Very intermittent nasal cushion collapse
In my deepest rest when I'm on my back my nasal cushion is now unaccountably failing, halting the air flow for a moment, throbbing while doing so, waking me up and ruining any chance to return to sleep. It's as it's some freak weather event where the pressure get's into some kind of imbalance. I have no idea if it's a sudden creation of a vacuum, collapsing the cushion, but it sort of seems like it. I've experienced it semi-awake enough. It's very rare, but deeply disturbing. I have of course changed out all the components of my head gear, to no effect. I have not gone into my sleep data, which I, as a customer, don't really want to have to do trouble shoot. I guess I'll call ResMed on Monday, but I don't have much hope. The cushions have been working well for years and this has just recently started occurring. It always happens right at the beginning of an inhalation, when I am breathing "normally." It can happen in pairs but usually never more than that, perhaps because by that time I'm done with it and take it off. I've only once had it happen while intentionally trying to induce it, right after it had happened and woke me up. Otherwise I can't make it happen and as I've said, it's just "normal" breathing going on when it happens. Thanks.
RE: Very intermittent nasal cushion collapse
The nasal pillows do not have a long lifetime, probably 6-months tops. I have several being used in rotation at any time and probably average 2-3 months of actual use on each. As long as the mask is not over-tightened, I can't imagine what might cause a collapse. What size nasal pillow and what pressure and EPR are you using?
RE: Very intermittent nasal cushion collapse
It happens with very fresh cushions. I don't know the answers to the other things, yet. And I don't really *know* that a collapse is happening, it's just what it seems like. There is a pause in the flow. Sometimes I feel it *almost* happens and the cushion sort of wavers and flutters a bit, but doesn't "collapse" and stop the flow.
RE: Very intermittent nasal cushion collapse
My air pressure is 6-20. My EPR is at 1.
RE: Very intermittent nasal cushion collapse
Seems like pressure should not be a problem. If you're interested in a deeper dive on therapy and what might be happening in the seconds ahead of a "collapse" event, we could get there with some charts on
OSCAR, where we can see the breath by breath respiration and pressure delivery. I don't see how we're going to guess at a cause without that. I have found that the most common problem with the Airfit P10 nasal pillows is the use of a size too small. If you're using a small or medium, it might be worth trying the next larger size.
