Another Nasal Aire II modification

I've been trying the NA II and it's the best mask for me so far. I first tried the clever Topaz chinstrap modification of Babette. But that chinstrap was bothering my TMJ and was not helping my rosacea either, so I wanted to try the headband version that comes with the mask since there is nothing on your cheeks. In fact, nothing touching your face except for the headband across your forehead and the prongs. Two problems: It didn't seem stable enough, and the hose over my ear pressed into my head in an uncomfortable way.

To stabilize it I added an extra velcro loop and also wrapped the velcro loops around the band instead of just having them stick to it like the original. (Using the double sided Velcro Babette introduced us to with the chinstrap mod). The light colored velcro loop is the additional one. It looks sloppy because this isn't the loop I actually cut, it just showed up better in the photo so I used it.

To help with the hose pressing into my head, I added two removeable shoulderpads. These shoulderpads (light gray in the photo) already had a velcro piece in place so I just stuck them on. (What can I say, it's another cpap fashion statement I don't use these shoulderpads in clothing anymore since it looks passe ). Here's a photo showing the modifications.

I'm really loving this mask. I used the prongs without any ayr-gel last night, and my nares are not sore at all.



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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): hose, CPAP

Nice one.
Very cool.
Nice and simple.

You can make the tubing a pony tail over your head, too, which I like better for tossing and turning.
The ways to wear these things are unlimited.

Woo Hoo! Looks Great, Rose! If I didn't need the chinstrap, this is definitely the way I'd go!

Do add this to the Red Faq's under the NAII links.

Cheers,
B.

Okay, I just posted this to the Red FAQ list.
Barbara

Babette wrote:Okay, I just posted this to the Red FAQ list.
Barbara

Thanks. I didn't know you could do that. As I recover my brain, I see all kinds of things I couldn't figure out before .

Me too! I've only just figured it out. I foofed with my NAII tip sheet today, so I could go in and edit it easier and point people to it faster.

BTW, you're on my tip sheet. Twice.
B.

How neat, Rosemary! Shoulder pads!!

You already earned a Lab Rat trophy for your Bravo fix
viewtopic.php?t=22330

Now here's a plaque to hang beside the trophy...for this cool fix.
Congrats!

Thanks Rested Gal! It was said elsewhere that this is an underrated mask, and I agree, so I hope this can help others who might be trying it.

Rosemary, I tried your idea last night and it was amazing how much stability it added to it. I use it in the poneytail configuration and I did away with the over the head strap. All it seemed to do was to pull it off the top of my head. In fact I used the parts of the over the head strap to make the tie loops. Thanks for the idea.

Jerry

6PtStar wrote:Rosemary, I tried your idea last night and it was amazing how much stability it added to it. I use it in the poneytail configuration and I did away with the over the head strap. All it seemed to do was to pull it off the top of my head. In fact I used the parts of the over the head strap to make the tie loops. Thanks for the idea.

Jerry

Hi Jerry, I'm glad you found it helpful. I found it quite a bit more stable, too with that second strap, although the "hose in front" seems to make it even more stable for me. However, I'd rather have it over my head so I might try the ponytail configuration, and see if it's stable enough.

I sometimes wake up an hour or so before the alarm for a bathroom break, so when I did last night, I took off the overhead strap. It seemed to slide around more for me, but I think that's because I'm using the shoulderpads and they go over my ears, so the strap cannot be stabilized by the ears like they would otherwise.

I thought about the shoulder pads but my wife would not let me have any of hers! I was just getting over asking for a leg off her panty hose.