[Equipment] Advice about tolerating nasal pillows

[player]

The pillows over time stretched my nostrils giving me a pig nose look. I switched to a nasal mask and after a number of months my pig nose went back to normal.

[Fats Drywaller]

The pillows over time stretched my nostrils giving me a pig nose look. I switched to a nasal mask and after a number of months my pig nose went back to normal.

Those are called monstrils, also known as henrys.

(Actually they aren't, yet, but I'm trying to start a naming trend.)

[jhsellers]

 I woke up after about 2 hours with terrible pain in my nostrils. I had no problems with the ear loops, although they might have become painful if I'd lasted longer than a couple hours. (After waking up, I switched back to the Dreamwear.)

When I tried nasal pillows, I used a tip to try this stuff:  HPA Lanolin.  

[commercial link removed. Instead, search for "Lansinoh Lanolin Cream 40ml"]

It's marketed for nipple soreness from nursing babies.  Did a great job, although I eventually switched back to a full-face mask anyway.  

Hope this helps,
John

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[Fats Drywaller]

Are there any other ear loop masks that I'm not aware of?

I still don't know of any, but just now I jury-rigged and jerry-built ear loops for my Brevida because the backstrap (which is all that the headgear consists of) messes up my hair and occasionally slips. As I said before, the Brevida is great for adding ear loops because it has slots in the mask frame at the right places and pivoting plastic clips that fit into those slots and provide further slots an inch or so back. You just remove the strap from those. So, not being any good with materials & needle & thread, I took two pieces of parachute cord and two elastic hair bands, and kluged two ear loops by tying a few knots. The thing looks stupid (as expected) but works fine so far. I'll try it tonight as a replacement for the strap.

[Sheepish]

The thing looks stupid (as expected) but works fine so far.

My squeegee-derived green cheek pads (see links in my signature) might give you a run for the money in that department, but if it works, it works. Be nice if you could post some pics. I've been toying with the idea of trying neoprene glasses straps, the type of which you can get at the dollar store, as complementary below the ears neck straps for the Brevida and/or the Dreamwear.

[Fats Drywaller]

Sorry, no pics because no camera or cam-phone. But the thing is trivially easy, and it took me about four minutes to put together. Just cut two pieces of nylon cord or round shoelace to somewhat more than the required length. For each, thread an end through the slot in the gray clip on the Brevida frame, and tie both ends to opposite sides of the hair band (ponytail band), any size. Leave one knot loose. Repeat on the other side of the frame with second cord and second hair band. Then fit the thing and take up the cord slack in those two knots so the elastic bands are slightly stretched. When you've got the right size, tighten that knot on each side and cut off the excess cord (leaving a little bit to work with when you eventually need to untie a knot and take up slack in the cord).

[Fats Drywaller]

The idea is good, but my implementation of it with the random materials I happen to have was faulty.  The thin nylon cord around the ears seems OK at first, but it gets uncomfortable after a while: needs some padding.  Also, a quick adjustment mechanism (similar to velcro) is needed, and I didn't provide that.  The discomfort is somewhat like starting to wear a new pair of glasses with a different kind of frame than you're used to, putting pressure on the ears in new places.  But it's worse because this is more pressure all around the ears, not just on top.

The Resmed Bella loops are obviously designed to be both comfortable and adjustable, so those are the ones to go for.  If they can be fitted to masks other than the Swift (with its hard silicone lumps as reported by the OP, rocks in the nostrils, same as the P10's), that's great, and that's the thing to do.  It still seems to me that the F&P Brevida with the Resmed Bella loops would be pretty much It.  I see that the loops are available separately for $21 & up and are available in either gray or pink.  (Let's accessorize with pink ear-loops!)  Maybe I'll try those eventually.

This doesn't matter so much to me (it was only an experiment) because my complaints about the backstrap are minor.  I guess "CPAP hair" in the morning is something we all have to put up with.