Too good to be true?

[laurie2025]

After a wonderful 2nd night, last night was horrible! I laid there wide awake until 3:30 when I took the thing off in disgust. The Swift is loud and last night it just drove me crazy, I tossed and turned and obsessed about all the whistles and shhhhhhhhhhhh sounds coming from it, and wondering if there were leaks... I could feel tiny streams of air blowing towards my upper lip. I hope tonight is better... I have to go to work and I am just exhausted.
Laurie

[oldgearhead]

I could feel tiny streams of air blowing towards my upper lip.

Leaks? Probably. However, I am not familiar with the Swift. Are you using some type of ointment before putting on the mask? I've found that I need to put a bit of Bag Balm in the front of my nares to help seal the nasal pillow interface. Of course, about anything should help seal the nasal pillows: Ary Gel, KY, ChapStick, etc.

You are still taping? Aren't you?

[nosbig-nosbig]

Had pillows that whistled, fortunately that size didn't give the best comfort.

Experienced some leaking, but found that taking the thing apart and reassembling stopped the leaking.

[justplainbill]

Laurie-
I use the Swift myself. If it is blowing on or toward your upper lip, the likelihood is that you have the barrel (or possibly the whole headgear) positioned upside down (it should blow out roughly parallel to the tip of your nose. This is an easy mistake to make.

I did find it useful during my first few days to study the instructions for this on the CD-rom which came with mine (and which you should also have received). It took me a while to really orient myself to this contraption and I still sometimes have to fiddle more with it than I like to get it back on if I have to get up in the middle of the night. But it should come with practice. There are also items in the FAQ section (and/or in the Collective Wisdom area) regarding issues with the Swift that you may also find useful. A lot of users have contributed their knowledge and experience on this item.

Do work on locating the source of your leaks. If they appear to be coming from the nose the hissing should go away after you repositioning the nosepiece (the nasal pillows themselves). I followed the advice of my DME rep and of several users here and elsewhere to use a larger size pillow set (I started at medium and now use large). Some users have also recommended using either Ayr saline gel or come other lubricant to help seal the pillows to your nostrils (I did not find it that useful myself). Mostly, however, it is a matter of adjusting the overall fit.

Other things I have done (or read about or both) are to either forget to put the slider on the pillows when re-assembling the nosepiece else or to not align the pillows part in the slots correctly, to forget to put the end cap on the nosepiece, or to not connect the hose part to the nosepiece snugly. Each of these mistakes result in a lot of noise and leakage which does not change with attempts. However, you can usually figure out by checking to see where air is escaping from.

As you get more familiar with this equipment, you should find yourself avoiding these problems for the most part.

Hope night 4 goes better for you.

Best wishes,
Bill

[laurie2025]

Well, I know I have it on facing the right way; the 'exhaust' is blowing outward, there were just minor 'streams' of air blowing towards me I will have to try the other suggestions when I get home from work tonight (home on lunch right now). I am going to take it apart and reassemble to make sure all is tight. I am using the Ayr gel. And I do tape my mouth.
Thank you for all the good ideas.

[Julie]

Hi, I tried it at various times (in between others) and couldn't get past the noise and lack of secure seal either. We're all made different and shouldn't all expect to be able to fit the same mask any more than the same clothes

[islander]

I found that i was having leak problems on my Swift after using for a few hours and then discovered that the nasal barrel would somehow get moved or rotated during my rolling around and was causing the problem. I now find myself waking up enough to rotate the barrel back to non-leaking position and immediately getting back to sleep. I find this is not a big problem now and the Swift is a favorite interface for me.

[birdshell]

Hi, I tried it at various times (in between others) and couldn't get past the noise and lack of secure seal either. We're all made different and shouldn't all expect to be able to fit the same mask any more than the same clothes

I am in total agreement with Julie. I used the Swift for ~3 weeks, and found I was waking up to adjust the thing JUST as much as before using CPAP. I returned the thing to my DME provider with glee.

However, I found these things to be true for me:

1. That barrel piece with the pillows is EXTREMELY easy to assemble the wrong way up. Double checking with each assembly helps. It is VERY hard to recognize this by a casual inspection.

(IMHO, this is something that ResMed should address as a design flaw.)

2. Using the next larger size of nasal pillows helped.

3. I am wishing now that the velcro strap fix was a part of my knowledge before turning in the Swift. A major part of the problem was the straps slipping.

Click Here for Swift Velcro Strap Fix

4. Loosening the straps a bit actually helped!

5. Be sure to adjust everything while lying down.

There are other fixes, too. You may wish to search for them. Start by clicking on the button above and to the left.

Good wishes, and good sleep.

[snoregirl]

I am a committed swift user (until my supply runs out since I won't continue to buy from Resmed.

I find that it helps for the pillow to be clean. I don't wash anything else or disassemble anything else, just the slide thing and wash the pillow. takes less than a minute.

As others noted you can get it together backward, I know you said you didn't. I put it together quickly one time and had the holes in the pillow closer together at the bottome rather than the top. Boy did I feel stupid, and the darn thing leaked like a sieve.

I am not a proponent of putting anything on like chapstick, but it seems to work for some. I like a clean, non-oily pillow on clean skin.

I tried a larger pillow (use med) and it won't fit. But if you can use the larger one it seals better for some.

I use an ace bandage around my head as a homemade chinstrap. This does help my chin a bit but really helps stabilize the swift too.

I also put the lower strap under my hair. Helps hold it down.

If I hear small squeeling noises, I move it around in my nose or move the elbow joint, and it seems to seal.

Given you had two good nights out of it before the bad one. Maybe you can find what is going on with one of these suggestions or someone elses above

Good luck.

[Snoredog]

I have a brand new Swift sitting in my dud drawer for the same reason (PM me if you are interested).

Swift was the noisiest interface I ever used next to the Nasalaire. For that reason, I didn't wear it long, think maybe a 1/2 hour, didn't wear it long enough for it to become uncomfortable and leak but I knew that wasn't far behind.

But there are much better interfaces out there that are completely silent. A noisy leaky interface will also make your machine sound much more noisy. If you take your thumb and put it over the end of the hose with the machine On, you will see the machine becomes nearly silent.

Same goes for interfaces with higher or excessive leak rates, the higher the leak rate the louder the machine will be. Machine has to rev up the motor to compensate for that leak (with what ever interface you are using) to maintain the set pressure. If you take your thumb off the hose and let the machine run wide open it will be at the most noisy state.

Quietest interface I have ever used:
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/Soyala ... dgear.html

[laurie2025]

I am sitting at my computer with my Swift mask, reassembling it as we speak. It looks like it was all put together correctly (the DME did it, so it was definitely worth checking).
I am torn between using the medium or the large pillows. The small fit, but I have to spread them apart to get them in my nose. Not good. The medium fit nicely. The large fit if I really work at it. I don't know if I could get the large pillows back in if I had to do it in the dark in bed. So I think I will put the medium back in.
I was reading in the instructions, and it says "the headgear panels rest between the eye and the ear". When I look at the picture on the cover of the instruction booklet, the headgear panels look like they are directly above the guy's ears. I don't see how the written instruction matches with the photo.
Thank you for all your invaluable suggestions and tips. I definitely need to get some velcro.