P10 Pillows wearing out?

[OpineCone]

Where do they find the people they hire to answer the phone anyway.... and why oh why can't they just have a website that shows you what your insurance plan covers and what you are eligible for?

Hi DariaVader,

My DME supplier has two different departments fielding calls from CPAP customers. In general, for the first three months CPAP customers are serviced by the Compliance department whose mission is to make sure that as many new users as possible are able to overcome all the obstacles to learning to use a CPAP. This is because insurance companies often conduct a thorough compliance review at the three month mark and decide whether coverage will continue. In general, patients who have failed to maintain a consistent CPAP usage of at least four hours per night are kicked out of the program. Apparently there is a small amount of flexibility in this standard, maybe three non-compliant nights per month, to allow for unplanned power outages, problems with CPAP equipment, spontaneous sleepovers, etc.

After the first three months the Customer Service department takes over. Here the focus is on setting up an efficient, automatic system for reordering supplies and replacement equipment with as little human intervention as possible.

I have just passed the three month mark, and so all but the most recent of my contacts have been with the Compliance department. Some of the people who work in the Compliance department are remarkably helpful - one spent two hours face-to-face time helping me figure out which of the many available mask types and designs was best suited to my needs - but others are short-tempered and fly off the handle when a customer draws attention to a mistake they have made because Compliance has a zero tolerance for errors policy (a non-compliant customer quickly becomes a lost customer).

Both departments use the same over-simplified software that assumes everybody has essentially the same insurance coverage, and they often make mistakes. For example, my DME supplier has twice held up the shipment of items I needed urgently until I paid the copay for my insurance, even though my coverage has a copay of ZERO. After the second incident I requested that my account be flagged as zero deductible, zero copay, and in my most recent contact with Customer Service I was told that the flag came up as soon as my account was accessed.

And so what I assume to be your suggestion, that DME suppliers should have a website that shows you what your insurance plan covers and what you are eligible for, would not work in my case because my DME supplier does not have accurate insurance information in their computer. In my experience, it is worth it for me to read the details of my insurance coverage, as provided to me by the insurance company, so that I can make sure the DME supplier is handling my account correctly. (You may have other things you prefer to do with your time.)

[WakeUpTime]

The last few nights my P10 pillows seem to be fitting less well. I'm getting a lot of leaks and slippage. Is this common with the silicone pillows? They are about 5 weeks old. I thought I would get more wear out of them.

I'm coming up to ONE YEAR using the same P10 pillows without any issue whatsoever. I wash with a gentle soap every day.

I don't have insurance so getting early regular replacements is not an easy option for me. Having said that, I just ordered a new pair because they are reasonably priced ($20) but I haven't any reason to switch to the new one yet. I'm eager to know too what the signs are for the requirement to be replaced. In the same thread, one person said they get softer later and another person said they get harder later. My vote is that they get a little stiffer probably because any silicone oil comes out after so much washing. If that's the case, cracking might take place eventually and I can see how that two-flap seal may be less easily formed. Also, with a softer springier silicone (new ones), less headset tension adjustment would probably be much less required as the soft springy pillow (if new) will do lots of self-adjusting.

[DariaVader]

And so what I assume to be your suggestion, that DME suppliers should have a website that shows you what your insurance plan covers and what you are eligible for, would not work in my case because my DME supplier does not have accurate insurance information in their computer. In my experience, it is worth it for me to read the details of my insurance coverage, as provided to me by the insurance company, so that I can make sure the DME supplier is handling my account correctly. (You may have other things you prefer to do with your time.)

yeah, the website would have to be setup with integrations to the isnurance companies (properly encrypted and all that). that would take the dme incompetence out of the equation when it comes to coverage levels and any issues could be fixed at the insurance company and then wind up at the dme in the next data feed.

finding the policy in order to read it... has been like pulling hens teeth. no one wants to give that info since my policy is thru work, I don't have the option of taking my business elsewhere either - however, like you i have a zero deductible and zero copay so its not all bad news. Actually I think it would be great if the Insurance company let u order online, and *they* dealt with the dme... the hard part in that scenario would be the in-person stuff.

My dad has Kaiser. They really shine in this area. he had issues with compliance since he did not sleep enough hours in a night, and Kaiser worked with him to get thru all that, and he just recently got a brand new respironics auto of the most recent variety from them (and then proceeded to develop a nose bleed that put him 3 qts low and left him with a balloon up his nose and a 3 week cpap ban ) but he never has to deal with anyone but kaiser.

[OpineCone]

I'm coming up to ONE YEAR using the same P10 pillows without any issue whatsoever. I wash with a gentle soap every day.

I don't have insurance so getting early regular replacements is not an easy option for me. Having said that, I just ordered a new pair because they are reasonably priced ($20) but I haven't any reason to switch to the new one yet. I'm eager to know too what the signs are for the requirement to be replaced. In the same thread, one person said they get softer later and another person said they get harder later. My vote is that they get a little stiffer probably because any silicone oil comes out after so much washing. If that's the case, cracking might take place eventually and I can see how that two-flap seal may be less easily formed. Also, with a softer springier silicone (new ones), less headset tension adjustment would probably be much less required as the soft springy pillow (if new) will do lots of self-adjusting.

Hi WakeUpTime:

Some common signs from my personal experience for the need to replace pillows:
- they feel uncomfortable
- they start to leak a lot
- they won't seal into your nostrils
- they are no longer flexible enough to fill that narrow space near the tip of your nose
- you have sores inside your nose
- you find blood in your nose
- you can't stop the hissing from your pillows

Some of these conditions you may be able to live with for a while, but I think it is important to focus on the overall goal of sleep apnea treatment: every night a good, long sleep with plenty of REM stage sleep and no significant drop in your blood oxygen level. If anything in your equipment is interfering with achieving that goal, you may need to reevaluate your priorities, even if that means spending some money you might have planned to use for something else.

If you are not experiencing any of the signs listed above, there is another reason why people usually choose to replace their pilllows more often than you do: simple hygiene. This connects with a different and very important overarching goal: to stay healthy. Considering that the same pillows are inserted into your nose for several hours every night for as long as you continue to use them, the probability of the pillows becoming contaminated in some way increases the longer they remain in use. When you wash the pillows you do not sterilize them, and it I believe is usually considered bad medical practice to insert something repeatedly into your mouth or nose over an extended period without sterilizing it. If you develop a serious illness as a result of poor hygiene, in my humble opinion it will only be because you haven't really thought this through as completely as you should.

Ultimately of course it's up to you, and I apologize if you find some of my comments overly critical or offensive. However, I believe everything I have written here does need your careful consideration.

[trailrider]

The last few nights mine keep leaking and feel very soft. Like they want to slip out. I don't think they were in upside down. Been washed and scrubbed.

I find the range of pillow ages interesting:1 month to 1 year!

Does the wear vary by size?

[OpineCone]

The last few nights mine keep leaking and feel very soft. Like they want to slip out. I don't think they were in upside down. Been washed and scrubbed.

I find the range of pillow ages interesting:1 month to 1 year!

Does the wear vary by size?

Sounds like your headgear, the elastic strap that goes around the back and over the top of your head, has stretched. This is very common with the P10. ResMed recommends that you wash the strap in a mild soap solution and then let it air dry, at which time you will discover the elastic is no longer stretched. I did it for the first time a few days ago and it worked like a charm.

You would need a very unusual nose shape to wear your pillows back-to-front. Try it if you like and you'll see what I mean. I did it once by accident in the dark, and the pillows did not match up with my nostrils at all.

Personally I would not scrub my pillows because I would prefer to keep the original smooth surface as pristine as possible.

You must have misread one of my posts. I now change my pillows twice a month. Yes really, that's what my DME supplier now sends me, although they didn't at first. So that's a pillows life of just over two weeks.

And now to the strangest question I have yet tried to answer on this board: Does the wear vary by size? My answer: If I say yes, and tell you which size wears faster, will you switch sizes even though the pillows no longer fit your nose?

I think I need a long cool drink after that one. Let's see, what do I have? Ah yes, pineapple orange guava nectar. Delicious!

[trailrider]

I was thinking (husband groans) that a larger pillow has more material and thus any small expansion rate of the material as it wears would affect a large pillow more than a small one. Fortunately (for my marriage) I have decided not to conduct a flutter analysis of pillow degradation in an itty-bitty wind tunnel.

[OpineCone]

I was thinking (husband groans) that a larger pillow has more material and thus any small expansion rate of the material as it wears would affect a large pillow more than a small one. Fortunately (for my marriage) I have decided not to conduct a flutter analysis of pillow degradation in an itty-bitty wind tunnel.

Conversely, a large nose is likely to be a lot more squishy (a technical term, sorry) than a small nose and therefore more tolerant of small dimensional changes in nose inserts. Tah-dah!

[iSnore]

Does Medicare or anyone's insurance approve 90 days worth of pillows at a time? Or do you have to confirm they're worn out every month?

[BadGoodDeb]

I wonder if the brands of nasal pillows are different. The ones for my Swift LT used to last me a year (and I never washed them, I hate to admit it). They eventually got "flappy", not hard. The DME claimed I was due a new set every 6 months.
Now, with my P10 nasal pillows, they plan to replace them monthly. But I have to call and request them, I guess. I've only HAD it for 3 weeks, so I can't say whether the pillows will wear out at a month or not.