whistle noise and moisture coming out of mask

Hello all

I am new to the cpap world just diagnosed and am on will be on my 3rd night. Last night was the first time using the humidifier and at about 1:30am the mask started to whistle out of the exhaust ports. this woke me up andwas very bothersome. if I wipedthe ports the noise would stop fora few minutes but then stsrt up again. I also noticed moisture coming form the exhaust ports this really wasannoying asit got me all wet when i would lay on my back. I think the noise was from water collecting on the exhaust port holes and closing off the port partially thus the whistle. is this normal ( sure hope not) or can it be cured? Same question forthe misting prob. My equipment is the resperonic REmstar plus with cflex and humidifier it has a card and the mask is flexi fit 407. the humidifier was at 3. I ended shutting thehumidifer off and the prob went away. Any one have suggestions. Also any products that may help me with this set up?
Thanks in advance

For now... try either wrapping your hose, or putting it under the covers of your bed. It sounds like rainout to me. You can try to elevate your hose, or heat it as well.

You almost certainly have the humidifier set too high. If your household humidity level is 40 to 60%, then you really could do without the CPAP humdifier or set it on 1.

Well i dont know what my house humidity level is but i live in the deserts of southern california. Humidity levels are way low here. Im going to try the 1 setting tonight and see what happens. any other suggestions?

pgr11 wrote:Well i dont know what my house humidity level is but i live in the deserts of southern california. Humidity levels are way low here. Im going to try the 1 setting tonight and see what happens. any other suggestions?

Now that is an untypical situation and your bedroom humidity level may well be below 40%. What are the outdoor highs and lows and what is your night time bedroom temperature?

I'm in southern AZ, and my bedroom humidity is 26-30%, inside temp around/under 70, and outside last night was 25, but is usually 40. I have a little hygrometer, which measures humidity and temperature.

I set my humidifier at 2-3, depending on what mask I'm using. Nasal pillows 3, Mirage softgel 2, Active Lt 2.5. I go as high as possible, but still avoid rainout in the mask. I also have a hose hanger and heated hose.

Good luck with this, it takes some experimenting. Here's another thread on rainout:

viewtopic/t47762/cpap-machine-trying-to-drown-me.html

Being on cpap is another reason to monitor the temperature and moisture levels in your house. Besides too much moisture not being good for your home, furniture and appliances, it can cause annoying problems with cpap. We all have thermostats to monitor the temp in the house and we should also have a hygrometer. I check the moisture in my house in the evening and in the am.

Gerry

KatieW wrote:I'm in southern AZ, and my bedroom humidity is 26-30%, inside temp around/under 70, and outside last night was 25, but is usually 40.

After reading this forum for many years, I believe there are many people who are using humidity settings that are too high. People from Georgia, Florida and Lousiana have posted about using settings of 3 or 4. It is likely that their bedroom humidity levels in those states are already above 50% and they don't need supplemental CPAP humidification at all, much less at a high setting.

My bedroom humidity level in North Carolina runs 50 to 54% and on the coldest winter days when the gas heat is running frequently, the humidity level in the bedroom will drop no lower than 45%. It took a while but eventually I found that no supplemental humidity is best for me under these conditions.

Katie, Thanks for posting your numbers. I believe at bedroom humidity of 26-30%, supplemental heated CPAP humidity at settings of 2-3 is a big help.

I'm new to cpap use. Like you: I use the Respironics REMStar Auto A-flex, M series. I use nasal pillows, not sure of all the lingo yet. I was told to buy a sleeve to place over the tubing for the same rainout problem that happens to me on 1,2 etc.. Even with the sleeve on it still gathers moisture on very low level heater settings. I gave up using the humidifer, and keep it on 0 and feel it is fine now.. no moisture choking me awake by filling my nose in my sleep...I still roll to my back. I also try to keep the tubing lower than the bed. Seems if that much moisture gathers that quickly, then there is plenty in my and maybe your bedroom/home. An aside: I have found that I'm dreaming old dreams that I long ago thought were over and done with. And most recenly, slept a full 6hrs, but to my great disappointment I woke up wetting the bed while I was in one of those 'tricky' dreams that has you sitting on the toilet in the dream. lol The complete wetting is new, because I use to wake up and have time to high-tail it to the bathroom at least 3x per night before cpap use.. not sleep through the urnination urge. What a drag to have to wake up to clean-up, strip a bed, do wash etc.. I'm 58 but all the bio-parts are still working, so it's clearly the deeper sleep. Hope this isn't the trade off for a good night's sleep to avoid stroke, heart attacks et al. lol Like someone else wrote, there truly is a learning curve for cpap use. I'm getting the hang of mine more and more. Btw, what a great site this is, thanks for having it. I'm more a lurker, this is my first post.

I had no idea checking the humidity levels and room temps were part of things. I will have to check on this. I like my bedroom temp cold. The thermostst says low 50's in the morning. I keep the heat off all night. outside tempsat night now are high 20's to high 30's. Last night I set the himidifier to1 and that helped but at 4:30 i got a little whistle, so I just turned it off and kept sleeping with the cpap. Does a tube cover seem like it would in this instance?

rooster wrote:

KatieW wrote:I'm in southern AZ, and my bedroom humidity is 26-30%, inside temp around/under 70, and outside last night was 25, but is usually 40.

After reading this forum for many years, I believe there are many people who are using humidity settings that are too high. People from Georgia, Florida and Lousiana have posted about using settings of 3 or 4. It is likely that their bedroom humidity levels in those states are already above 50% and they don't need supplemental CPAP humidification at all, much less at a high setting.

I 100% agree. Rainout means you are at 100% relative humidity (saturated) in the air that is being supplied to your nose. The first thing to try when this happens is to lower the humidifier setting until it does not happen. Passover mode or no humidification may very well be the answer. Heroics, such as playing with hose and machine elevations, heated hose, etc. should only be used if you really need the ultra high humidity levels. Most people do not. Turn the heat down first.

Dry mouth is usually a sign of mouth breating, not inadequate humidification.

LINKS to discussions about the Aussie heated hose - to prevent rainout
viewtopic.php?t=5305