Trouble with leaks with full face mask when sleeping on side

[Daghis]

Hi, everyone. Thank you all so much for all the great information here! I've really enjoyed learning abut my new CPAP life (I just started last Monday night) from everything I've read here.

I'm looking for some suggestions of things to try related to my full face mask. I've got the Resmed F10 mask (as should be noted below), and it fits more or less fine when lying on my back, but I prefer to sleep on my side. When I roll over, the pressure of the pillow shifts either the contour of my face or the mask itself, causing discomforts such as a cool breeze aimed at my eyeball, whistling, or a raspberry sound. These cause me to wake up, try to readjust the mask, often tightening it more to try and prevent the leaks, but then that feels uncomfortable.

I've read that tightening the mask is often the wrong strategy, and that loosening it can be effective. I've not seemed to find a good tension on the headgear to provide a solid fit when I'm on my side. Again, I think the problem is that the mask is being pushed by the pillow and that's preventing a good fit.

Should I consider a nasal pillow? I'm concerned about that because I've found that I'm a mouth-breather when I sleep. Sometimes I feel that I can't get the flow of air through my nose as I can through my mouth, and that's uncomfortable. With a machine connected to my nose, perhaps it doesn't feel like that.

Perhaps there's a different face mask that works better for side-sleepers? Any other possibilities I should consider?

Thanks so much for any thoughts and ideas y'all may have!

[DreamStalker]

I found face masks did not work for ME because :
1) They require a greater amount of area on your face to seal leading to greater possibility of leaks
2) Unless you have a rigid lower jaw that does not move, the tension on the headgear will eventually pull on your lower jaw towards your throat (bad for OSA) also raising potential for leaks
3) The cushion part that goes around the nose puts pressure on the fine capillaries around my sinuses thus creating sinus congestion and forcing me to breathe through my mouth (which is why nasal cushion masks do not work for me either)
4) The headgear strap tension to the lower part of the face mask constantly changes as your head is repositioned relative to your cervical vertebrae leading to leaks unless you sleep in the exact same position all night long.

I quickly learned to use a nasal pillow mask. I did have some mouth leaks at first but trained myself not to leak by always being conscious of keeping my tongue glued to the roof of my mouth during the day. After a couple of weeks of this training, my data showed leaks were no longer a problem for me.

Everyone is different and YOU must figure out what works best for you when it comes to the cpap interface … it is the cpap initiation if you will.

[Hopeful50]

If you go to contourliving.com and search on "CPAP PILLOW" you'll see a number of specially-shaped pillows that fit around our masks without shoving them aside. I purchased two . . . the CPAP MAX was too tall for me (5'2" female) and the CONTOUR CPAP PILLOW is more my size. It's just a bit too short, but I added a thin piece of foam to the back side of the pillow and it's perfect now.

[Daghis]

I quickly learned to use a nasal pillow mask. I did have some mouth leaks at first but trained myself not to leak by always being conscious of keeping my tongue glued to the roof of my mouth during the day. After a couple of weeks of this training, my data showed leaks were no longer a problem for me.

Everyone is different and YOU must figure out what works best for you when it comes to the cpap interface … it is the cpap initiation if you will.

True, it is sort of an initiation, isn't it?

I think I may try a nasal pillow mask and see how that goes. I think I like the idea of something much less intrusive on my face. If that doesn't work, I'm intrigued by...

If you go to contourliving.com and search on "CPAP PILLOW" you'll see a number of specially-shaped pillows that fit around our masks without shoving them aside. I purchased two . . . the CPAP MAX was too tall for me (5'2" female) and the CONTOUR CPAP PILLOW is more my size. It's just a bit too short, but I added a thin piece of foam to the back side of the pillow and it's perfect now.

Those are very interesting! I wonder how well something like that could work for me.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[Gasper62]

As to a nasal set-up, It's not going to be too good if you do a bunch of mouth breathing. That will dry out your mouth and throat, while at the same time, leak therapy air pressure and not prevent many apneas. Neck braces and chin straps are frequently used with varying success by people determined to try nasal therapy. You might want to see how those work in your situation. I will say that I had FAR fewer leaks when I was able to wear a Swift FX and still able to keep my mouth shut, lots of side sleeping included. Nowadays, I just try to stay on my back as much as possible to minimize leaks from my F10. One thing that really helps is that I cut some mask liners from a heavy, dense and very soft microfiber cloth, They work wonders in taming my leaks and preventing sore spots on the bridge of my prominent schnozz . Good luck.

[dhoppe]

I've been very successful side sleeping with my Simplus FFM. (link is in my sig)

It took a few weeks to figure out but what worked best for me was to slide the mask down the bridge of my nose slightly. Since I've started doing this, I've had no leak issues unless I end up on my back at some point which usually only happens while I'm waking up.

Also, the mask I'm using seems to do a nice job of blowing the vented air away from my face.

[Janknitz]

I have one of those orthopedic memory foam pillows. It has a sort of ditch in the middle, with a large neck roll on one long edge and a smaller neck roll on the other long edge. When I wear a FF mask, I hang the mask off the edge of that pillow, with the part where it's touching my face in that "ditch" so there's less pressure on the mask.

I used to sleep in ONE position all night long--on my right side. I found that by loosening the mask a little bit on the right side and tightening it on the left side, it compensated for the pressure from the pillow. As I've gotten older I can't sleep in one position all night anymore, so that trick doesn't work as well.

The other thing is that I use the pillow to snuggle my face in to and sort of stop the leaks. But my leak stats when I wear a FF mask are pretty terrible. Very hard to get a good seal with all that surface area in contact with the mask.

[Daghis]

Last night was my worst experience with leaks. Even Resmed's MyAir page gave me a failing score for "mask seal", and my AHI count increased from about 1 to 6.3.

Fortunately, today I met with the DME provider who came by with a bunch of different mask options. Since I'm within my 30 day period, I'm able to try something else (and the 30 day clock restarts as a result of switching).

I selected the AirFit N10 nasal mask. The "standard" one she brought is a bit tight on my nose, so she's going to stop by this afternoon with a wider version and I'll use that tonight.

She also brought a chinstrap that I'll also use to prevent my mouth from dropping open while I sleep.

[cathyf]

I'm a confirmed mouth breather. It's some weird thing I have where as soon as I get sleepy my nose closes up and I have to breathe through my mouth. I used an F10 for 18 months, and am just finishing up my first full month with an amara view. My experience is that the design is much better for getting and keeping a seal than the F10, but my problem is that the mask is a bit too wide for my face. (The mask comes in small, medium and large, but that is only about the depth of the mask -- how far your nose sticks out from your face. All 3 sizes are apparently the same width and height.) I wore a small or x-small in the F10, and if you are a medium in the F10 I bet the amara would fit well.

As for the pillow, I punch in the side of the pillow so it's more squared off, and then sleep with the front of my face kind of hanging off. I use a regular, cheap pillow. If the mask were available in a slightly narrower size I wouldn't have any leaks at all!

[LSAT]

I've used a FF Quattro for 6 years without problems. Currently I use the buckwheat hull pillow. Be sure you are following all fitting instructions. I believe there is a video available. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC4uOh8bxCA

By the way...you show the nasal mask in your profile.

[PEF]

I agree with cathyf. I never could make the F10 work without massive leakage, and the mask over my sinuses used to stuff up my nose. The Amara View, although I am having a bit of a struggle, does fit much better, leak less, and does not drive my sinuses crazy.

[Daghis]

I've used a FF Quattro for 6 years without problems. Currently I use the buckwheat hull pillow. Be sure you are following all fitting instructions. I believe there is a video available. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC4uOh8bxCA

Thanks for that. I've watched a few fitting videos to ensure I'm doing it right. I know that due to being awakened due to leaks and me trying, half asleep, to re-adjust the mask probably meant that I wasn't getting it right.

By the way...you show the nasal mask in your profile.

Right, because I'm switching to it tonight.

[glarnold]

I've used the Quattro and the fx for over ten years now. The buckwheat pillow was very helpful in conforming to my head. But the pillow from "mypillow.com" has been the best for stopping leaks. I sleep on side and breathe mostly from the mouth. When I lie down, I press my head into the pillow, holding my mask as I press my head and the mask into the pillow and it simply conforms to every nook and cranny of my head (yeah, there are lots of them.) It's expensive, about a hundred, but you can nearly always get a code for buy one, get one free. Your mileage may vary.

[andycole]

Same problem with F10 so I am now using Quattro Air which works better for me. Since the cushions are identical in both masks, apparently it is the headgear which affects us

[MARDEB1988]

Had the same problem - solved it with a smaller (med). mask. Good luck.