New F&P Evora Full Face Mask--Leaks!

[Bluesv6]

Glad you're having success Dave ! What is your pressure at most of the time ? As well are you having to wear aa collar or chinstrap ?

[DaveL]

I've set it at 15...constant pressure. I wake up once a night almost every night for a quick walk to the little room....
No chinstrap.
No tape.
No pad under my chin.
I'm getting good at putting the mask on and doing *mask fit* on my S10...but I have to be fully awake and then I have terrible time getting back to sleep.

If i looked leakage would be an issue some nights.

[DaveL]

Simplest of changes can drive me nuts.

Hate my pillow. Took out the old down one...numbers went from 0 to 4.0

Darn. That down pillow is wonderful. F&P Evora Full full face mask.

DaveL

[DaveL]

Final straw.

I'm back to using my ResMed N20 and taping my lips.
I'm no longer using the F&P Evora Full. It's a fine mask; it just doesn't work for me. It's in my cpap junk drawer.
I'm no longer using the ResMed N30i mask; severe leakage.
I'm no longer using the ResMed P30i mask...

Thank heaven the N20 works, and I have a good supply of tape.

DaveL

[yankees123]

So glad you have a mask that works well for you. It is definitely the hardest part of cpap therapy finding a mask that works well with minor leaks.  Wish they would come out with new masks, it’s been a while since they have.

[DaveL]

Mask Selection is hard!

Way Back
Remember back when I started. A long time ago.
* Respironics brick
* Breeze nasal pillows mask (I used it for 5 years)

The only way to see if your mask worked was to have a sleep doc and have a sleep study! And that process used to take me 3 months!

My experience
First sleep doc--excellent--about 4 years in London ON.
Second sleep doc--from H*ll--about 15 years.  (Moved from London Ontario to Mississauga)
Third sleep doc--much later--insists on prescriptions for one mask.  Sells sleep studies.
No sleep doc now.

My cpap machines
* Respironics brick
* Respironics brick
* ResMed S9 Elite (bought USED with 200 hours on it; 21,200 hours when replaced)
* ResMed S10 *for her*

I had no way to monitor my treatment until I'd been on the forum for a while.

First two machines just clocked hours used.  I couldn't tell if a mask worked or not!  I used my Breeze nasal pillows mask for 5 years!

Now there are a lot of ways to get information. Sleepyhead then OSCAR. Sellers reporting sales data. Occasionally good sleep docs. Sometimes good DME suppliers. Good sleep docs and DME suppliers are very hard to find.

It's still hard to select a mask.  OSCAR really helps. So does feedback from people more skilled than I am who really can read the OSCAR charts. I can't; I'm stuck in analysis paralysis. I look and look and read and read, but still can't determine why I have issues with my treatment.


Summary


Why did I want to try this  mask (full face mask:  F&P Evora Full)?  I wanted to simplify my treatment. The N20 mask is old. I need to use one or all of
* special pillow
* tape on lips
* soft cervical collar
* Knightsbridge Dual Band cap, or better when I find it.

When I have all that gear on it scares the heck out of my puppy. He bit me one night when I  was wearing all this. He's now about a year and a half.  If I take it all off to go to the washroom, I spend so much time putting it back on that I can't sleep for the rest of the night.

[Bluesv6]

Sorry your having issues Dave . We have two puppies and both of them get excited when the see my mask and have too check it out. Unless I'm wearing a mask with a vent on it then they get startled lol

[DaveL]

@Bluesv6

This forum helps so much
I read a comment saying that some people have issues and are wakened up with pressure change when on apap. 17% of users

I knew that; forgot it.

Last night I set my machine up on cpap with pressure about 15. I used a soft cervical collar put on loosely. I had a much better night. I slept right through!

(Quite a long time ago i set up a video camera to take video while I slept. I had so many disturbances every hour all night. I couldn't figure it out. I bet that's what it was)

Thanks for your thoughts.

I don't have a sleep doc right now. But if I had a sleep study I think they would surely fail me if I kitted up as I usually do.

The Springer Spaniel sprung at me last night. I was drinking tea. Hot. Somehow I saved the tea. Neither of us were hurt. or burnt. He's a 48 pound bullet.

DaveL
Mississauga

[DaveL]

Visited my DME Supplier last night.

They said that I had my mask straps too tight. They adjusted it; I'll see how I'm doing after another night's sleep.

I had borrowed a ResMed F30i mask from them. First night my mask AHI was 17! That was after a couple of hour's use. I switched back to my F&P Evora Full so I wouldn't have to go into the setup menu. It was a long night. With little sleep.

[DaveL]

Carrying on...I went back to someone else at my DME supplier. I had a collection of masks with me.

Their F30i loaner--it wasn't clean when I picked it up and was too well used. I cleaned it with alcohol wipes so it wasn't itchy anymore. They gave me another one, making sure it was clean.
They looked at my F&P Evora Full. Said I had it too tight. Put it on me and adjusted it. My reaction...felt so loose it might fall off.

I had the ResMed F30i loaner and my own F&P Evora Full full face masks so tight thatthe seal was wrinkled in the top/middle.

Agreement was for me to use my own mask like that...Evora Full full face mask.
* did mask fit on S10 for her leaked / tightened the straps. It leaked worse.
* Evened out the straps so they were equal length (DME supplier hadn't done that.) Still leaked
* LOOSENED the top two straps.
* did mask fit on the S10 for her. It was fine! Not perfect, but better than before.

It's counter intuitive. Loosen those straps. Prevent leaks because the cushion can pop out and seal better.