Liberty Mask Conversion

[sleepngo]

I got my Large Liberty FF mask last week for the sole purpose of addressing the mouth leaking, snoring and to relieve the pressure off my nose, sense the liberty has nasal pillows. After a couple of days use I was able to get my AHI down to 4. I had no problems with leaks, nasal are around the mouth, but I still had problems with mouth leaking and snoring, which tended to raise my AHI index. Also in order to achieve a leak proof mask around the mouth, I had to tighten up the lower straps so tight that the lower part of the mask would drive my lower jaw back and down during REM sleep, causing my pressures to go up and mouth leaking and snoring also increased. So I decided to try to modify the mask to eliminate mouth leaking and snoring. What I did was to take a piece of Saran wrap cut a little bigger than the mouth piece cushion and apply it to the mouth piece, thereby blocking any air from exiting the mask to the mouth and blocking any air interning the mask from the mouth.

What I wound up with is a liberty nasal pillows interface with a mouth sealing interface. When I applied the mask to my face, the Saran wrap completely sealed my mouth shut and with just a little pressure applied with the lower straps, thereby keeping my jaw from dropping and opening during REM sleep. The Saran wrap also helped keep air from leaking from the mouth cushion.

The first night was a little scary, the Saran wrap really seals the mouth shut, no air can come in or out, so you feel like you are going to suffocate at first, until you realize you can breath through your nose. It takes a couple days to get use to, but it works, no mouth leaks and very little snoring.

My first day saw my AHI drop to 3, with a encore pressure graph flat lined, except for the check bleeps. My pressure was 11/9 for seven hours with no deviations in pressure. that's the first time that has ever happened to me.

I have been doing this now for 4 days ( applying Saran wrap to my liberty mouth piece) no more dry mouth or lips, in fact the Saran wrap keeps my lips moist and cool for the full sleep period, also haven't experienced any adverse skin reaction to the Saran wrap, just a little redness, the same as with the mouth cushion before using Saran wrap.

Wondering if any one else has tried this with their liberty mask, if so how did it work for you? If anyone else decides to try this mouth leak fix with their liberty mask, let us know how it works for you?

So far the Saran wrap fix is working great for me, with no adverse side effects, will continue to use this method as long as it works. During the four days use, my AHI's have steadily dropped and my OA is at .7, that's really good for me, I'm usually a lot higher.

Has any one else converted their Liberty mask to make it work better? Thanks in advance.

Dan

[jennmary]

The whole reason most people use the liberty or any full face mask is so they can mouth breath. With what you are doing the liberty is a waste of money. You might as well get a pillows mask and just tape your mouth shut or wrap saran wrap around your mouth. I dont see the point of the liberty after you modified it that way. Maybe I am way off. I will wait to see what others think.

[DreamStalker]

True, the FF masks and the Hybrid/Liberty are designed to allow breathing through the mouth for those who:

1) cannot keep the air from leaking out of their mouths while asleep (ie. what jennmary was referring to).

2) are unable to breathe through their nose because of sinus congestion, cold etc.

However, you still managed to come up with an alternative to taping and polydent glue ... I suppose mouth leakers could use Saran Wrap over the mouth with a stretch headband or chinstrap to hold it in place. I don't have mouth leaking issues but for those who's skin is sensitive to the adhesive of tape or glue, they may now have an alternative method.

[sleepngo]

The whole reason most people use the liberty or any full face mask is so they can mouth breath. With what you are doing the liberty is a waste of money. You might as well get a pillows mask and just tape your mouth shut or wrap saran wrap around your mouth. I dont see the point of the liberty after you modified it that way. Maybe I am way off. I will wait to see what others think.

Regards jennmary,

Your right about the purpose of the Liberty mask and that is the reason why I tried it. I like the idea of having nasal pillows verses the FF mask that start at the bridge of the nose and wrap around down to the lower jaw and it is a great alternative to using a nasal mask that puts a lot of pressure on the old snooze-o-la, restricting the natural flow of air through the nostrils.

I have tried several FF mask including the one you have and none worked for me, for one reason or another. So I thought the liberty FF mask would be my mask, it had all the traits that appealed to me, nasal pillows and a mouth piece that just covered the mouth. Great I thought and it did work fine, except for two minor problems, mouth leaking and snoring, same problem I had with the other FF mask. I was hoping this mask would be better. I hadden counted on the lower part of the mask forcing my lower jaw back and down, though I thought that it might, just like the other FF mask did. So I thought I would try and salvage the best parts of the mask that I liked and try and make it work for me, after all I have tried so many nasal pillows masks, nasal masks and FF masks and none seemed to fit the bill.

I don't like tapping stuff to my mouth or using paste and other junk that sticks or hangs around your head or neck to try and stop snoring and mouth leaking. So I decided to give the Saran wrap a try, after all it's used to seal food air tight and clinks to the containers real well, so I figured it should work on my mask and face just as well, voila it works.

I have no leaks the nasal pillows stay in place no matter how much I move around while asleep. I wasn't able to achieve that with other nasal pillows mask that I tried in the past. The mask fits my face just right and feels very comfortable for being a FF mask. the wrap sticks very well to the mouth cushion and forms an air tight seal and when applied to my face with the air pressure on, it seals the mouth very well with very little lower strap tightening, thereby taking a lot of pressure of my lower jaw, helping to reduce air way blockage when falling asleep.

I believe I have the best of two worlds, a nasal pillows mask that works very well and a FF mask that provides for an interface that seals my mouth shut without causing a lot of discomfort and if it continues to work as well as it does now, well it is worth every penny to finally have a mask that you can live with and feel good every morning after a good nights sleep. For the last four nights I have been averaging seven to eight hours of uninterrupted sleep, that really makes this mask worth while and besides Saran wrap is pretty cheep, a roll should last at least a year.

I continue to get good results from using this modified Liberty mask and probably will use it until something better comes along.

Dan

[sleepngo]

True, the FF masks and the Hybrid/Liberty are designed to allow breathing through the mouth for those who:

1) cannot keep the air from leaking out of their mouths while asleep (ie. what jennmary was referring to).

2) are unable to breathe through their nose because of sinus congestion, cold etc.

However, you still managed to come up with an alternative to taping and polydent glue ... I suppose mouth leakers could use Saran Wrap over the mouth with a stretch headband or chinstrap to hold it in place. I don't have mouth leaking issues but for those who's skin is sensitive to the adhesive of tape or glue, they may now have an alternative method.

Regards DreamStalker,

I have the first problem but not the second and the mouth leaking and snoring caused my pressures to climb and all the FF mask seemed to leak and when I did stop the leaks, the mask would be so tight that my jaw would cause more air way blockage, increasing the pressure even more. It was a vicious cycle with the FF mask. The nasal mask worked better but caused the second problem, sinus congestion and the nasal pillows just wouldn stay in place or caused a lot of pain when they did.

The Liberty seems to have solved those problems for me by using the Saran wrap as a mouth seal, while remaining comfortable enough to get a good nights sleep. I was a little amazed that it worked so well so far in the small amount of time I have used the modified Liberty, I am consistently getting low OA's HI's FL's and pretty flat pressure graphs. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hope it continues. Thanks for the reply.

Dan

[sleepngo]

Hi everyone,

I'm at the end of my second week using the Liberty FF nasal pillows mask and the fifth day of using it modified as a nasal pillows interface with a mouth sealing interface to prevent mouth leaking and snoring. Using a strip of Saran wrap applied to the mouth cushion to make an air tight seal for the mouth, thus preventing snoring and mouth breathing. The best nasal pillow, mouth sealing mask I have used to date.

My AHI is 1.4, OA-.6, FL-.1, HI-.1 and VS-.2, down from about 30.

My data looks very good and the mask continues to function as a FF mask for mouth breathing or when modified, can be used as a nasal pillow--mouth sealing mask that function great either way and only takes a few minutes to make the change over from one to the other.

Hope this helps others having the same problem that I have when using the Liberty FF mask.

Dan

[rested gal]

Clever way to have one mask serve two purposes, Dan. As an alternative to taping, polident etc., OR as a FF mask...easily convertible.

You earned this!