Need quick recommendation for nasal pillow mask
My therapy had been going pretty well, but I've run into resupply problems from my DME that have now become critical. I've been using the Nuance Pro nasal pillow mask, went back and forth on size but settled on medium pillows. I'm on vacation on the west coast, have been here for 1 week, one week to go. I live on the east coast.
There have been some delays with shipment. Although on their website, the DME claims to ship the same day, in practice there is a 5-7 day delay. If I place an order, it is held until the insurance eligibility date, then placed, then up to a week delay before it's shipped. So this in itself is a problem because I'm supposed to change the pillows every 2 weeks and they do deteriorate.
On 6/20, just before I left, I placed an order for medium pillows to be sent to the vacation location, and they promised to ship it that day. I called yesterday because I hadn't heard anything, they had no record of the order, promised to send them out yesterday. I called again this morning because I hadn't received an email, and again no record. 30 mins on the phone yesterday, 20 mins today. Today they promised to ship this afternoon (their version of "expedited"), I told them to ship to my home because they won't get here before I leave.
The problem is that, as the one nasal pillow I have here deteriorated, it started to leak. At first I would half wake up after 3-4 hours, pull the mask off, and go right back to sleep. Things have gotten worse over the past week until this past night I slept only 2 hours and was unable to go back to sleep.
I started looking on Amazon yesterday, hoping to find some pillows that could be delivered here fast, but found only small and large pillows, and a full system (headgear and 3 pillow sizes). I thought that if I have to get another system I might as well try a different kind of nasal pillow. Any suggestions? The Nuance pillows are pretty good, but they leak more and more the older they get.
I'm hoping to ultimately use the Bleep system, and I ordered it before I left, and it's already at my home. I was using that system a couple of months ago when I was first working out CPAP. It was great because it didn't leak at all, but one day I was careless taking off the adhesive and abraded my skin and couldn't use it, therefore tried the nasal pillows. Right before I left I tried to go back to it but couldn't get the ports connected (too much manhandling I think) so ordered a new mask.
This has turned into a longer post than I'd intended, but I'm hoping to find a different nasal mask that I can get quickly from Amazon.
RE: Need quick recommendation for nasal pillow mask
P10 is good.
RE: Need quick recommendation for nasal pillow mask
I like the ResMed P10 also. Its pillows seem to last forever.
It takes a bit to learn how to adjust it, but I find it comfortable and effective.
06-28-2024, 04:26 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-28-2024, 04:28 PM by Deborah K..)
RE: Need quick recommendation for nasal pillow mask
With the Bleep DreamPorts, there is a little learning curve. It's important to apply the tape part very evenly. Once that's on I hold a finger blocking each hole and blow fairly hard to make sure no air is escaping. Then when clicking the hose part on, I find I have to push harder on the part I am applying than I thought I would need and to push each one on at four equidistant places to make sure it's all clicked on correctly. Then I hold the bottom of the hose covered with the thumb part of my palm and again blow. You have to feel up where the connections are, not down where the vent is. There should be no air escaping at the point of connection. Hope that helps.
Machine: ResMed AirCurve 10 Vauto
Mask: Bleep DreamPort Sleep Solution
RE: Need quick recommendation for nasal pillow mask
Thank you, rishey and BobinHI. I'll try that mask next.
Deborah K, thank you. I did have the Dreamports working earlier, thanks to some of your suggestions. It would take me 20 mins sometimes but I could always get them connected. At that point, I didn't have the rest of the CPAP system working. I had to switch to the nasal pillows because I pulled a port off carelessly and abraded my skin. The nasal pillows were working reasonably well and I finally got the right machine settings and started mouth taping. I am doing pretty well but I believe that there is leaking from the nasal pillows sometimes, so I wanted to go back to the Bleep system because there was absolutely no leaking when things were connected fully.
I tried again last week, but could never get the connections working, despite trying for as long as an hour. I believe that I must have warped the connectors or damaged them somehow, so I have another mask coming.
06-29-2024, 05:50 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-29-2024, 05:53 PM by Deborah K..)
RE: Need quick recommendation for nasal pillow mask
I too have occasionally had problems and just removed the DreamPorts and started over. Since they come with 32 for one month's use I have extras and use those. If you are too new to Bleep, you may not have extras yet. You might like the Eclipse version. They are easier to apply for sure. I tried them, then went back to the DreamPorts, but most love them.
Machine: ResMed AirCurve 10 Vauto
Mask: Bleep DreamPort Sleep Solution