Feeling a big rush of air when I turn to my side

[JLH]

Newbie here. I hope someone can help me. I am not a back sleeper. When I turn on my side and stomach, there is a big (constant) gush of air from the nasal pillows I wear. I have bought one of those contoured pillows, which has been an adjustment in itself since my previous pillows have been very flat. Actually when I sleep on my stomach (my preferred position), I typically don't use a pillow. Also my hose goes up over the top of my head. The entire set up is not bad or uncomfortable, but I am finding it impossible to stay on my side or stomach with the rush of air I feel. My guess would be it is a fit issue, but I am not sure how to resolve it. I don't know how much longer I can go, I am so sleep deprived after 10 days on CPAP.

Sleepless in Texas

[heyslick]

I am only 6 months into this, so with that being said have you tried tighting the head band, I seem to have a little problem with the same thing, not bad but some, If i sleep on the left all is good, when i turn to the right i have problems. Maybe you could try different size nasal pillows.

[Pugsy]

Something isn't sized or fitted properly if the pillows are moving so much to allow the air to gush out.

Try changing to different size gel pillows.
Try using or not using the fleece wraps.
Try adjusting that back strap.
Consider maybe a different size frame.

When I tried this mask...I had to go smaller or else it would slide around my head every time I turned and would leak like crazy.
The fit pack mask package comes with a medium frame but there is a smaller and larger version available separately.

[SnoringInOregon]

I have different nasal pillows than you do, but I have the same problem. I can only sleep on my back, not on my side.

When I sleep on my side the headband is pinned between my head and my pillow. Any slight head movement then causes the pillows to shift about my nose. Which causes leaks, which wakes me up.

I don't want to tighten my headband (and I don't know if it would help) because it's very comfortable when I'm on my back and because too tight would irritate the inside of my nostrils.

So I've been sleeping only on my back for the last year. I've gotten used to it. Every few months I try to sleep a few hours on my side, and I get leaks. SleepyHead reports a non-zero "Time over leak redline".

Still, these Airfit P10 pillows are much more comfortable than the old Mirage Swift II I used to use. IIRC I could sleep on my side with those, but they were, for lack of a better word, a "contraption". Whereas these are featherweight and are almost imperceptible when I'm on my back.

Life is full of tradeoffs.

[RogerSC]

There are good fitting videos on youtube for almost every mask. At least all the ones that I've looked up, anyways. The videos can be very helpful in figuring out how things should be adjusted for the best results. It does sound like your mask is too loose, but making it tighter isn't always the right answer, it can be too tight as well. You may do better with different sized nasal pillows, as well. Or a different mask might work better. You just kind of have to play around until you get your leaks reduced.

I can't emphasize enough, though that just tightening things to stop leaks can cause other problems...I wore a nasal pillow mask too tight for a while and created a problem on the outside of my nose, down at the bottom on the outside of my right nostril. It's still healing after quite a while, since it gets a little trauma every night from the mask that I'm using now. Which wouldn't be a problem if it were healed, but that has slowed the healing down, and I'm using about the lowest impact nasal pillow mask around.

By the way, the mask that I'm using works very well leak-wise for me. I'm also a side sleeper, and the TAP PAP mask, when properly fitted can have very low leaks, and doesn't require headgear that goes over your head. If you get your initial mask of a new style that you want to try from cpap.com, you can also get "return insurance". That's often free for new masks or masks that people have a high rate of success with. Return insurance allows you to return a mask that doesn't work for you within 30 days and get your purchase price refunded, which I've found very helpful. 30 days is usually plenty of time to figure out if a particular mask is going to work for you.

Anyways, good luck, you will make this work!