Bleep Eclipse Hack

[Deborah K.]

Thanks, Yankees.     I'll tell my husband about the P10 hack in case he wants to try the Eclipse again.

[Aeolian harp]

I've tried the Eclipse/P10 hack for about seven days now.  It has solved the most serious issue I was having with the Eclipse, which was inhalation noise.  For me, it isn't just somewhat quieter than the Eclipse: it is much quieter.  In fact, it is almost as quiet as the P10 alone.

A bit of background:  I am a relatively new CPAP user.  I have been using CPAP for almost four months now.  I started with the P10 mask and became Eclipse-curious, so I bought the mask on my own dime.  Unfortunately, I was one of those unlucky people who experience loud and annoying inhalation noise with the Eclipse.  This noise, which is a ragged, rushing sound, seemed to come directly from the connection of the eclipse to my nostrils.  Playing brown noise didn't even disguise the noise completely, and I decided I couldn't live with it.

Early on when I was trying to see if I could fix this issue, I became aware of this hack: someone had discovered the same thing and posted about it a year or so ago.  But I decided it wasn't worth experimenting with because I was relatively happy with the P10, and I doubted, given where the noise was coming from, that the hack would solve my particular problem.

Then I started developing a very itchy scalp, mostly behind my head where the bottom P10 strap goes.  More googling, and I discovered that some other people had the some problem with the P10 headgear and it was a probable allergic reaction to the neoprene.

So I was motivated to try the Eclipse/P10 hack.  

It is working reasonably well for me.  Besides the fact that I don't have to deal with an itchy scalp, I find I don't have to adjust the hack during the night the way I had to do with the P10 pillows/headgear.   I also find the breathing sensation to be more natural.  

On the downside, there is more of a tugging sensation on my nose than with the P10.  It has taken some experimentation with the length of my hanging hose to minimize it.  I also experience more minor leaks with this hack than I did with the straight Eclipse: the one night I was able to sleep through the night with the Eclipse on I had absolutely no leaks.   With this hack, I don't experience any major leaks, just minor ones that show up in Oscar and that seem to be associated largely with arousal and movement.    

I might give the Dreamports a trial to see if the tugging sensations and leaks are further minimized, although I realize that if I have a noise problem with the Dreamports, I can't use this P10 hack to solve them.

[Deborah K.]

I have used the DreamPorts for a long time and love them.  I decided to try the Eclipse because they would be easier to put on.  They did not work for me, and I noticed they were much heavier.  The Dreamports solve that problem because, having no metal parts, they are very light.  They are more fiddly to put on for sure.  You need to hear them click into place, sometimes with 1 or 2 clicks, sometimes with many clicks on one or both sides.  I have learned to not just click them on and go.  I have to push hard on each side from several different angles until nothing more clicks.  Then I'm good to go.

As to noise, I don't notice any.