the mask saga continues

[AirSign]

I get the best seal when the strap is up high, pulling the pillow up in line with my nostril. This puts the pressure pretty much only against my nose and almost no pressure on my lip.

Great question about the straps, Lebanon. There's always one on top, and it usually catches on some of the exposed velcro of my chinstrap and stays put.

But I tend to pull the bottom one down, mostly because of my eyes. The gear pushes up the skin at the outside corners of my eyes, which I pull back down, but in an attempt to eliminate the frame being so close to my eyes, I probably pull the bottom strap quite low.

Maybe what I should try is to find some other way to lift the strap away from my eyes, some kind of padding perhaps.

Don't think my nostrils are small, but my head certainly is. And I do get dry eyes overnight, less so with eye drops.

Overall, the P10 is so minimal that it seems almost churlish to complain about these points, but I do need to get the leaking more controlled, and I really don't like a lot of gear around my face.

[PaulaO2]

There's the Nuance, a nasal pillow that sits more on the outside than the inside and seems to be more forgiving of irregular nasal shapes.

Then there's the PAPcap, a cloth chin strap especially designed for lip leaking. As long as you don't sleep a lot on your back, it does work! Sleeping on your back causes the cloth head covering to slide forward.

The Ruby chinstrap (not the cheap imitation) is supposed to be good for even lip leaking. I use the cheap imitation and it kinda works but I hate it. That's why I switched to a FFM (Simplus).

[worn_out_in_lebanon]

Thanks for the feedback. I was using the Ruby chinstrap. After using it for a few weeks, I experimented without it. And the past two nights with tape. I get the same results all the way around.

I can keep my mouth closed, no problem. I just can't consistently keep the air from escaping.

I experimented with tongue placement this morning. If I keep it far forward it seems to stay sealed, and if I keep it rolled back (a lot) it stays. But in the middle ground, there is the occasional leak back there in the throat, and when that happens, the air is gonna go out somewhere/somehow.

I did figure out last night that surgical tape is not airtight. But I'm not going as far as duct tape...

Last night I got my ahi back under 5. Except for one hour around midnight, I still leaked all night long. But my 95% leak was just 24. The night before the 95% leak was 38. Tape is not the long term answer. It was just my quick fix to get a night of sleep again, so I can think enough to get back on track another way. I'm pretty sure a hybrid will work for me since it ties the mouth into the pressure system, and doesn't have the sealing problems I run into with a FFM.

I briefly tried a ffm with a sleep gasket (gigantic liner) last night before bed, and it was quiet and comfortable, but still leaking. I will experiment with it one night this weekend, when I can afford the worse sleep (if that's how it plays out), and see what the system reports as the leak rate. --- I kind of don't care if it's leaking, as long as it's not waking me up constantly. And as long as the system can still figure out what it's doing (as far as detecting apneas, evaluating flow limitations, etc.)

[truetopath]

I just thought of something. Even with the chinstrap I would have mouth leaks like crazy when in auto mode. For some reason with the p10 on auto, for me I would leak, but not with the constant pressure. I don't use the EPR and I looked at my pressure needs in sleepyhead, and adjusted accordingly. My prescribed pressure was 11, but right now I'm at 13.4 and my AHI is between .2-.6 consistently. Maybe using a constant pressure with the chin strap would help? Just a thought.

[worn_out_in_lebanon]

Good point. I will rotate that approach back in to the mix, after I get some sleep established again and can afford the experiment.

[darth_vapor]

Have you looked at the InnoMed Hybrid mask?

[worn_out_in_lebanon]

Have you looked at the InnoMed Hybrid mask?

That's the one I have. (that I was referring to as Respcare)

Doing a quick search, Respcare and Innomed call themselves "sister companies".

They look like a merger to me... In fact, mergenetsolutions lists them both with all the same contact information / phone number / address in Florida.

It's working (somewhat), but I want to also try the Resmed version of a hybrid for comparison. It's on the way, from Supplier #1.

[JVinNE]

There's the Nuance, a nasal pillow that sits more on the outside than the inside and seems to be more forgiving of irregular nasal shapes.

Then there's the PAPcap, a cloth chin strap especially designed for lip leaking. As long as you don't sleep a lot on your back, it does work! Sleeping on your back causes the cloth head covering to slide forward.

The Ruby chinstrap (not the cheap imitation) is supposed to be good for even lip leaking. I use the cheap imitation and it kinda works but I hate it. That's why I switched to a FFM (Simplus).

Paula, my Simplus cushion is digging into my face if I tighten it, and if I loosen it even a little, it leaks. I wake up with cushion marks on my face, and it's that, or leak all night.

I don't know what to do. I tried the F10, and it hurt my nose so much.