Do You Alternate Between Masks?

Sheepish wrote:I get the feeling, maybe unfounded, that nasal pillows will enlarge my nostrils over time

I have been using nothing but a nasal pillow mask in over 8 years and my nostrils haven't enlarged. I still take the same size nasal pillow as I did 8 plus years ago. The key is that they rest GENTLY against the nostrils. They don't need to be inside the nostril at all to seal.
Take a nasal pillow all by itself and place it gently against the nostril...that's how gentle it should rest with the straps.

Sheepish wrote:- will definitely need some cheek pads because of crease marks

Yep. Sounds like you are like I am....least little thing creates a "scar"...for me even a wrinkle on the pillow case.
That's why I am such a big fan of Karen's products at padacheek.com.

And yes...I like the over the head part of the DreamWear too but I talked to someone yesterday who hated it.. Go figure.
That's why we say "one man's treasure is another man's trash".

All these masks have pros and cons..all of them..I haven't found one yet (and I have tried dozens) that is 100% pro with no cons.
Each of us has our own set of personal preferences and needs...and my pro might be someone else's con.

What we have to figure out is which one has list where the "pros" outweighs the "cons" in terms of meeting our own personal preferences and needs the best. We can get input from other people's preferences and needs but ultimately we have to try a mask for ourselves to see just how well it fits our own personal preferences list.
Once of my personal preferences is the "less on my face and head" thing. When we have "less" we usually have to give up something...for me it is stability but I am okay with that because the rare times that I get much mask movement is worth it to me with the all the time "less on my face" thing. Someone else might not mind so much the larger footprint on the face and head but have it really bug them if the mask moves around a bit. Least little movement wakes them up type of thing. In that situation stability is a huge preference for them.

At some point you might look at the Tap Pap if your teeth will permit it...no headgear. Uses a mouth guard for stability of the pillows. Those suckers don't move.
I used it for over a year until the P10 was released. Still have it and keep thinking I need to revisit it but too lazy to refit the mouth guard.
About the time the P10 was released I had a lower back molar (not even touching the mouth guard) have a 30 yr old filling decide to give way and need a crown. So while fixing it I was using the P10 and never got back to the Tap Pap to refit the mouth guard.
I got to the point with the mouth guard that it simply disappeared. I would wake up in the AM and be so comfortable breathing that I wouldn't even notice the pillows or the mouth guard. It was like I wasn't using anything at all.

Pugsy wrote:

Sheepish wrote:I get the feeling, maybe unfounded, that nasal pillows will enlarge my nostrils over time

I have been using nothing but a nasal pillow mask in over 8 years and my nostrils haven't enlarged. I still take the same size nasal pillow as I did 8 plus years ago. The key is that they rest GENTLY against the nostrils. They don't need to be inside the nostril at all to seal.
Take a nasal pillow all by itself and place it gently against the nostril...that's how gentle it should rest with the straps.

Sheepish wrote:- will definitely need some cheek pads because of crease marks

Yep. Sounds like you are like I am....least little thing creates a "scar"...for me even a wrinkle on the pillow case.
That's why I am such a big fan of Karen's products at padacheek.com.

And yes...I like the over the head part of the DreamWear too but I talked to someone yesterday who hated it.. Go figure.
That's why we say "one man's treasure is another man's trash".

All these masks have pros and cons..all of them..I haven't found one yet (and I have tried dozens) that is 100% pro with no cons.
Each of us has our own set of personal preferences and needs...and my pro might be someone else's con.

What we have to figure out is which one has list where the "pros" outweighs the "cons" in terms of meeting our own personal preferences and needs the best. We can get input from other people's preferences and needs but ultimately we have to try a mask for ourselves to see just how well it fits our own personal preferences list.
Once of my personal preferences is the "less on my face and head" thing. When we have "less" we usually have to give up something...for me it is stability but I am okay with that because the rare times that I get much mask movement is worth it to me with the all the time "less on my face" thing. Someone else might not mind so much the larger footprint on the face and head but have it really bug them if the mask moves around a bit. Least little movement wakes them up type of thing. In that situation stability is a huge preference for them.

At some point you might look at the Tap Pap if your teeth will permit it...no headgear. Uses a mouth guard for stability of the pillows. Those suckers don't move.
I used it for over a year until the P10 was released. Still have it and keep thinking I need to revisit it but too lazy to refit the mouth guard.
About the time the P10 was released I had a lower back molar (not even touching the mouth guard) have a 30 yr old filling decide to give way and need a crown. So while fixing it I was using the P10 and never got back to the Tap Pap to refit the mouth guard.
I got to the point with the mouth guard that it simply disappeared. I would wake up in the AM and be so comfortable breathing that I wouldn't even notice the pillows or the mouth guard. It was like I wasn't using anything at all.

Good to know about nostrils not enlarging with prolonged nasal pillow use. Eight years toward the betterment of the knowledge of humankind -- thank you for your service.

I'm intrigued by the Tap Pap. The idea of sleeping with a mouthguard gives me pause , but on the other hand not so long ago if you had told me I'd go to sleep every night hooked up to some Rube Goldberg contraption, I would have said, "Wha--aat?!" But of course no headgear means no cheek creasing, right?

I'm on my fourth mask, though, now, all out of pocket, so although I figured I'd experiment with different masks relatively early into my CPAP experience before I become too set in my ways and resistant to change, I think I'll give it a pause before placing yet another order. Unlike this forum's sponsor which has a 30-day return policy, no such largess is shown by Canadian distributors, sadly, whose policy is essentially "your try it, you buy it."

I'm currently running a trial on the two masks I have: my tried and true P10 which had been the only mask I'd ever needed, and the F&P Eson that I received nearly new along with the Craigslist S9 I bought this summer.

I LOVE my P10, the fact that it's nearly silent, very unobtrusive, and that the short hose makes it very comfortable for my roly-poly sleep style. I also have never had an AHI >1.3 in the 3 years I've been using it. I do not, however, like that I usually wake in the night because the headgear has slipped in such a way that it feels like the mask will fall off my nose. I'm not sure if this is related to my current hair style (I'm growing it out and it's mid-length -- not long enough for a comfortable pony/braid) or the fact that I sleep with a satin pillowcase, but I noticed when I tried the Eson I didn't have this problem.

The Eson headgear feels rock solid on my head, no slipping and yet *not* overly tight, the vent is diffused enough with the filter to be comparable in noise level to my P10, and it's still relatively comfortable to sleep with despite the slimline hose wrap that makes my hose a bit more rigid. That said, I still find I have slight lines on my cheeks in the morning, I sometimes feel like the (brand new) cushion leaks around the bridge of my nose causing a slightly dry eye, and my AHI has never been BELOW 1.3 (but still never greater than 2).

I'll give it a couple more weeks with the Eson before I decide, tho. Sometimes change is good...

RicaLynn wrote:I sleep with a satin pillowcase, but I noticed when I tried the Eson I didn't have this problem.

The ESON headgear is definitely more stable...but there is more of it so I would expect it to be more stable.
The only downside to the P10 is that back strap wanting to crawl up the back of my head but it doesn't happen enough for me to want to give it up. Certainly not for the ESON which I have no desire to wear that headgear. Remember one of my preferences...less on my face and head.

At any rate...do you have a cotton pillow case you could use one night or two with the P10 when/if you go back to it?
I have slept on satin sheets...I swear I would slide out of the bed if I got close to the edge.
Maybe it's a combination of that known weak area in the P10 design and the satin making it crawl up the back of your head too often.

That's what I'm thinking, Pugsy -- I don't recall ever having a problem with the P10 headgear until I a) grew out my pixie cut and b) switched to the satin pillowcase. So I'll start with switching back and see if that helps...

RicaLynn wrote:That's what I'm thinking, Pugsy -- I don't recall ever having a problem with the P10 headgear until I a) grew out my pixie cut and b) switched to the satin pillowcase. So I'll start with switching back and see if that helps...

Worth checking out.
There another potential reason for some people who find that the back strap won't stay down and I don't know how to fix it barring some extraordinary measures that I can't think of what to try.
Some people simply have a flatter skull in the back and there is also a bony protuberance at the base of the skull that sticks out further in some people and not far at all in some people. It's called the external occipital protuberance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/External_ ... otuberance.

It acts as a barrier to the strap sliding upwards when the back strap is positioned below the protuberance (which is how I wear the P10 back strap). While it doesn't always prevent the sliding upwards I think it slows it down and for me the few times it slides up really isn't worth worrying about....for me...maybe once in a week or more.

If a person tends to have a flatter skull in the back....the strap doesn't have much to hinder the slide upwards.
If a person doesn't have a very large occipital protuberance there's not much there to help keep that strap lower.
If someone drew a really short straw with both...they are going to have problems with that back strap.
No mask is ever 100% perfect...or I haven't found one yet and I have tried a large number of nasal pillow masks.
There's always some little something that could maybe be a little "better".
I will say this though...I have woke up in the morning and that back strap is up on top of my head right next to the top strap and the pillows are still well seated in the nostrils. They could have dislodged but they didn't. Why? Dunno but they were stuck in place and I have never worn any mask very tight. Disgustingly loose would better describe the tension I use.

Sheepish wrote:I'm about this close to pulling the trigger on a Dreamwear Nasal Mask. I'm just waiting for a confirmation from a vendor whether it comes with soft fleece cheek wraps included or if I have to get my own from you know where. I've heard good things about it and I'd like to put it into my rotation.

By the way, it would be nice if the perhaps soon to be updated forum software let us enter more than one mask in our equipment signatures.

If it helps, mine was retail packaged and did come with the cheek pads.

tomkatt wrote:

Sheepish wrote:I'm about this close to pulling the trigger on a Dreamwear Nasal Mask. I'm just waiting for a confirmation from a vendor whether it comes with soft fleece cheek wraps included or if I have to get my own from you know where. I've heard good things about it and I'd like to put it into my rotation.

By the way, it would be nice if the perhaps soon to be updated forum software let us enter more than one mask in our equipment signatures.

If it helps, mine was retail packaged and did come with the cheek pads.

Thanks, indeed mine also came with the fleece wraps. It still left a bit of a reddish pressure mark, though. Not terrible, but it did take an hour or so to go away, right about after shower time, which I think helped. I don't know if it would keep going away that quickly after a few months continual use. That's what started to happen with my Pico mask after a while, and what launched me on my quest to try out some different masks.