Activa and Aura after one week. Aura tricks of the trade?

kenrose · Post by **kenrose** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 7:31 am

I gave up on my DME and the whole process and just paid out of pocket for the 2 masks. The Activa is like an old pair of blue jeans. You just put it on very loosely and it does the rest. easy, comfortable and very leak proof. I am getting some pressure on my upper lip to under my nose but the mask is so user friendly that who cares. The posts by rested gal and everyone are very accurate and if any one looks into the user's descriptions you will know exactly what you are getting. Rating the mask excellent.
The Aura is a first time nasal pillow exp. for me so it took me a while to figure out how to use it. It is extremely comfortable but I have trouble keeping a good seal unless I just don't move. so far every night I have used it I had to switch back to the Activa because some where in the middle of the night I wake up to discover that the mask has come out of the nose.
Any suggestions on this problem ?
I also seem to be getting stronger volume of air then the Activa. In both cases my mouth is full of gunk in the morning even though I am a mouth taper. ????????????

wading thru the muck! · Post by **wading thru the muck!** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 8:50 pm

Try the panthose fix LOL. soon they will both feel like an old pair of jeans

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 9:10 pm

I swear....have to drag (no pun intended!) men kicking and screaming to the magical pantyhose tights. LOL!!

If you'll set dignity aside, ken...here's what to do:

The fix is a homemade strap at eyebrow level:

Or a strap at the nasal pillows area:

Or both:

Or...none of the above.

kenrose · Post by **kenrose** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 8:20 am

First of all, how do you tie the back of the pantyhose strap? I will look for the threads for instructions if its complicated. secondly, I got the Aura because a) RG gave it the thumbs up and she really knows what she talking about!! and B) because it looks really cool. Being single, I have commented on my basic Hann. Lecher look. Between mouth tape, chin strap scrunchies. I fall asleep at night pretending I am darth vader (more fun without mouth tape) Luuuuuuke tends to sound like mmrrmmphhhhhhhh with tape.I will try the pantyhose but somehow I am still at a point where Mike Morans idea of calling a new friend "Clarice" as i show up in full hose head regalia is about where its at. The full Face masks have gotten pretty poor reviews and until Activa comes out with a FF version I will be using paper tape. (Johnson and Johnson is a little better than 3M)
I am not really worried about it. I'm 56 and sleep apnea, now that it is diagnosed is the least of my worries, but there are nights when I don't pay attention to what color scrunchies I am using and I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror and I start laughing, quickly try to stop because I don't want to dislodge anything and then go to sleep thinking maybe if I go all black with the scrunchies it won't look so silly (baby blue and pink with black straps on the mask were the funniest.) Hose head fashion????

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 8:38 am

Kenrose,

LOL!!! You haven't lost a great sense of humour, obviously. Keep smiling regardless, if that's possible.

My suggestion, if you are a bit reluctant to do the panthose thing (WHY, I don't know because it doesn't even look like pantyhose with one leg cut off but a piece of material), try sliding the lockbox either back or forward just a tiny bit to allow you to bend the wire a bit more to curve the pillows more under your nose, making it a more tight fit. But fortunately with how they made these pillows so soft and squishy, it doesn't become a painful experience as it can with other interfaces. I know you're probably saying, back or forward? I don't know where yours is right now, and sometimes the tiniest of adjustment in position will make a huge difference in how the pillows stay put. If the lockbox is too far back on your head, the pillows will come out. But if it's too far down, they will be too low and won't stay in. You need to just very gently, a little at a time, find the right position of that lockbox and then bend that wire to make them snugly fit under your nose. If the straps are tight enough and secure enough so that the headgear won't shift, the pillows WILL stay put all night. Also, if you haven't done so, you can try either squeezing the wire sides closer or further apart from each other depending on the size of your nares to make them fit better. That is one adjustment maybe people don't think of, as opposed to just bending the bottom, to make the pillows fit better.

And I will tell you what RG told me to do to tie the pantyhose and make it easy to remove. You go through the motions as if you were going to tie a bow, where you loop the one end across the other, but stop there and don't make loops to tie a bow. Instead, go through again one more or, in my case as I do, two more times and pull the ends. You will lock the material into place, but make it very easy to take off and not have a lump behind your head if you lay on your back.

I, of all people, was amazed how this interface was the easiest to set up to not leak all night right out of the box. I do now, every now and then, just to add an extra measure of security to my night, use the pantyhose leg. It is so comfortable, no marks on your face and doesn't interfere with sleep in any way. How can you lose? I do hear what you're saying about being single and looking like HL, but most women, I don't believe, at this age, anyway, would be that concerned about a great man having to wear that to bed. It's only a problem if you wear it to bed and don't intend to go right to sleep, if you get my drift...then I think you may get them a bit worried. Could you blame them?

Good luck and don't give up. It's a wonderful thing once you get it right. And it can be made to be leak-proof. It is for me, I'm thrilled to say, and I've been using it three weeks now. My bubble has still not burst for the first time in my CPAP history.

kenrose · Post by **kenrose** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 8:59 am

sleepless
thank you. I will try all of the tweaks you and RG suggest. and I talso thank you for the delicate phrasing you used.

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 9:05 am

Adjusting the Aura

O.

ProfessorSleep · Post by **ProfessorSleep** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 9:20 am

I had problems with mine last night also. It kept moving/shifting, and I think part of the key is where the lockbox is position on my head. A little moving around of that finally fixed the problem. I do have a pair of green pantyhose tights I talked a friend into donating and may try that tonight. Should go great wth the bright orange sweatshirt strips I commandeered from the rag bin. All this technology and this is the best the biomedical engineer folks can do for us? Pantyhose, scrunchies, and mouth tape?

mikemoran · Post by **mikemoran** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 9:32 am

Maybe you just need to switch movies. With enough white pantyhose wrapped around your head you could bring an Egyption ambiance to the bedroom.

Myself I use some velcro straps from another mask.

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 9:44 am

Best way to tie "whatever" at the back of the head is with a double start knot. Lori described it well.

Pictures of how to tie a double start knot are at Ian's "shoelace" website:

www.fieggen.com/shoelace/doublestartknot.htm

I like doing that better than messing with velcro. The double start knot is easy and quick to tie. Lays absolutely flat...no "knot" under your head or neck at all.

Even though it holds securely, the double start knot is very easy to adjust during the night if it feels too tight. A little outward tug on the sides (at your cheeks) loosens it a little. A big tug outward on both sides loosens it completely for easy removal in the morning.

If you don't tie the straps to anything, they are easy to wash. Mask is easy to wash too...nothing to untie from it.

I may be wrong, but I'm beginning to think that almost EVERY mask might work better with homemade straps layed across them at strategic spots than with their own expensive headgear. I'm thinking about not using any of the aggravating headgear or straps that come with any mask! LOL!!!

Ever since I took the straps off the Ultra Mirage FF mask and had a much better fit using just a pair of unattached homemade straps (while figuring out a solution for Coach's problem in another topic) I'm about ready to toss all the straps from all my masks into a box and just go with "homemade".

The Comfort Curve may be my nemesis as far as being able to get rid of headgear, but we'll see.

I'm neither a velcro nor a clips fan. "Double start knot" rules!!

BP · Post by BP » Tue Oct 04, 2005 10:04 am

The easiest way, imo.

Just get two super cheap velcro ties. Any hardware store carries them. Wrap one around each side of the Aura cannula as low as possible, right next to each pillow. Then just stick each side of your pantyhose or whatever to each side of the velcro. Done! No knots to tie, easily adjustable for more or less tension.

Cheers,
BP

_________________

CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): Aura

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 10:26 am

That's a good idea, BP! Only problem I had, back when I was tying two halves of a cut-in-two pantyleg to each corner of the nasal pillows part, was that two separate straps down there pulled the nasal pillows a little more apart. Separated them more...side to side.

To keep the nasal pillows "together" at the nostrils while the right and left strap tension was pulling them apart, I added a velcro band up higher to snug the tubes closely against each other. Eventually I took that extra band off and quit trying to fasten the pantyhose leg in any way to the bottom corners of the nasal assembly. Draping a single "leg" over the whole nasal thing in front and tying it behind my neck kept the nasal pillows together better for me.

But, whatever works for each person is the way to go! Your method is ingenious. Very cool.

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 10:45 am

rested gal wrote:That's a good idea, BP! Only problem I had, back when I was tying two halves of a cut-in-two pantyleg to each corner of the nasal pillows part, was that two separate straps down there pulled the nasal pillows a little more apart. Separated them more...side to side.

Exactly. RG, if you remember a couple of weeks back, I had switched to my straight CPAP for the first time with the Aura and didn't realize when I used the pantyhose trick that I should have kept the leg whole. I had cut it and tied it like you just desscribed. You mentioned to do what you suggested just now with the one piece and it works much better, IMHO.

And your double knot is also perfect (surprise, surprise), only I will make a "triple" knot. I usually just give it one extra go round to make sure it won't move or come out, not that it will but I just feel more secure that way. It's still flat enough where it doesn't effect your comfort if you lay on it.

Seems like you should seriously looking into leaving the puppies behind and work for a R&D dept. of one of the companies who design masks. I'll bet with you behind the wheel, we'd get more masks that worked right out of the box. They could even use your screen name as a model name, Rested Gal Masks. Everyone on this site, at least, would know they would be guaranteed to work.

BP · Post by BP » Tue Oct 04, 2005 11:36 am

My tension is so loose that I really don't get much, if any, separation. And I like the fact that the velcro is rigid. I am a little concerned with any straps in that area, that they might cause the very soft cannula material to buckle restricting airflow. This is possible with the velcro too, but the width gives it a bit more rigidity.

Would be nice to be able to measure O2 and CO2 levels for different masks.

-BP

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 12:12 am

Despite my optimism, my night was so-so - woke up to discover that the nasal seal was pulling my nose up too much - fiddled some more, and eventually decided to try a forehead strap, which helped.

But I'm still getting leaks from the bottom side of the bottom nostril when I lie on my side....

However it feels so much more comfortable, that I'll keep on trying and the leaks are not too noisy (I have very low pressure) and don't seem to affect the therapy.

O.

Activa and Aura after one week. Aura tricks of the trade?

Activa and Aura after one week. Aura tricks of the trade?

thanks RG and Muck but.......

thanks sleepless