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I'm pretty new too. I don't get a baby powder smell. But I do get a nice pleasing smell, that is faint. Sort of a smell that seems like body wash or soap smell. Its been nearly two months for me. I still get the smell every morning when I take off my mask.

Well here another curve ball to the "new" theory.

I've been using CPAP for 4 months. The first 2 months I had NO smell what-so-ever when waking up.

I did buy a new machine after one month BUT I did not notice any smell at first. After about a month or two of using the new machine is when the smell started. So to clarify, using CPAP 4 months, had a new machine for 3 months, ONLY the last month when I first wake up do I smell this baby powder smell for the first 20 seconds or so.

It could have something to do with the machine but it doesnt look so conclusive thats for sure (also see posts from others in threads I linked)

It comes to mind that using a xPAP machine may subject you to a limited form of sensory deprivation. Or, perhaps altered sensory response.

You are used to sampling smells close to your head but with the xPAP your odors originate some 6 feet away and pass through a machine before they reach you. This may "skew" your perspectives...

Jayjonbeach wrote:Well here another curve ball to the "new" theory.

I've been using CPAP for 4 months. The first 2 months I had NO smell what-so-ever when waking up.

I did buy a new machine after one month BUT I did not notice any smell at first. After about a month or two of using the new machine is when the smell started. So to clarify, using CPAP 4 months, had a new machine for 3 months, ONLY the last month when I first wake up do I smell this baby powder smell for the first 20 seconds or so.

It could have something to do with the machine but it doesnt look so conclusive thats for sure (also see posts from others in threads I linked)

Have you considered it took 4 months to restore brain cells (to pathways) of your memory? After killing off many by holding your breath? The therapy is working

Alternatively, Do you remember buying a new detergent because it's "On Sale"?

I'm about one month into APAP and I have a lingering smell for about a half hour after mask removal. I think it smells a bit like baby powder, but for me maybe more like a freshly opened Band-Aid. For me, I think it is new mask/hose silicon smell and/or sinus smell from congestion.

I've been meaning to ask this same question, but looks like it is a common thing, with an unknown cause. Very curious...

As long as it's not unpleasant, or harmful; could just be one of those odd things.

I have experienced the same exact smell. It only occurs when I've been using the mask for more than a couple minutes. When I take the mask off or I open the connection between the mask and the hose I smell baby powder for about 30 to 60 seconds. I have a Resmed unit with Resmed heated hose and a Resmed mask. I checked the air filter to see if it was the source of the smell but it's not. I checked around the unit for dust, nope. It's not the sheets or pillows, the smell definitely comes directly from the hose. I turned off the heated hose and the smell still persists. This is a brand new unit. I will wash the hoses out tonight and hopefully that will get rid of the smell. It's not offensive it's just that I don't know where it's coming from.

saddlebear wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 19, 2018 8:37 am

I have experienced the same exact smell. It only occurs when I've been using the mask for more than a couple minutes. When I take the mask off or I open the connection between the mask and the hose I smell baby powder for about 30 to 60 seconds. I have a Resmed unit with Resmed heated hose and a Resmed mask. I checked the air filter to see if it was the source of the smell but it's not. I checked around the unit for dust, nope. It's not the sheets or pillows, the smell definitely comes directly from the hose. I turned off the heated hose and the smell still persists. This is a brand new unit. I will wash the hoses out tonight and hopefully that will get rid of the smell. It's not offensive it's just that I don't know where it's coming from.

It's coming from *you*.

If it were coming from the machine, or it's filter, you'd smell it when you put the mask on, not when you take it off.

If it's the mask or he hose, long term users would report it when they get a new mask or a new hose. If it's in the machine itself, long term users would notice it when they replace the machine.

Has anybody who's been on CPAP a while smelled this odor when replacing the mask, hose, machine, filter, or anything else?

Most likely silicon/e in the hose. The surface of newly manufactured silicone can have volatile molecules that want to take flight (this general phenomenon is called "outgassing"). The heating of the hose would contribute to this. Baby powder is mostly talc, which has silicon as a main ingredient: Mg(3)Si(4)O(10). The hose is made of silicon*e*, which is a network of silicon and oxygen molecules. Most people above said it went away after a while, just like "new car smell" does... "new hose smell".

The silicone parts of the mask (at least in my case) are much thinner and softer than what the hose is made of, and maybe it's naturally less odorous. Or, more likely, they consciously engineered it to have no odor. This would explain why getting a new mask didn't bring the smell back.

Now if I could only figure out how to keep it on more than 2 hours at a time.

Old post from 2018 brought back to life

DFColangeli wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 07, 2020 2:12 am

It's the silicon [sic] in the hose.

No, it isn't.

If that was what it was, then it would be something OP smelled *when they first put the mask ON* not when they took it off, and it would be more more likely to be coming from the silicone inside the machine.

The hose isn't made of silicone anyway.

I vote for olfactory hallucinations.
If not unpleasant--just ignore them--unless a stroke is suspected.

Our sense of smell was designed to work under normal air pressure and normal flow into the sinuses. When your cpcap machine is on both pressure and flow increase, so basically your sense of smell is suspended. As soon as the machine is off or the mask comes off, your olfactory receptors can function again and the first things they pick up are the silicon molecules that were very recently rushing through (remember that your sense of smell is designed to picks up changes in the concentrations of gases. When you smelling "nothing" it means "no change").

My machine is still new so this is still happening. If I put the mask on and inhale - with the machine off - I can smell it albeit very faintly. The air rushing through the hose is required for the concentration of molecules in your nasal cavity to get high enough so that the odor is fairly strong.

I admit I was not able to confirm that the hose contains silicon, but it is flexible and can withstand heat, so it's likely given that 1) descriptions of the hose say "latex-free", and 2) most of our hoses are heated, and silicone is famous for being able to withstand heat without breaking down, which is why they use it for injection molding and to make trivets.

But maybe it is coming from the machine itself. If someone had a machine long enough for the smell to go away, then got a new hose and the smell did not return, that would be good evidence of that.