my experience with the hybrid.

[RedThunder94]

okay, here is my experience and review for the new mask, the hybrid from teleflex medical.

it came to me via ups next day air on july the 7 2006, it came very well packaged. after i opened the package i found out the mask came with a cd and the usual manuals, but also had it's own light blue zippered case which was very nice, i had never seen that with any of my other masks. it included all the cushion and pillow sizes. my first impression of the mask when removed from it's packaging was that it is a very nice, well thought out and innovative mask. the seal and the pillows are remarkably soft, this was the first mask i have ever used that had the nasal pillows. so it was a learning experience. i gave it a test run and found out that the exhaust ports are really loud, but overall the mask seemed pretty comfy.

okay, first night i had fitted the mask with the large mouth seal and the large pillows in the tall position since the med pillows seemed too small and the large seal seemed to fit just fine according to the fitting directions on the included cd. i got about 4 hours sleep and minimal leaks with it. it was nice to be able to wear my glasses and watch tv until i fell asleep. unfortunately, the headgear was just too small and didn't have any stretch to help matters. it left some deep marks on my face that were still there when i got up in the morning after switching out with my comfortfull 2 for another four hours. slept on my back for the most part.

second night i switched out the hybrid's headgear with the headgear to a devilbiss mask that was lying around, don't ask which mask it was as i have no idea, it was a white elastic style four strap headgear, i had to trim down the straps to fit through the buckles but it worked good enough to finish the week out on the mask, much more comfortable to have a headgear that stretches and has more adjustment. that night i slept about five hours before waking up with some sore nares and a sore upper lip. had to switch out with the hybrid with the comfortfull 2 again. slept on my back all that night.

third night stayed with the cf2, nose was still sore, and wouldn't cooperate with the hybrid. again slept on my back.

fourth night was able to use the hybrid for about an hour before being awakened by unstoppable leaks at the corners, messed with it about 20 minutes before giving up on it and swapping out again. side slept mostly, may be the cause of all the leaks.

fifth night slept about 4 hours and had to swap out again due to sore nares and upper lip again, put the pillows in the short position and could not get them to seal properly and gave up. back slept all night.

sixth night i'm coming to the conclusion that it won't be able to work for me, i try it again and slept two hours before the bearable pain on my nares became unbearable, i guess i'm just not the nasal pillows type mask user, nose is just too sensitive for the pressure on my nares, loosening the top straps did nothing but cause leaks, went back to the cf2. again back slept all night.

seventh night my earlier conclusion proved true, it's not going to work for me, nothing wrong with the mask it's just that i'm incompatible with it, i guess they designed it for more normally featured people, unfortunately i'm a big guy.

on a positive note a family member was able to use it for 3 hours straight where before they could only tolerate about an hour on cpap with the ff431. so hopefully it will go to good use. thanks to teleflex medical for allowing me to try their new mask.

all in all the hybrid is a very well put together versatile mask that will probably work for most people, so i'm probably in the minority of people that the mask will not work with. maybe after i lose a few more pounds or they come up with a larger elastic style headgear, i'll give it a whirl again, but until then i'll use my comfortfull 2.

wow, that took a couple hours to compose and proofread, lol, if you notice any errors lmk and i'll fix them. thanks to all.

[Sleepless on LI]

RT94,

Do you have it in you to perform the "flapectomy" that mikemoran spoke of in his thread? It seems to make an unusable mask (for some of us) much more usable. If you don't have that flap causing the mask to pull down away from your nose (yanking the pillows out) and giving you more flexibility to adjust the mouth seal where you feel more comfortable and so it doesn't leak as much, it might work better for you.

I also find that a little benzoin tincture goes a long way for sealing those annoying leaks that you can't seem to get under control. Again, I don't know what the long term effect on a seal the BT will have, but so far I haven't experienced any problems with my Aura and using it.

Sorry you're in the group of us having trouble using the Hybrid. They do have a good concept, but may need a new and improved model once they can work out some of the kinks a lot of us seem to be experiencing when trying to wear it.

[RedThunder94]

yeah i was tempted to remove the flap but was afraid i'd destroy the usability of the mask doing that, it really did not bother me anyways, i was able to pop it out of the way temporarily with tape to see if it helped any but it didn't. i'm hoping they design a larger headgear maybe made of a neoprene like material that will stretch if necessesary kinda like the headgear that my mirage series 2 has, out of all the masks i have the s2's headgear is the most comfortable.

[tooly125]

second night i switched out the hybrid's headgear with the headgear to a devilbiss mask that was lying around, don't ask which mask it was as i have no idea, it was a white elastic style four strap headgear

Did you try the HC431 headgear on the hybrid?
You don't even have to cut anything it fits perfectly and still has the top strap going over your head which in my case was an important one.

I had the same problem the strap marks in my face from the hybrid headgear were deep enough that they hurt ,the HC431 still leaves marks but not as bad and I think some pad-a-cheeks would take care of it.

I also had nose pain but was able to help it with some creative mustache trimming which allowed me to get a better seal and loosen the top straps.

[RedThunder94]

no, i wanted to, but i didn't have it with me to try, it is on loan to the same family member that is also using the hybrid right now, lol. i'm trying my best to get them compliant with therapy since their osa is way worse than mine.

[Sleepless on LI]

Tooly and RT94,

PADACHEEK!!! They are great when it comes to strap marks and make the straps much more comfortable.

I love to promote Karen's product because, first of all, it's a great one. Second of all, because she is a sweet fellow papper with the biggest heart of anyone I know.

She makes straps for any headgear or mask you own. Just give her a PM and I'm sure she'll work with you. And you can even get them in black, if I'm not mistaken, or some other manly color .

[RedThunder94]

i know, she sent me a set of PAC's for both the top and bottom straps of my cf2 and even the forehead cover as well. my main problem was that the headgear straps were just too short for a comfortable fit, no amount of padding would have helped, it probably would of made things worse, my face is just too long and wide for the regular headgear to work, the straps could even have been an inch longer and they would still have been too short. it was painfully obvious that the headgear was tailored to fit a regular sized person.

[tooly125]

Just give her a PM and I'm sure she'll work with you. And you can even get them in black, if I'm not mistaken, or some other manly color

Your right one of those Things that i've been meaning to do but haven't.
Going to put in my order now.