Trying a liberty hybrid

[Lou Cypher]

I am having problems getting the mask to seal.....

I am trying this because after years I have begun to mouth breath every night.

It seems very difficult for me to get it to seal the liberty and when I do, if I move at all it begins to leak again........

I don't want to tighten it so tight that it is smashed against my face....

It seems to leak the most when I breath out, if I can get that to seal then if I move it leaks in other places...

I finally gave up and went back to my fx last night and tried tape... That seemed to work ok but I am worried about using the tape nightly as I have sensitive skin..

Any suggestions on sealing the Liberty or should I just try a full face mask.....

[DocWeezy]

I tried the Liberty and couldn't get it to seal either...

Try a Hybrid if you want that type of mask. And don't be afraid to cut the chin flap off the Hybrid if it is more comfortable--I do. I also use elastic to hold the nose pillow in. Now it's stable and comfortable. There are threads in here with pictures on how some folks have modified their Hybrids.

One of the nicest things about the Hybrid is that it comes with three sizes of mouth pieces and three sizes of nose pillows that you can mix and match. Try them all! According to the fitting directions, I should use a small, but the medium is more comfortable so I use that.

Weezy

[Muse-Inc]

Here's some fixes that might help:wiki/index.php/Hybrid_Mask_Modifications

I, too, could not get the Liberty to seal, so I wear the Hybrid.

[rubymom]

where, exactly, is it not sealing?

[Lou Cypher]

where, exactly, is it not sealing?

Well for me the worst place was the right side of the mouth piece.

Even when I finally got it to seal, I couldn't move my head or it would leak again... In the beginning I thought I had it sealed but every time I exhaled it would leak same place.....

I am going to try the hybrid and see how that works out....

[sleepyb]

Are you using the large or small mouth cushion?
If you are using the large one, try the small cushion. It seems the large one does not have enough of a curve to it making it leak out the sides (at least for me).

[ohammersmith]

If I understand you correctly, you're saying if you tilt your head left the right side of the mask un-seals a bit a and leaks toward your ear?

I find the "fix" for that leak is to make sure the headgear is seated around my head well enough and then carefully tighten as much as I can while the mouth pillow is still inflated.

Also maybe try a CPAP pillow? I haven't gotten to that point, yet, but in my experiments, not having a pillow to push on my face when I tilt would have kept the leak from happening at all.

I'm trying a new fix for my "bottom lip slips out" problem tonight, that could very well help that leak too.

[Lou Cypher]

Are you using the large or small mouth cushion?
If you are using the large one, try the small cushion. It seems the large one does not have enough of a curve to it making it leak out the sides (at least for me).

I just checked and you are right it is the large mouth cushion..... I have this mask on trial from sleep nation TV and although I have a bag with all kinds of stuff for the mask in it, I don't have the small cushion to swap out and try..

[sleepyb]

Thought of something, When I had the large cushion I found that if I opened my mouth a little my cheeks would inflate a little and the leaking would stop.

[rested gal]

I finally gave up and went back to my fx last night and tried tape... That seemed to work ok but I am worried about using the tape nightly as I have sensitive skin..

Lou, perhaps this suggestion from birdshell might help, for the nights you decide to use tape:

viewtopic.php?p=345797#p345797

birdshell wrote:

"Another tip, which is probably buried in the links: smear some milk of magnesia on your skin, allow it to dry, and then tape over it. This old RN's trick helps to protect the skin while maintaining enough tack to do the job. Skim milk reportedly works well, too."