Help I'm drowning!

[PaytonA]

First post, but wasn't going to make a new thread for a similar issue. Condensation in my mask, but I have the humidifier off, with no water in it. At first it was just an issue that I would wake up in the morning, when I normally get up, with water in my mask. This was only really a problem if i wanted to go back to bed as I would typically take the mask off because of discomfort from the water and just "sleep" for another hour or two without the cpap, which is generally a terrible thing to do. Now, however, I can feel the water before i even fall asleep, within a minute or two, around my nose. Last couple of nights I can even feel it seeping under the mask and onto my upper lip. It definitely has a negative effect on my seal and comfort at the very least.

I hate to state the obvious but with no water in the humidifier the condensation in your mask must be coming from the moisture in the air or from the moisture in your exhale. Your body adds moisture to the air you breathe in.

If you are not getting condensation in the hose at all, then I would suspect your body as the culprit and the solution would be to warm the mask or get or create a mask that holds the heat better. The older heavier masks generally have thicker plastic that will hold heat better or you could add thickness to your mask being very careful not to block any of the vents.

My thoughts.

Best Regards,

PaytonA

[jeisenberg]

First post, but wasn't going to make a new thread for a similar issue. Condensation in my mask, but I have the humidifier off, with no water in it. At first it was just an issue that I would wake up in the morning, when I normally get up, with water in my mask. This was only really a problem if i wanted to go back to bed as I would typically take the mask off because of discomfort from the water and just "sleep" for another hour or two without the cpap, which is generally a terrible thing to do. Now, however, I can feel the water before i even fall asleep, within a minute or two, around my nose. Last couple of nights I can even feel it seeping under the mask and onto my upper lip. It definitely has a negative effect on my seal and comfort at the very least.

I hate to state the obvious but with no water in the humidifier the condensation in your mask must be coming from the moisture in the air or from the moisture in your exhale. Your body adds moisture to the air you breathe in.

If you are not getting condensation in the hose at all, then I would suspect your body as the culprit and the solution would be to warm the mask or get or create a mask that holds the heat better. The older heavier masks generally have thicker plastic that will hold heat better or you could add thickness to your mask being very careful not to block any of the vents.

My thoughts.

Best Regards,

PaytonA

This is pretty much what I believed, and what the physician at the sleep center thought. That the exhale is getting trapped in the mask, leading to the condensation. It was just something he had never heard before and was just theorizing, really.

I suppose my only issue I have is trying to figure out why its happening now, and not the first 3 months of use, since I was using the same mask when It started to happen that I had been for 3 months (and continues with replacement masks). Basically trying to figure out if I'm possibly doing something differently now, which I understand would be difficult for anyone other than me to determine. I switched to a larger mask (XL) in the last two weeks just to see if maybe large was too small / too tight in general, which actually helped for a couple days but is now doing the same thing as the large mask.

I understand the general concept of getting / making a heavier or thicker mask, but what exactly do you mean by warming the mask? Warming it somehow before I use it? or is there a way to keep it warm through an addition to the machine, like with heated tubing.

It does not appear that there is any condensation in the hose but I'll have to check again to be certain. Thanks for the response. Fortunately it doesn't seem to have a huge effect on my sleep, just my comfort, at least based on the information in the clinical menu of the machine, ahi just up slightly, but still average under 1.

[PaytonA]

When I said warm the mask, I was talking about retaining more heat in the mask but warming it somehow before you use it might help at least at the start. If you warm the mask before use be very careful not to over heat it. I would not let it get more than 100 degrees F.

I do not know of any heated masks or for that matter any heated socks for masks. On the other hand, I have never gone looking for them.

If there is condensation in the hose when this happens, then the solution is easier and more straightforward.

Best Regards,

PaytonA