Nasal pillow fitting

[partsmutt]

When I had my titration study, I ended up using a nasal pillow because the nasal mask was irritating with my mustache. In order to stop the leaks, it was snugged up a lot, to the point of my nostrils being squashed upward. Is this the way they are supposed to fit? None of the pics I see online show them tight like that.

Thanks

[OpalRose]

Nasal pillows should not be shoved in your nose like that. They should be inserted a tiny bit, but mostly just sitting outside of nostril to form a good seal. If they are inserted into your nostril too far, then the pillows are too small. Try one size larger. And be sure to use a tiny bit of lanolin cream in each nostril to keep from getting sores.

You don't want "piggy nose".

[partsmutt]

Ha! "Piggy nose." That's exactly what it was like.

[OpalRose]

Ha! "Piggy nose." That's exactly what it was like.

I know and can relate to what you are saying. When I has a sleep study done, the technician "shoved" nasal pillows up my nose to the point that I ripped it off after 20 minutes. I know now she had no idea what she was doing! She literally turned me away from using nasal pillows because of that experience. Then the DME talked me into trying again, but insisted I wear an X Small. It took me awhile and listening to folk here to go a size up.

[FrankNichols]

I am still debating staying with nasal pillows - namely the ResMed P10. My problem is not with the pillows but being a mouth breather and not having success so far keeping my big fat mouth closed!

As to fit, I got the "kit" which has all three, small medium and large pillows. I tried all three and found they all "work", but the large is the most comfortable to me. The small caused irritation inside my nostril as well as the medium. The large mostly sits outside the nostril and works much like the ResMed F10 full face mask. By that I mean both have a silicone cushion that inflates when the pressure ramps up and that cushion is soft enough to conform to the shape it is pressed up against thus forming a seal. If you push the too hard/tight they actually leak more than if they are "loosely" fitted. So, the size (to me it seems) should be large enough to ensure a seal around the (up against the) outside of your nostril and small enough to not hang over the outside of your nose.

If you have a bushy mustache I would be concerned the hair might be a problem getting a seal. If there is room between your mustache and nose that should not be a problem. In my case I could not stand the feeling of my mustache rubbing against my nose/nostrils, so I always trimmed a slight line along the top of the mustache to keep it away from my nose. That gave room for the pillows to snug up to the nose with no hair in the way. (Sadly my mustache went away when I had to shave my beard to get the FFM to not leak - sigh).

[partsmutt]

Yahoo! I got my machine today. I told my DME about the piggy nose and we did a fitting on the mask. Went from a Large to a medium pillow and a looser fit. Ran the mask test on the A10 and everything was great.