipment suggestions... my air circulation fan is loud as hell. I can't even tell the cpap is on at my house and it's 3 feet from me. so I guess I'm suggesting a sleep noise maker.

For balance, I've been on a P&B GoodKnight 318 cpap machine (brick) for 20 YEARS, until last month when I started wondering what kind of new machines might be out there, as I was scared what might happen if this machine ever failed. Yep, that machine has like 60,000 hours on it, and is still working perfectly! My setting was 7 cmH20 straight. I never used ramp, or a humidifier. It makes a LOUD white noise from the blower that comes through the mask (Resmed Swift II) I LOVE that white noise, as it masks room noise as my brain even asleep tends to stay hyper-vigilant. I also have a wife that snores like a trucker even though she's also on cpap (her full-faced Quattro mask never would seal). I had a septoplasty and UPPP 20 years ago that cured my snoring, but not my need for cpap.

Anyway, I bought a Resmed Airsense Autoset machine and started using it. RIGHT from the start, it was really bad for me! That machine is SO freakishly QUIET, I can't stand it. I LOVE that white masking sound the old machine makes. Anyway I'm still forcing myself to get used to the Airsense Autoset. At first I hung my old Swift II mask next to my head off the headboard, and turned the old machine on for the noise. That did help some. Once I figured out Sleepyhead and put a SD card in my wife's machine (Resmed S9 Elite) I also switched her to an Airfit P10 nasal pillow mask, and that just about cured her snoring (since it doesn't leak compared to her old Quattro mask), which was a bonus for ME being able to sleep, LOL.

I now have graduated to also using a Sound+Sleep Machine with earphones for making a white noise during my sleep, and it makes ALL the difference to me! I can now tolerate the too quiet Airsense machine.

Ultimately, I would HIGHLY recommend the OP to buy a new machine that's completely quiet to solve this issue for his wife. HOWEVER, as I stated above, it MAY cause an issue for the OP himself being able to tolerate the new seriously quiet machine. If so, he could either try to get used to it, or if not, also buy a Sound+Sleep Machine for himself. https://www.amazon.com/Sound-Fidelity-N ... B002SMJQT4

Hi atwnsw,

Following on from what Pugsy said, it may be that it's the breathing-out noise which is the issue, and that no matter how quiet a new machine you'd get, that noise would still be there and causing the reaction.

It's what's nowadays called a 'trigger'. And it is, as nicholasjh1 suggests, a learned association formed by past negative experiences.

There is a new treatment for heightened psychological arousal called 'havening'. It is brief - one session is usually enough - non-invasive - ie, not based on reliving the past - and by all accounts, highly effective.

The only problem is, being relatively new, you might have to travel to find a practitioner. But you also mention that finances aren't a problem. Might be worth checking out.

Here are the answers to your questions:

Yes, I use a humidifier with water.

My model # is DS6HFLG

Settings:
A-Flex 3
System On
Humidifier 2
Ramp Time: 0:15
Ramp Start 5.0
Tubing 22
Auto On
Auto Max 20
Auto Min 10
Mode Auto

Pugsy wrote:Is it the machine motor noise she is hearing or your breathing (the Darth Vadar like breathing)?
Are you using a humidifier...with water in it?

The newer machines are probably less noisy in terms of machine motor noise but if it is mask venting or your breathing noise she is hearing then it's unlikely to change that type of noise.

What is the model number on the bottom of the blower? It's a 3 digit number with maybe DS or REF in front or behind the 3 digits.

What are your pressure settings?

rick blaine wrote:Hi atwnsw,

Following on from what Pugsy said, it may be that it's the breathing-out noise which is the issue, and that no matter how quiet a new machine you'd get, that noise would still be there and causing the reaction.

It's what's nowadays called a 'trigger'. And it is, as nicholasjh1 suggests, a learned association formed by past negative experiences.

There is a new treatment for heightened psychological arousal called 'havening'. It is brief - one session is usually enough - non-invasive - ie, not based on reliving the past - and by all accounts, highly effective.

The only problem is, being relatively new, you might have to travel to find a practitioner. But you also mention that finances aren't a problem. Might be worth checking out.

If I'm reading about havening correctly, EMDR also CAN use havening techniques (it doesn't have to). so you could try that as well if you find an EMDR specialist willing to use it to create a safe space like that. Personally I feel like havening type techinques (at least with EMDR) are a stop gap, IE a temporary solution or salve since they don't actually REMOVE the association (to my knowledge) but They certainly can be helpful. I prefer doing the hard emotional work personally, but you have to want to do that, and there aren't very many good emotional work practitioners (shadow work, psycho drama, other trauma techinques, intuitive experiential work, some forms of EMDR).

TL/DR, EMDR may be able to provide some Havening like solutions with the correct practitioner

atwnsw wrote: My model # is DS6HFLG

That's the humidifier model number....not the machine blower model number.

Since you mention AFlex I know you are using the apap model....so it's going to be either the model 550 or 560...which is it?

If it is the model 550....the newer machines are indeed quieter in terms of blower/motor noise so a newer machine might help in that regard but if you wife is complaining of leak noise or breathing or venting noise then a quieter machine may not help because what she is hearing may not be related to the blower itself but instead related to something else.

With age it seems some machines do start making more motor noise and what was once a quiet machine isn't go quiet anymore.
If it's a problem for anyone...time for a new machine because we then start wondering about reliability as the machine's guts get more tired and old.

The model 550 was released in the early winter of 2009...so if that is how long you have had your machine and you are for sure the wife is hearing machine motor noise ....get a new machine. Past time.
I have used both brands...Respironics and ResMed and the ResMed motor noise is a bit less than Respironics. It's not a huge difference but it is there.
At least eliminate that possibility as to what is disturbing the wife.

Just remember that not all noise is from the blower and if what she is hearing isn't from the blower....a new machine may not help.