Me and my hybrid

[Maryb]

I bought a hybrid hoping to eliminate my mouth leaks.
I have been following this board faithfully which has helped speed up the Hybrid learning curve. I have had many of the problems that other women (e.g., Rested Gal, Minerva, etc.) have noticed, namely that the pillows are at an odd angle that seems to encourage them popping out of your nostrils in the middle of the night (and that hurts!). Also, I have been plagued with cushion leaks. And like Rested Gal, I have been able to get all set up leak free at the beginning of the night only to be awakened by leaks (usually mask honking noises) later in the night. I concluded that in my case it might be my own tossing and turning that is dislodging the mask. Hose management is an issue with this mask. When you turn over, the hose yanks the mask loose and you can’t route the hose over your head very easily either. Someone on the board has suggested using an Activa coupler (short hose with swivel) to add more flexibility. I tried this and it helped alot.

I have tried many different combinations including all three cushion sizes and two of the three pillow sizes. I have cut the chinflap off two of the cushions. What has worked best for me so far are the small pillows at the highest height and the large cushion with the chinflap left on.

Pillows: As noted above, the pillows are not angled in towards my face as much as I need. However, the small pillows are a tiny bit shorter than the other two sizes and so they don’t tend to pop out of my nostrils so much (note: I used large pillows on both the Breeze of the Swift; go figure!). Putting any of the pillows at the shortest height didn’t work for me because they wouldn’t reach my nostrils. Birdiebaby on this board has suggested using dental floss to angle the pillows better which I haven’t tried yet. I’ve also thought about substituting some of the Breeze pillows (including the dilators) to see if they work but haven’t done it yet.

Cushions: I didn’t think I had a big mouth but I guess I do. I can see just a bit of the corners of my mouth extend into the cushion area on both the small and the medium cushions. I tried really hard to make the medium cushion work but I always got leaks out of my mouth corners during the night. Also I felt like the medium cushion curved too sharply into my cheeks. I had to cut the chinflap off because it cut into my chin and was too hot. So I graduated to the large cushion and was able to leave the chinflap on (which I think stablizes the mask). I put a piece of gauze between my chin and the chinflap so that the skin of my chin wouldn’t be suffocated. The large cushion solved my problem with the mouth corner leaks. I also found that I needed to be careful to position the cushion correctly around my mouth and using a mirror as someone on this board suggested is a good idea. I found that I needed to position the top part of the cushion just above my upper lip (any higher and I got lots of leaks). As others on this board have noted, the large cushion is flatter than the other two and so I didn’t have the problem of too much curvature (and hence more leakage) into my cheeks. Also I noticed that I have way less leakage when I sleep on my sides as compared to on my back.

Pantyhose strap fix: Lastly, I found that I needed to use an extra strap to further flatten the cushion and correct the angle of the nasal pillows into my nostrils. I used a modification of the famous pantyhose strap trick. I tied one end of a piece of pantyhouse leg onto a small thick rubber band and secured the rubber band around one of the upper mask clips. I did this on both sides and then tied the pantyhose at the back of my head at an angle which brought the nasal pillows into better alignment (and flattened the cushion even more). I had made a similar modification on my Swift and it worked really well. It just plasters everything flat up against your face with no gaps.

Results: I’m going to be able to get this mask to work for me but it’s taking some fiddling. I think that maybe it doesn’t work so well for women as it does for men (?). Maybe it was designed based on a man’s face. However, I really don’t want to give up because it completely solves the mouth leak problem which I haven’t totally been able to deal with successfully in any other way (I tried taping and couldn’t get it to work. Polygrip strips and a chinstrap sort of worked). It’s such a relief not to have to worry about mouth leaks! It’s also a great mask when you are congested—there’s always your mouth to breathe with. My leak rate has dropped alot with the Hybrid and my AHI is declining. Sadly, the Hybrid isn’t nearly as cool and comfortable as my old Swift is (sigh). I really dislike the headgear—it’s hard to get the mask on and off and the lower strap cuts the back of my neck and gives me a rash the next day. Cotton PadACheeks work great to pad the straps and help cushion the clips.

The bottom line is: the more I use this mask the more I am getting used to it and the better my treatment seems to be.

Maryb

[oldgearhead]

MaryB - Nice report! I kind of like reading blow-by-blow mask battles. I think, because a large number of us must 'modify' our masks to be able to use them. I've used my Hybrid for a few weeks now, and I'm still making 'adjustments'.

Becoming accustomed to the high volume of air delivered by the Hybrid, makes my CL2 feel like I'm breathing through a straw..

[tooly125]

I also found that I needed to be careful to position the cushion correctly around my mouth and using a mirror as someone on this board suggested is a good idea.

When I first started using mine I couldn't imagine putting it on without a mirror but now that i'm used to it and have found my correct fit I can put the mask on without looking.
hard to do this one in the dark because the straps can flip around and get tangled in themselves.

Hope it works well for you

[inacpapfog]

Tooly, you're right about putting on the mask without the mirror getting easier! I am finding that to be true for me too! (Good thing too, cause I'm getting tired at having to get up again to go back into the bathroom to fetch the hand mirror that I forgot when I was filling up my humdifier!! )