Amara View Mask Questions

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JoeWingrove
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Amara View Mask Questions

Post by JoeWingrove » Sun Aug 23, 2015 12:04 pm

I just recently got an Amara View Mask and had some questions for others who have been using it for a while. After the second night of use when I woke up I noticed that the area of my nose between the nostrils where it meets the face was a little sore and raw and was wondering if this was part of getting used to the new mask, I didn't notice it this morning so I am a little less concerned about it. Also I was wondering if the headgear will stretch out at all as currently I got it about as large as it will go in order to fit on me.

Currently I think the mask is an improvement over my old but will see as time goes on.

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PoolQ
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Re: Amara View Mask Questions

Post by PoolQ » Sun Aug 23, 2015 2:36 pm

Personally I noticed that this mask requires more upward, under the nose pressure than most others, this pressure is the only thing that keeps it sealed. I did not get a red spot, but it was sensitive for a couple nights-fine now.
I have already had to tighten the straps 3 times from what I think is stretching so I expect you will be fine.

FYI last night I was having a bad night and decided to switch back to my Simplus mask, that turned out to be even worst. My bad night was not caused by the Amara View-nice to know.
Sleeping MUCH better now

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ChicagoGranny
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Re: Amara View Mask Questions

Post by ChicagoGranny » Sun Aug 23, 2015 2:46 pm

JoeWingrove wrote:After the second night of use when I woke up I noticed that the area of my nose between the nostrils where it meets the face was a little sore and raw and was wondering if this was part of getting used to the new mask
Adjusting the headgear too tight or too loose can contribute to this problem. Usually I say watch the manufacturer's instructional video on adjusting the mask, but I do not see one.

Also, manage the hose so that it is not pulling on the mask.

A favored product for helping prevent and relieve soreness of this type is Lansinoh brand lanolin- http://www.target.com/p/lansinoh-hpa-la ... oC78nw_wcB

JoeWingrove
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Re: Amara View Mask Questions

Post by JoeWingrove » Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:33 am

The mask has been fitting better but I have noticed that some nights as the pressure gets higher in the middle of the night I will notice that while it was fitting fine it tends to leak more then my last mask and was wondering if there was any suggestions on how to tighten it to prevent that but not be to tight at the start of the night.

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Pugsy
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Re: Amara View Mask Questions

Post by Pugsy » Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:38 am

JoeWingrove wrote:any suggestions on how to tighten it to prevent that but not be to tight at the start of the night.
If you are using a wide range of pressures and you fit to the lower range at the beginning of the night that might be affecting things when you might be using higher pressures later in the night.
You might confirm what is happening by looking at the leak/pressure graphs.
So maybe if that is what is happening...try fitting at the beginning of the night at the higher pressure and not lower pressure.
If that's not what is happening..it may simply be facial oils and moisture making it harder to keep a good seal...so maybe a mask liner or something????

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PoolQ
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Re: Amara View Mask Questions

Post by PoolQ » Sun Aug 30, 2015 12:16 pm

I don't know if the Amara View is more sensitive than others or not, but keeping the facial oils off the sealing surface of it is quite important with higher pressure. This mask, perhaps like others, uses a combination of strap pressure and silicon "stick" to the face to prevent leaks. The pressure pushes against the silicon like a balloon, if the silicon can slip against your face it will balloon out until the edge breaks the seal and then bingo a good sized leak that I have found does not recover without repositioning the mask.

When I run my finger along the seal area, if it is slippery then it needs to be cleaned/wiped, if it drags the silicon along with the finger then I am good to go.
Sleeping MUCH better now

JoeWingrove
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Re: Amara View Mask Questions

Post by JoeWingrove » Sun Aug 30, 2015 12:45 pm

Pugsy wrote:
JoeWingrove wrote:any suggestions on how to tighten it to prevent that but not be to tight at the start of the night.
If you are using a wide range of pressures and you fit to the lower range at the beginning of the night that might be affecting things when you might be using higher pressures later in the night.
You might confirm what is happening by looking at the leak/pressure graphs.
So maybe if that is what is happening...try fitting at the beginning of the night at the higher pressure and not lower pressure.
If that's not what is happening..it may simply be facial oils and moisture making it harder to keep a good seal...so maybe a mask liner or something????

Looking at my data for the last 30 days I have an average pressure of 8.18, Min pressure of 6 (ramp is set to 6 and starting is set to 7) max pressure of 17 and 90% pressure of 10.5 and from looking at the graphs from when I got my new mask the issue seems to happen when pressure spikes to 14+. As for the oils I have been fairly good about cleaning this mask daily so the only oils on it should be from that night only.

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JoeWingrove
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Re: Amara View Mask Questions

Post by JoeWingrove » Sun Aug 30, 2015 12:46 pm

PoolQ wrote:I don't know if the Amara View is more sensitive than others or not, but keeping the facial oils off the sealing surface of it is quite important with higher pressure. This mask, perhaps like others, uses a combination of strap pressure and silicon "stick" to the face to prevent leaks. The pressure pushes against the silicon like a balloon, if the silicon can slip against your face it will balloon out until the edge breaks the seal and then bingo a good sized leak that I have found does not recover without repositioning the mask.

When I run my finger along the seal area, if it is slippery then it needs to be cleaned/wiped, if it drags the silicon along with the finger then I am good to go.

This is something I didn't really consider, my last (first and only other mask) was a gel mask so how the mask is sealing on my face is different though I have been cleaning it with baby wipes daily.

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Pugsy
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Re: Amara View Mask Questions

Post by Pugsy » Sun Aug 30, 2015 12:59 pm

Are you seeing real excess leak at those pressures around 14 or are you seeing normal increase in the total leak line due to the higher pressure?
What software are you using? If it is Sleepyhead you see 2 leak line graphs and the top leak line is the total leak which is any excess leak plus the normal vent/intentional leak.
Intentional/vent leak increases as the pressure increases and we expect that leak line to go up as the pressure goes up and it doesn't necessarily mean a lot of excess leak.

So...are you seeing large leak flags (probably up around 90 L/min total leak reporting is where large leak territory is on your machine) or are you seeing just normal increase in that leak line due to pressure increases?
It's important to understand what you see because sometimes people worry about leaks when there is not need to worry.

Now any leak that disturbs sleep needs to be worked on due to it messing with overall sleep quality but not all "bigger" leak numbers mean that the leaks are needing work...especially when it comes to Respironics machines due to the way they report leaks. Respironics users can't compare their leak numbers to ResMed machine numbers because the leak is reported differently.

Are you seeing any time actually with a large leak flag? If you are...how much time?

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JoeWingrove
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Re: Amara View Mask Questions

Post by JoeWingrove » Sun Aug 30, 2015 1:06 pm

Pugsy wrote:Are you seeing real excess leak at those pressures around 14 or are you seeing normal increase in the total leak line due to the higher pressure?
What software are you using? If it is Sleepyhead you see 2 leak line graphs and the top leak line is the total leak which is any excess leak plus the normal vent/intentional leak.
Intentional/vent leak increases as the pressure increases and we expect that leak line to go up as the pressure goes up and it doesn't necessarily mean a lot of excess leak.

So...are you seeing large leak flags (probably up around 90 L/min total leak reporting is where large leak territory is on your machine) or are you seeing just normal increase in that leak line due to pressure increases?
It's important to understand what you see because sometimes people worry about leaks when there is not need to worry.

Now any leak that disturbs sleep needs to be worked on due to it messing with overall sleep quality but not all "bigger" leak numbers mean that the leaks are needing work...especially when it comes to Respironics machines due to the way they report leaks. Respironics users can't compare their leak numbers to ResMed machine numbers because the leak is reported differently.

Are you seeing any time actually with a large leak flag? If you are...how much time?

According to sleepyhead the leakrates are not getting that high but that could also be because I hit the ramp button shortly after if it wakes me from the noise and airflow hitting my face. It is not the overall leakrate that but the noise that can wake me and keep me from falling back to sleep.

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Re: Amara View Mask Questions

Post by Pugsy » Sun Aug 30, 2015 1:14 pm

You know if it's only when things get up around 14 cm that the problem occurs and you don't spend all that much time up there or urgently need to be up there you might try simply reducing the maximum and not letting the machine get that high.
Watch the software reports and unless you see a large influx of events with the pressure not allowed to go as high as it goes get flagged that aren't happening otherwise...might be a worthwhile compromise.

Like if you don't usually have a problem at 12 cm...maybe limit the max to 12 and see what the reports show when the max is hit.

Also another way to maybe keep the machine from going as high is simply starting out with a little more minimum pressure. Sometimes (can't guarantee it happens all the time) when the minimum is a little more optimally set then the machine won't need to go as high so a byproduct of a little more minimum is sometimes less pressure in the higher range.

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