DreamWear mask thoughts & Questions...

[notsleep]

I see my DME this week and am going to ask about a smaller size mask--I have a medium now and it is almost touching my ears. Mine was the first DreamWear that this office issued. I have very small leaks--no large leaks over the whole course of treatment. Some are mouth leaks but I've nearly eliminated those. The noise I hear is kind of raspy--but I had that with the Wisp mask also. It quiets down as my respiration rate drops. I'm falling asleep much more quickly that I did a few weeks ago. I tried to change my attitude from "this thing is noisy" to "thank you Lord that I'm still breathing!"

I would not worry about small leaks all masks leak if your levels are good that's what matters. As far as the mask fit from what i have learnt with getting a sore nose from this mask when i was fitted wrong cause i was the first to try this at my dme is that it should not pull up on your nose. the small medium and so forth just change i think in the opening for your nose nothing else but the frame does 18 inch for small 19 inch for med and 22 for large. Not that anyone cares i wear a small cushion and a large frame now, loose a little to put on and then when you tighten the headgear snug perfecto . My first fit was small cushion and med frame

[cliftonio]

I got large frame and med cushion

[cate1898]

Another question I have is with regards to exhaling. Because of the design of the nasal 'pillow' of the DreamWear I often wonder if I am breathing in what I just exhaled. Or is the air flow such that it has time to escape through the vent on the 'pillow' before a person inhales?

I was on PR's site looking around but there was no information on this that I could find.

[PaytonA]

It is just as well that they did not publish anything. I am not sure that I believe what they publish regarding mask venting. I had a F&P nasal mask in 2 different versions. One was the normal with vents above the nose in the clear plastic shell. The other was the Q version which had the vents in the small elbow and had a diffuser over them. Kept the exhaust quiet and difficult to feel. I used both masks. I put one on and plugged the inlet of the elbow and blew out just to see how difficult it felt. I did that with each version and found it much more difficult to blow air through the vents on the Q version even though the manufacturers data indicated that there was not much difference in the vent rates. I did not believe their data and quit using the Q version of the mask.

Just my ramblings for whatever they are worth. There are those that will tell you that the vents have been well engineered and should all be safe. Safe-probably. Well engineered-maybe not so much. Personally I am not sure that I believe well engineered or maybe reality has gotten in the way of theory.

Best Regards,

PaytonA

[cate1898]

The fact that you are breathing out into the same area from which you breathe in is what I'm unsure about the safety of. At least with both the Swift FX and the P10's I think they have a one-way exhale through the pillows. ...or is this incorrect?

[PaytonA]

The fact that you are breathing out into the same area from which you breathe in is what I'm unsure about the safety of. At least with both the Swift FX and the P10's I think they have a one-way exhale through the pillows. ...or is this incorrect?

Not that I am aware of.

When you breathe out you overcome the pressure of the machine, so all of the air going out the vent is your exhale. Some of your exhale also goes down the hose. as your exhale tapers off, the exhaled air that went down the hose starts bleeding off out the vent. There is a little bit of exhaled air that gets trapped upstream of the vent but it is not much compared to your tidal volume.

This is what I think is happening in simplified format so that this post does not become book length.

Best Regards,

PaytonA

[cliftonio]

Wow dreamwear + NyQuil (kiddo is sick and I am on the verge) = 100 on my air! Haha

Not sure its its the humidifier or what but my cold symptoms are light and seem to have tapered out!

Any this mask is great, my nose doesn't hurt, I am sleeping like the dead and I started waking up the last few days before my alarm (even on the weekend, I have a conf call every morning I have to partake in)....and I am up to fairly vigorous bike ride, did. 20 miler on the weekend!