Let Leaks IN?

DME guy mentioned if I'm not getting enough air, I could loosen chin straps on FFM and let a tiny bit in, as long as I don't wake up feeling bloated.

I've seen so many here go to lengths to SEAL their masks, with liners etc...

What do you think about his advice? Are we anal about stopping leaks? Aren't some leaks normal during different parts of the night?

The DME was wrong. If you don't feel you're getting enough air the thing to do is (normally) raise your lower pressure setting by 1-2 cm and/or look for possible other problems on Sleepyhead, not create leaks! If you're experiencing bloating, some people find lowering the setting by 1-2 helps, but there are other fixes as well - do a search on the forum for 'aerophagia' for lots of info there.

Julie wrote:The DME was wrong. If you don't feel you're getting enough air the thing to do is (normally) raise your lower pressure setting by 1-2 cm and/or looking for possible other problems on Sleepyhead, not create leaks! If you're experiencing bloating, some people find lowering the setting by 1-2 helps, but there are other fixes as well - do a search on the forum for 'aerophagia' for lots of info there.

Thanks Julie! Think I'll set it at 6.5 and see how that goes for tonight

Sometimes posters will make erroneous statements.
They usually mean well, but sometimes they are full of crap. {{{been there}}}

Hopefullady wrote: What do you think about his advice?

I am having trouble finding the right words to express what I think that might be suitable for public reading. My potty mouth would likely get me into trouble.
Let's just say if that guy told me the sun rose in the East and set in the West I would go outside to verify.
That's the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard and I have heard some doozies.

Maybe he's thinking of awake comfort though and you wouldn't be doing that while asleep but there is a better way to get more comfort...just increase the incoming air pressure a little.

Hopefullady wrote: Are we anal about stopping leaks?

Some people are a bit anal but as a whole I don't think we are. I don't panic if leak line isn't perfectly flat but I sure wouldn't knowingly do something that could affect therapy and very possibly overall sleep quality.
Having more leaks (even small ones that might not really impact therapy that much) will increase the chance of having awakenings/arousals from the leaks themselves and that sure isn't something we want to increase the risk of having.
Anything that causes awakenings is unwanted...even a tiny leak because it messes with sleep architecture even if it doesn't negatively impact the actual therapy that much.

Hopefullady wrote:Aren't some leaks normal during different parts of the night?

Yes...and no....There's the intentional vent rate from the mask that is what we call intentional leak.
Your machine includes that leak in the total leak numbers unlike a ResMed machine which subtracts the vent rate before reporting leak (BTW ResMed is the only machine that I know of that does this).
So even if you had 0 excess leak your leak numbers will reflect the venting intentional leak.

Some people have no excess leak though...some people have short periods of time where there is some excess leak...some people have prolonged periods of large excess leak and those people are at greater risk of having the therapy compromised (as well as sleep quality).
I let a little big leak slide as long as I sleep well and leaks don't wake me up and I feel decent during the day.
For me I could do some things that would guarantee that I have a perfectly flat 0.0 excess leak line but for me doing those things would impact my overall sleep quality worse than letting a little leak slide.
Having a perfect 0.0 excess leak means nothing if I wake up 30 times a night fiddling with something. I can guarantee that I would feel like crap despite 0.0 leak and even 0.0 AHI.
My goal is decent sleep quality and feel decent during the day...my goal is NOT having a perfect math score.

I tried the Amara View FFM last night...will be reporting on it and the leaks I had with it in a little bit when I have time to compose my thoughts.
Landmark event...slept with a full face mask all night last night which is the first time in over 6 years that I have done that. Only other time was right after I started cpap therapy and used the Innomed Hybrid one night. My leaks weren't perfect and I did wake up a few times with the leaks or maybe it was just because it was a new mask. At least I know it wasn't mouth breathing leaks. Report to follow once I have some time to compose my thoughts.