SIZE DOES MATTER! (Mask)

[torontoCPAPguy]

My wife was recently diagnosed by a buffoon as having a very complex case of OSA. Sic. Multiple sleep studies and he prescribed a nose bag and an S9 Elite (rather that the APAP that we asked for ... nay, PLEADED for). I was diagnosed in 2009 and went through the same BS, finally buying my S9 Auto out of my own pocket and a spare to boot. Let me tell you that the government in Canada (Ontario) is being ripped off royally. We were asked, for instance, for $350 plus taxes for a simply Quattro full face mask. Paid $89 online stateside and no taxes on medical gear.

Let's make a long story short. I bought my wife some MED size Quattro FFM's and from the data put out by the S9 Elite immediately saw that it was not working for her... it was leaking on and off all night. Simple resolution. We ordered a couple of SMALL sized Quattro full face masks and they arrived yesterday. Last night we hooked one up. This morning here AHI had come down from about 60+ to 5. Now we are going to substitute an S9 AUTO (my spare) and remove her S9 ELITE and use it as a backup or sell it. I am hoping and expecting that her AHI will drop close to zero as mine did.

Does size matter? You betcha it does. The mask size is critical for a good seal and accurate data feedback. Remember this when you are forking out hard earned money and getting poor results. There are loads of gimmicks out there for we mouth breathers or those of us that suffer from allergies and mouth breath. Best solution is to forget about the tape, wearing panty hose on your head, etc. and get yourself a wonderful mask like the Mirage Quattro FFM. THE RIGHT SIZE. It is comfy. It will maintain a good solid seal once adjusted and when you get used to it. And IMHO? Either find yourself a GOOD sleep doc or titrate the pressure yourself using the data from the blower.

Good luck...it will eventually hit the 'sweet spot' and work like a charm.

TorontoCPAPGuy

[palerider]

ya know, there's a reason they make sizing guides for FFMs.

[torontoCPAPguy]

Used the sizing guide and still came out wrong. Tried a LARGE we had on hand and it was obviously too large but not by much. The sizing guide suggested MEDIUM as most appropriate so we tried that out and had intermittend leakage and no solid seal. Went to SMALL and it was just like the three little bears: not too big, not too small, juuuuuust right. And amazing things started to happen right away, just like they did with my Mirage Quattro FFM in LARGE. The issues with a solid all-night seal now revolve around support of the head... going to try a CPAP pillow or building a CPAP pillow that does not smoosh the mask and break the seal periodically. Almost there. Huge difference in quality of sleep through the night but I also suspect some centrals likely caused by medication. We WILL get there. Thanks for your input.

[VikingGnome]

I know you already shelled out the money for Quattro. I just got the new ResMed AirFit F10 For Her full face mask. I love this mask. It is very light weight, unobtrusive, maintains a good seal all night at 22/18 pressure. So the Quattro isn't totally satisfactory, get the AirFit F10. It is wonderful and works great for me and my hard-to-fit face.

I am curious that AHI DROPPED with less leaks and was very high with lots of leaks. My experience has been that the more the mask leaks, the lower the AHI. The apnea/hypopnea detector has trouble recognizing events with high rate of leakage. Once mask leaking is under control, I normally see AHI go up because the machine is finally able to detect events.

Recently saw my sleep doc and my 3-month AHI was 0.6. She thought that was wonderful. Then I told her that my mask was leaking like a sieve and that the AHI that low was far from accurate. Once mask leakage was solved with change of mask my AHI averages 2.5. So extreme mask leaking can give you very misleading data.