Swift FX Pillows Maintenance

[caffeinatedcfo]

Seems my replacement swift fx nasal pillows are only lasting about two weeks??!

I wash them daily with Ivory Original Soap and hot water. However, they start leaking mid-way through the night. Not beyond therapy limits, but enough to double my AHI (1.5 - 2.4 vs. .2 - .7). When I throw in a new one, my leaks are more controlled and AHI returns to normal for a couple weeks.

I is A/C season where I live; could temperature flux affect the pillows more as they begin to wear down?

[Kitatonic]

How to you rinse the soap off? Now, I decreased the tap water temperature to lukewarm, not hot like before, and do a finishing rinse with the leftover distilled water since our tap water is very hard. This new process maintains the pillows a few more weeks. Also, per Pugsy's suggestion, I rotate my pillows, allowing for full drying time between use.

[Pugsy]

Are you using any Lansinoh ointment? If not, maybe not so daily washing will increase longevity.
Also..next time you try a new one...let the old one sit for a couple of weeks and then try it again later. I found that sometimes the sitting seemed to bring some added life back into them.

Though there may be a reason why insurance normally allows 2 nasal pillow cushions per month. You aren't the first to say they can only get 2 weeks of life out of them. I know of a couple who say they only get a week.
I don't know why unless it is cleaning regiment and maybe a person's own facial oils.

I usually wash my nasal pillows once a week. Back when I was using the Swift FX I typically had 3 sets that I kept in rotation.
Once a week wash the used one and set it aside, put on a previously washed one that had been sitting for a couple of weeks and then wash that one and put the last one in the rotation on...then start all over again. I typically got 6 months of use or more out of 3 nasal pillows. I don't use the Lansinoh anymore though (that would of course require daily washings to remove it).
Even with my Tap Pap though...haven't been rotating them at all and I am still using the same set that I started therapy with back the first of March. I still just wash about once a week or when the mood strikes me.
Unless the nose is drippy and the nasal pillows yucky...there really isn't a great need to wash daily unless it just freaks a person out.

When I first started therapy I did do the daily washing thing for the nasal pillows but that got old real fast so even back when I was using the Swift LT (my first mask) I got into the rotation habit and the nasal pillows lasted much, much longer. Most often getting tossed for general yellowing from age than anything else.

[pootsie]

Thanks for reminding me--time to wash!

So far I am still using the pillow I got at the end of May with no problem. I must be lucky. I hope everyone else has success as well!

[tooter]

Could that daily washing cause them to wear out faster? I've never used pillows but my Quattro cushion lasts a long time and I rarely wash it...just use baby wipes.

[Slartybartfast]

That's what I'm sort of wondering. I've had my Swift FX for almost 3 years and am on the original pillows. I don't use it every night, alternating between it, and my Opus 360 and an Aloha, whichever one seems to feel right, and I've never had any problem with the pillows on any of them. They're all the same ones they came with. And I seldom wash them. Maybe a couple times/year. Maybe.

[chunkyfrog]

Does daily washing wear them out? In a word, yes.
I came to that conclusion about 3 years ago on vacation.
I started using unscented baby wipes during the week and washing them on the weekend--
with unscented dish detergent and rinsing with distilled water. This helped a lot.

[JamesAllen828]

If you can handle it use white vinegar and water to disinfect weekly and it should cut down on the everyday wash wear and tear.

[robysue]

My insurance company will pay for a pair of pillows once every six months.

And it's tough to make them last that long. Real tough.

When I was starting out, I was diligent about cleaning the pillows every day. I use a vinegar-water mix to soak the pillows. And I found that the pillows usually started to wear very, very badly by the end of one month and sometimes two weeks. I begged a lot of extra pillows from my DME back in those days.

At some point I got much more lax about washing the pillows. I'm not a morning person and the last thing I want to do is clean Kaa stuff when I get up. I try to remember to wash them once a week now. And they do seem to last longer. I get maybe two or three months out of a pair before the inner cone starts to collapse on me. Sometimes I even get four or five months. But not six. Not yet.

And if I had my druthers, I really would wash the pillows a bit more frequently. Maybe not every day. But after about 3 nights, they just start to smell funny and by the third night, the pillow cozy is definitely not smelling or feeling so fresh and clean anymore---particularly if I've had some problems with either rainout or drool. Drool is more common and worse than rainout in terms of making the cozy not feel so nice .... I've even thought of changing cozies between pillow washings, but that somehow seems "wrong" to me ... But right now, I'm simply too lazy to clean the Kaa stuff more than once a week or even every other week.

[Stormynights]

I use water only on a damp microfiber cloth for my daily cleaning. It seems to work really well for me. I clean my glasses with water and a microfiber cloth so I figured I would try this on my masks. I just rub them very gently across the damp cloth.

[RogerSC]

I use water only on a damp microfiber cloth for my daily cleaning. It seems to work really well for me. I clean my glasses with water and a microfiber cloth so I figured I would try this on my masks. I just rub them very gently across the damp cloth.

Same here, just use warm water on a soft cloth, and then dry them with the same soft cloth every day, keeps the leaks down. They last a long time for me, hopefully you'll find a way that will work better for you...I've never washed them with soap every day, just once a week. The daily wipe is only a concession to preventing leaks.

[mrsbongo1]

My pillows are lasting about the same, 2 weeks. After about 1week I put plumber O-rings on the barrels, it seems to help a bit as they start to collapse. I tried the Pad a cheek cozie, seemed like I had more leaks. I wash daily....germaphobe LOL
So lucky to have great insurance.

[Kenwood]

I'm changing my Swift FX pillows today after using em for 30 days. I switch between the Swift FX and the Aloha masks occasionally, but I like the Bella Loops for the no head gear feel. But I can easily get 6+ weeks from my Aloha pillows - they just seem more firmer and the ball joint helps too. I've tried finding the "O-rings" at Home Depot once before buy no luck yet.

Tried finding: Size OD 13/16 by ID 9/16 by 1/8. Danco #93 (found these dimensions here on the forums)

[HoseCrusher]

I am on the longer side of this. I just retired one that I had been using for a year. I did not notice any difference with the new pillows.

I wipe and disinfect daily and clean roughly weekly. Cleaning involves putting a pan of water on the burner with it set to low, adding a drop of dish soap, dropping the pillows in and letting this come to a boil. I then dump the water and add new water with some baking soda in it and repeat the process. The boiling water seems to remove the facial oils and restore the firmness to the pillows.

[caffeinatedcfo]

I have been alternating between two pillows every day to give the washed one an extra day to dry out. This seems to be working out better. Thanks for the suggestions.