[Equipment] Home brew chin strap.

[rhandel]

Hi All,

I am finally getting better results with my APAP machine, (after several weeks of trying a lot), and now using a commercial chin strap. This strap is a Care Fusion - Puresom - TMS13. It is not stable for use every night, (At times it comes loose during the night). Now that I can better control my Apnea I am wondering about alternatives that are MORE effective, (aka stable).

I was looking online and found a You Tube video by Dr. Popper. He has a design for a home made baseball cap chin strap that looks promising.

Q: Has anyone tried this or one similar? Does it stay on? Does it bind, rub, or come loose? Anyone have a better idea?

Thanks in advance,

RAH


BTW, My SO made a hose rain cover for about $5 that uses thin velcro and a piece of Fleece. In a suitable pattern. :grin:

[trish6hundred]

Hi rhandel,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
It's good to hear that you're getting your CPAP therapy finetuned. I have had trouble with the chinstraps, too. Either there is so much on my face or not enough. I made a makeshift chinstrap with an extra P10 headgear that I had layin' around, but for you, that might be too minimal.
Good luck on the chinstrap battle.
Continued success with your CPAP therapy.

[JJJ]

I am finally getting better results with my APAP machine, (after several weeks of trying a lot), and now using a commercial chin strap. This strap is a Care Fusion - Puresom - TMS13. It is not stable for use every night, (At times it comes loose during the night). Now that I can better control my Apnea I am wondering about alternatives that are MORE effective, (aka stable).
I was looking online and found a You Tube video by Dr. Popper. He has a design for a home made baseball cap chin strap that looks promising.
Q: Has anyone tried this or one similar? Does it stay on? Does it bind, rub, or come loose? Anyone have a better idea?

There is a long thread here about custom made chin straps:

http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-...traps-sigh

[Ghost1958]

I tried home making one and it worked sort of ok. Then tried a few hand me down different ones that didnt do any better because I couldnt keep them from slipping off at some point in the night.

The fix was the Resironics Premium chin strap. Once and adjusted it will NOT come loose nor slip off because it has a backstrap that keeps it in place.

Also it pulls UP on the chin not back like most others shutting my yap better during the night LOL.

[rhandel]

All,

The BIG advantage to this method is upward pressure with NO backward jaw pull.

OK. Wally World is really helpful with this.
I bought a Baseball cap ($3.50) and some Velcro (Single sided sew on, $3.50). I tried 5/8" before bed and settled on 1" for the strap. Narrow sew on Velcro is too narrow and stretches.

I just cut off the brim (as close to the cap as possible) and asked (really nicely), my SO to sew on one 2" strip to each side of the baseball cap.

Using a 20" piece of firm, double sided Velcro (Had it laying around), to keep the cap on and mouth shut.

Bottom line, Since I over tightened it a bit I woke up a little sore but AHI was better than before. Going to loosen it up and try it again. Too bad I had some noticeable (by me), mask leaks.

Thanks for all of the support and suggestions. I may even try a Ruby.

RAH

[OpalRose]

Hi rhandel,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
It's good to hear that you're getting your CPAP therapy finetuned. I have had trouble with the chinstraps, too. Either there is so much on my face or not enough. I made a makeshift chinstrap with an extra P10 headgear that I had layin' around, but for you, that might be too minimal.
Good luck on the chinstrap battle.
Continued success with your CPAP therapy.

Trish,
How did you make a chin strap from P10 headgear? When you have time, would you mind posting instructions. I assume you had to cut it.
Thanks,
OpalRose

[trish6hundred]

Hi rhandel,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
It's good to hear that you're getting your CPAP therapy finetuned. I have had trouble with the chinstraps, too. Either there is so much on my face or not enough. I made a makeshift chinstrap with an extra P10 headgear that I had layin' around, but for you, that might be too minimal.
Good luck on the chinstrap battle.
Continued success with your CPAP therapy.

Trish,
How did you make a chin strap from P10 headgear? When you have time, would you mind posting instructions. I assume you had to cut it.
Thanks,
OpalRose

Hi OpalRose,
I posted information about in a thread titled IMAGINE! A Truly Minimalist Chinstrap?! here on the board and I had a picture taken with me wearing it. But here's what I did. I Adjusted it to my head and had enough for a hose loop for the P10's hose. I took the ends of the headgear you normally put on the mask and sewed it together, I didn't have to cut into it.. I don't know if this makes any sense to you at all so, I will try to find the link to that thread and put it in this post so you can get a better idea.
And oh by the way, WELCOME! to the forum.!

[trish6hundred]

Hi OpalRose,
Here is the link to my thread about a chinstrap I made with the P10 headgear.
http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-...+Chinstrap
I hope this helps and gives you a better fix on what I did.

[OpalRose]

Hi OpalRose,
Here is the link to my thread about a chinstrap I made with the P10 headgear.
http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-...+Chinstrap
I hope this helps and gives you a better fix on what I did.

Thanks Trish,
Thanks for taking the time to post your photo. I would not have thought to do that with the P10 headgear. I have an extra headgear now, so I will give it a go.
I also have tried another headgear that was too big in the chin area and it seemed to slip off sometime in the night.

[trish6hundred]

Hi OpalRose,
Here is the link to my thread about a chinstrap I made with the P10 headgear.
http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-...+Chinstrap
I hope this helps and gives you a better fix on what I did.

Thanks Trish,
Thanks for taking the time to post your photo. I would not have thought to do that with the P10 headgear. I have an extra headgear now, so I will give it a go.
I also have tried another headgear that was too big in the chin area and it seemed to slip off sometime in the night.

Hi OpalRose,
You're welcome, glad to do it. I hope it works well for you.