Noisy Nasal Pillows

I'm using the Swift FX Nasal Pillows with a ResMed S9. Over the past few weeks I find that well into the night, my nasal pillows begin to sound like a jet aircraft ---- LOUD! Loud enough to wake me. I've tried to diagnose the issue --- because I certainly don't recall this being the case when I first began using the mask. A few things to note...

1) The pillows are not quite 3 months old in use
2) I've found that reseating the pillows helps to cut the noise level but does not eliminate it
3) it appears this is an issue after I've been asleep for several hours - during which time my S9 pressure ramps up, as I have it set at minimum of 10 and max of 20 --- though the median pressure is around 13.

I've read the "Vents Whistling" thread and found a thought that perhaps the pillows are "tired"? That maybe the inner pillow becomes mishapen and contributes to this noise??

I've only been on CPAP for just under 3 months and I'm fairly certain this problem was non existant early on. I now find myself 'reseating' the pillows frequently once awakened until I can get back to sleep. I've even begun switching to a nasal mask instead of the pillows - while I have issues (leaks) with the nasal mask, it is far less annoying than the pillows.

Any ideas on what's happened/ happening and how to fix it??? Is it possible the pillows should be replaced?

I find that pillows might last a month... Six weeks if you're lucky. Yours sound like they need replacing. (They aren't like a mask cushion that might last 6 months.)

Hey there, dos! Yes it's quite possible the pillows need replacement. The pillows' lifespan varies a lot for people. But three months is certainly a reasonable time to replace. Some people need to replace more often than that.

Edit: Randy you beat me to it.

The nasal pillows could be getting tired. I can get several months out of 2 or 3 sets but I rotate them with washing about once a week and at the same time grab one that was washed a couple of weeks ago to put back on. So they get a couple weeks of rest.

If you have been using the same one set for 3 months, and depending on cleaning regiment, they can just get tired and aren't able to maintain the needed support anymore.

Do you have a different set you can try?
If I remember right you aren't using insurance or a DME. Even Medicare allows 2 nasal pillows per month.
There are people who only get 2 weeks barely. We don't know why. Might be related to various facial oils absorption and whatever cleaning regiment is used.

Pugsy wrote:The nasal pillows could be getting tired. I can get several months out of 2 or 3 sets but I rotate them with washing about once a week and at the same time grab one that was washed a couple of weeks ago to put back on. So they get a couple weeks of rest.

If you have been using the same one set for 3 months, and depending on cleaning regiment, they can just get tired and aren't able to maintain the needed support anymore.

Do you have a different set you can try?
If I remember right you aren't using insurance or a DME. Even Medicare allows 2 nasal pillows per month.
There are people who only get 2 weeks barely. We don't know why. Might be related to various facial oils absorption and whatever cleaning regiment is used.

I was wondering if higher pressures also tend to wear pillows out a little faster.

kaiasgram wrote:I was wondering if higher pressures also tend to wear pillows out a little faster.

I don't know...you know I use over 10 to 14 all the time and spend some time up pushing 20 on occasion.
So it's not like I use single digit pressures all the time and now with the bilevel machine I have inhale and exhale which I guess causes some additional "movement" maybe.
Back when I was using the APAP and started therapy with the Swift LT (long before the Swift FX came out) and after about a month of washing daily I got lazy real fast and I discovered that I got a lot more longevity out of the pillows when I rotated the use and didn't wash so often. I also got to the point where Lansinoh wasn't used (just in case that is a factor).
My skin tends to be really dry around my nose so maybe I was just lucky with a combination of little things that allowed by nasal pillows to last. I know that they got tossed more from looking ugly than from leaking or cones collapsing .

I find that when my Swift FX pillows get tired they get noisy like dos coyotes is describing, and I see my 95% leak rate get close to 24. When I change them they stay quiet all night and that 95% leak number is between 10 and 12 on average.

Some further thoughts on why pillows/noisiness seems to change over time:

o Slippage or stretching of headgear

o Pillow size (S,M,L) selected might be only 'marginally' right

o Inner pillow liner sometimes gets pushed in (reversed) while being washed

o Changes in medications or diet supplements

o We may vary over time with the amount of head and body movements we make while asleep and during sleep stage transitions

o Night time body movements could depend on weather, stress levels at work or home, how much or how little exercise we had today, what we ate, other things akin to the arrival of aliens including the actions of the stock market and political decisions re. new taxes on us for this and that . . .

Thanks for all the info and ideas... I suspect the right answer may be the pillows are just wearing out as I've used the single pair pretty continuously since Feb 22nd --- with a few days break here and there as I experimented with other masks.

You're recall is great Pugsy, I'm not using a DME and have no insurance so I'll have to look to the Great Pillow Exchange or perhaps ebay to buy replacements.

I'm using the large size - having stepped up to them after beginning with mediums. I still have the mediums and might try them for a night just to see if there is a noise difference as they're still virtually brand new.

My bad ---- I see our forum sponsor sells the pillows (and cheaper than on ebay!!) so I'll of course buy from them... as Darrell K Royal said... you gotta dance with the one that brung ya!


PS - I don't use Lansinoh - never have needed it, guess I've got a tough nose? The headgear does slip up sometimes (I'm a side sleeper) so I'm also going to buy the Bella Loop option and give that a try.