It's like having a Dyson in bed!

[Pavone]

I'm new to the Forum and to CPAP

Following my diagnosis of Sleep Apnoea at an NHC Hospital I was calibrated over 5 nights at home with a RESMED Autoset Spirit II. The machine was quiet and I noticed improvement in my sleep. However, the hospital then supplied me with a fixed pressure RESMED ESCAPE S8 set at 10. The noise is unrelenting, how anyone can sleep with this beast in the bedroom defies me. The hospital (like the users on this Forum) advised me to carry on and I would get used to it. Well, after 4 weeks and feeling absolutely knackered I have given up. The hospital will not supply me with the RESMED Autoset Spirit II and say I have got to purchase an APAP machine myself. Whilst this is somewhat galling I'm struggling to decide between the RESMED Autoset Spirit II and the Respironics REMSTAR Auto 8 Series with CFlex or AFlex (These products would be supported by my hospital).

REMSTAR only states in their literature "extremely quiet" and I'm not sure how many decibels that equates to.

Some other posts on the Forum mention other disadvantages with either product.

Any advice or feedback on these products would be very much appreciated.

Phil

[James @ Intus]

Hi Phil,

Welcome to the forums.

Noise acceptance is of course subjective and varies a lot per person.

One thing to remember with an APAP is that is automatically adjusts so at times the pressure will be higher than average and hence noisier than average.

It's a shame the SleepCube AutoAdjust isn't on your list as it is the quietest we've heard. Far quieter than the ResMed you have and without the whistle of the REMstar (though the Respironics one is quiet enough for most).

Another thing to consider is the overall setup. You can for instance get a 10 foot hose instead of a 6 foot so the machine can be placed behind the bedside table for example. The mask can also make a big difference. Nasal pillow typ emasks tend to be noisier than nasal cushion or full face masks. A tube wrap can also suppress sound. But of course, the machine is the biggest factor.

You don't necessarily have to go for an Auto CPAP to make it quieter. There are plenty of quiet fixed pressure CPAPs too.

Perhaps one thing to consider is what the hospital means with supporting the device. If it's just the supply of filters then perhaps the choice restriction isn't worth it (filters tend to cost just £10 or so annually). If they download data and monitor it closely (most don't) it's a different story.

Anyway, plenty to consider for you and hopefully this helps a bit in finding a solution that works for you.

[Pavone]

James, thanks for that quick response. I should have mentioned that when using the RESMED ESCAPE S8 set at 10 breathing out against the pressure was very tiring and left my chest feeling very sore. I had not experienced this with the RESMED Autoset Spirit II during the calibration exercise.

If I'm to spend this amount of money I want to be certain that it will work. It is disapointing that manufacturers cannot give the noise ratings under the standard test or perhaps they have something to hide.

Rgds Phil

[James @ Intus]

The Autoset had what's called exhalation relief (EPR) which the Escape doesn't have. Respironics machines do have it (C-Flex or A-Flex), no other makes have that feature. As your exhalation was the issue, keep an eye on that feature. It drops the pressure on every exhalation so it's easier to breathe out.

As far as noise ratings go, decibels only tell part of the story. The mask can change it a lot too so a standard test may still be misleading to patients. Two machines with the same decibels may sound entirely differently as one may have a high pitch whistle whereas the other one is a constant white noise.

Another question to ask is how they got to a setting of 10. Some hospitals set it at 10 by default. It may be that 8 would do fine, and cutting some of the noise out. If they came to 10 after careful titration then of course that'll be what you need.

[bethtara]

We loan patients REMStar Auto M's and REMStar Pro M's. They are quiet machines, small in size and have C-flex (which eases off the pressure during expiration). Whenever patients complain of too much noise, we find that it is always due to mask leaks, not machine noise.

REMStar's are excellent CPAP machines. I am not biased- I am a provider of CPAP in an NHS hospital where we have well over 1000 patients on CPAP!

[mintra]

Rob a bank steal from your family mug old ladys

To me its worth it to get the autoset spirt 2.

I started on a standard reumed r8 this worked well but was noisy, and I indicated that I would like to try apap so they gave me an outoset spirt one, this was more annoying as the same single fan is used. The spirit two has two fans, and switches between them.

I asked the technician at the hospital for the spirit ii, it so happened he had a spare on by his hand as I asked so he smiled and saif he could not pretend he did not have one.

I feel that the apap algortims are just bullshit and run it as cpap, I get the best results without the humidifier, though it is more noisy that way.

I love my spirit 2 and I was lucky that I am serviced by the Manchester Wythenshawe sleep clinic, these people are the geeks.

[monkmartin]

I have a RESMED autoset Spirit II for sale - have PM'd you if your interested.
Martin