Spouse of CPAP user can't sleep

[CPAP spouse]

I seem to be having an unusual problem. I encouraged my husband to seek treatment for sleep apnea. He has been resistant to the cpap, but has finally got one and has been trying it out for a week. He's still adjusting to it, and I have been supportive. My problem is this: I've never had trouble sleeping through his snoring. Occasionally when his snoring got especially loud, it would wake me, I would give him a nudge, then we'd both fall back to sleep, no problem. But now with the cpap, I'm having trouble falling asleep to the sound of it. It wakes me up constantly throughout the night. First we thought it was funny that I slept better when he snored than when he didn't. We thought I was just not used to the quiet. But now I'm feeling sleep deprived. I'm exhausted each day when I get home from work, and I've been needing to take 2-3 hour naps during the days and evening. I went to a party on Saturday night and ended up sleeping on the host's couch for most of the night. I want my husband to use the cpap because I know he needs it, but it's becoming a threat to my health. I've been trying to imagine the cpap sounds as ocean sounds. It sort of helps, but then it makes other odd unnatural sounds that I have been unable to tune out. I have not mentioned to my husband that I think the cpap is the problem, because I don't want him to feel bad about having to use it. Does anyone have any suggestions? It occurs to me that maybe I could try wearing earplugs...

[BleepingBeauty]

I seem to be having an unusual problem. I encouraged my husband to seek treatment for sleep apnea. He has been resistant to the cpap, but has finally got one and has been trying it out for a week. He's still adjusting to it, and I have been supportive. My problem is this: I've never had trouble sleeping through his snoring. Occasionally when his snoring got especially loud, it would wake me, I would give him a nudge, then we'd both fall back to sleep, no problem. But now with the cpap, I'm having trouble falling asleep to the sound of it.

It occurs to me that maybe I could try wearing earplugs...

It's funny what we're able to get used to, isn't it? My first thought was what you expressed in your last sentence - earplugs. If that doesn't help, perhaps one of those "white noise" machines in the bedroom would help drown out the sounds of the CPAP machine that now disturb you, and replace them with something more to your liking.

I wonder if they make a noise machine with the sound effect of snoring...? (j/k)

Yours is an interesting question and one that I've not seen posted before. Good luck, and let us know how this turns out.

[Wulfman]

Yours is an interesting question and one that I've not seen posted before.

Oh, yeah.......it's been brought up a number of times before in varying degrees. Some of them got really nasty.

Spouse,

It would help if you could list what make and model of equipment your husband is using.
One thing that helps is to make sure the machine is lower than the bed level......if it's too high, the sound carries across the top of the bed to your ears. Lower than bed level will help deaden the sound.
Some machines are a bit noisier than others......and this can even vary within individual machines of the same make and model.
The user needs to be sure that all the fittings and air filters are properly in place.
If it's a REMstar M Series machine, there's a "Whisper Cap" that can be purchased to cut down on the noise at the air intake location.

Hang in there.

Den

[MoneyGal]

How we muffled the sound in my household was to put the CPAP at floor level, in a box with towels at the bottom. (It is actually an old refrigerator meat box from an antique fridge someone was throwing out!) I can slide the entire machine under the bed on my side.

I have seen (somewhere?) the recommendation to keep the machine at nightstand level, because floors can be dusty. However, we don't have carpet and I am very careful to keep dust down to a minimum. I don't think I'm exposing the machine to harmful amounts of dust.

Finally, we also have an overhead fan in our bedroom - my hub says the sound of the fan is roughly equivalent to the sound of the CPAP machine. Perhaps a fan?

Alternately, is there somewhere else in the house you can sleep on nights when you feel like you can't sleep beside your husband?

[Wulfman]

MoneyGal reminded me of something that I (and some others) use.
I have my machine sitting on two old, large, (fairly thick) mouse pads. Keeps it from moving around and helps further deaden sound.

Den

[mallen4258]

White noise will definitely help!! Have you thought about a room air filter, such as a Honeywell Enviracare 50100 or larger. We have a 50250 that does a great job of filtering the air and as a white noise generator. Ours and other models three speed settings from low whir to hurricane We run ours at #2 setting 24/7, I run it at 3 when I vacuum the room. They REALLY cut down the dust. They are available at Amazon or other web sites It looks like this http://www.amazon.com/Honeywell-50100-E ... 734&sr=8-2

[ColinP]

My wife uses ear plugs...

[jdm2857]

Finally, we also have an overhead fan in our bedroom - my hub says the sound of the fan is roughly equivalent to the sound of the CPAP machine. Perhaps a fan?

The S8 AutoSet II is a very quiet machine. Others may find theirs much louder than a typical ceiling fan.

[kteague]

Hi. It is great that you are being so supportive of your spouse's efforts to do the right thing for his health's sake. Your sleep is important too - for your health's sake. Sure hope you resolve things soon. Our brains are sensitive to any unfamilar sounds during sleep - even if that unfamilar sound is good. Even the "sound" of silence can cause wakefulness for some used to sleeping in a noisy environment. Most likely your brain will soon adjust. All the tips about white noise, muffling machine noise, earplugs, etc should prove helpful. Depending on how you feel about sleep aids, a little something OTC might be an option for a few nights. Sometimes the slightest muffling effect is enough. For instance, when my sleeping situation changed and sounds were waking me a lot, I wore a sport sweatband to bed, covering my ears.

I've told this story before, but it is again relevant... A friend of mine called me once years ago quite distressed and said she couldn't sleep - her husband had run off across the country to meet up with a woman he'd been 'talking to' on the internet. Wondering why she wasn't just glad to finally be out of a long-time miserable relationship, I asked "You mean you miss him?!" When she regained her composure from laughing, she said, "No, I miss the sound of his cpap machine in the room. I can't sleep without it and the ceiling fan." Maybe she should have fought for property rights.

Please do stop back in and let us know if and when this is resolved. I've always been curious how long the problem persists, but we don't usually hear that part of the story. Best wishes.

Kathy

[JeffH]

foam ear plugs

we both wear them and never hear a thing

[jdm2857]

The adaptation to sounds is a very real thing.

Years ago, when I moved to a second-floor apartment with my bedroom overlooking a Center City Philadelphia street, I thought I would never get a good night's sleep again. Trucks, busses, sirens, you name it.

Within two weeks I was sleeping through everything.

[ww]

A $10 box fan from WalMart solves the problem. Just put it near the bed or blowing in a closet and CPAP noises are completely gone!!!!!

[OwlCreekObserver]

Ditto to what ww said. We have a box fan in the bedroom that we run year round for background noise. It's something we've done for years, even before CPAP because it helps us both sleep better.

My bride says that though the CPAP noise doesn't bother her, the absence of my snoring used to keep her awake when I first started on the machine. She was sort of flashing back to when no snoring meant suffocating in my sleep. She's sleeping better now than she ever did.

[ozij]

1. Motor noise
2. Mask vent noise
3. Mouth leak noise.


If your husband's mouth opens at night, and air pours out of it, it would probably make unnatural - maybe even frightening noises.
Mouth leaks are detrimental to his therapy - the shouldn't happen, and have to be controlled.

Some of us use full face (i.e. nose and mouth bouth covered) masks.
Some use chinstraps

And some (like me) tape their mouth shut, making sure to leave tabs that let you pull the tape off you mouth quickly should the need arise.

Do you know which is the noise bothering you?

O.

[TerryB]

I wear foam earplugs every night so I don't have to hear my own machine. I highly recommend them unless you have concerns about small children or pets getting into trouble without your ability to wake up and help out.

I've also known since I was a small child that a medium level steady sound like a box fan made me sleep very well.
Regardless what measures you take:
1. Find a solution for yourself.
2. Continue to be supportive of your hubby's use of the therapy. It's a life saver.

regards,

TerryB