Sore Neck

[SonOfSteel]

Hi Guys, I'm fairly new to having a Cpap machine and have just joined this board but I'm hoping I might find some good advice here.

I've been using my machine for about 4 and a half weeks now, the first 2 weeks it was set on Apap so it detected when I was asleep and I didn't get any more the a 4 pressure while awake. Then it was switched over to Cpap now that we had a reading of how high I needed it to be, It's now on 18.5 pressure which is quite high.
As you might imagine I have needed to tighten the mask straps a lot in order to cope with the new pressure. This was fine for the first couple of night but I have noticed a painful trend of getting a sorer and sorer neck each morning due to the tightness of the straps. I have tried loosening them again but this leads to more air leakage and the mask slipping during sleep.

So my question is this, Has anyone else had this problem? If so how did you resolve/lessen it?


If it helps any this is my mask The Simplus full face mask.

[chill]

Your pressure is on the high side of things. I use the Simplus and have leak problems when the pressure gets above 14. I have had to tighten it down quite a bit, but not enough to cause neck pain. I'd consider changing to a different mask. Someone here who also uses a higher pressure should be able to suggest some candidates.

[PoolQ]

Your mask (I have used it) has a silicon seal where it fits to your face. This seal should never be crushed against your face so that the hard plastic is pushing directly against your face.

Tighter straps for higher pressure, but not so tight to crush the silicon.

What keeps masks from leaking is friction. The friction of the silicon seal against your face. If you face or the mask is not completely oil free then you won't get enough friction to keep the silicon from slipping and causing a leak at high pressure.

Clean the mask and your face every night (the silicon should feel sticky). Put it on and turn on the pressure. slightly pull the mask away from your face so that the silicon seal inflates and then set the mask back against you face. Strap adjustment is done 1/8 inch at a time, they are very sensitive. If the mask is floating properly you should not put too much pressure on your neck.

[trish6hundred]

Hi SonOfSteel,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
You might try some of the mask liners that are out there, PadaCheek or RemZZZs, are a couple you might look into.
Hang in there for more suggestions and much success to you with your CPAP therapy.

[SonOfSteel]

@Poolq Cheers fr that, I may have been misunderstanding how to use it so far. I have been tightening it until the hard plastic sometimes presses directly into my cheek... I shall try it as you say and see how it goes.
@trish6hundred I had a look at the mask liners (I didn't even know they existed) and have ordered some of the RemZZZs to see how they go.
Thanks for all the help

[chill]

What keeps masks from leaking is friction. The friction of the silicon seal against your face. If you face or the mask is not completely oil free then you won't get enough friction to keep the silicon from slipping and causing a leak at high pressure.

That is at least part of my problem. There are no two ways around it - I am greasy! I wash my face with soap just before I go to bed and four or five hours later, my face is oily enough that any increase over my base pressure causes leaks and face farts.

[PoolQ]

Thought of a couple more things about the SimPlus
if it leaks by the bridge of your nose, after it's all set up , grab the mask frame and pull it towards your chin. This will encourage the seal on the bridge to stand up a little and for me it got a better seal

This may happen with other over the nose masks, but you can get it to "rock" over your cheek bones with the top and bottom straps. Sometimes to get the bridge tighter you need to loosen the bottom straps and the other way around for the chin. If you tighten both it tends to just smash into your cheek bones.

[SonOfSteel]

So yesterday I brought some makeup removal wipes and used them to degrease my face where the mask was going and loosened off the straps so it was much more comfortable and I found it had a much better seal, probably the best seal I have had so far. Unfortunately as the ramp up got close to my pressure I noticed a slight leakage on the bridge of my nose so I decided to adjust it slightly and ended up completely ruining the seal.... lol
But on the bright side, I now know it can be done and how to start going about it so thanks heaps for the advice!

[PoolQ]

Sometimes it's difficult to know if it's the wrong mask for the face or all the tricks for getting it to seal have not been figured out yet. Sure sounds like you are on your way to getting it figured out

[SonOfSteel]

So on doctors advice I have now switched over to a nasal mask (DREAMWEAR NASAL PILLOW MASK) which is much more comfortable and completely bypasses all the problems I have been having.

Thanks everyone for your help and advice it has been greatly appreciated.