Swift FX Headgear

Is there a way to rig the headgear on the Swift FX so it stays on my head? It tends to slip off at night. I love this mask, so I want to see what I can do to get it to stay on. I have tried tightening the straps, that does no good, just irritates my nose as the mask is too tight.

My Ruby Red chin strap goes on after the mask head gear and holds it in place, but you might not want to go that far if you don't have a mouth breathing problem. Works great for me.

Is it the back strap that is wanting to slide up? That was/is common for a lot of people.
If you have hair (some guys don't) you might try adding a bit of velcro to the back strap so that the loops on the velcro grab the hair and help keep that back strap in place.

Have you tried the new AirFit P10? It is a lot like the Swift FX and its back strap doesn't seem to want to slide around as much.
I have used both the Swift FX and the AirFit..and the AirFit sometimes that back strap slides up but for me not nearly as much as the Swift FX did/does. Might be an option to try if you haven't tried it.

Pugsy wrote:Have you tried the new AirFit P10? It is a lot like the Swift FX and its back strap doesn't seem to want to slide around as much. I have used both the Swift FX and the AirFit..and the AirFit sometimes that back strap slides up but for me not nearly as much as the Swift FX did/does. Might be an option to try if you haven't tried it.

My only prob with the Airfit is that the back strap slides up and moves the nose piece out of place -- which wakes me up! Except for the velcro which pulls my hair when taking it off in the morning, has anyone made other suggestions? I don't remember seeing them. I find this strange since after a month the Airfit is still kind of tight. Still the best mask yet tho.

ems wrote:My only prob with the Airfit is that the back strap slides up and moves the nose piece out of place -- which wakes me up! Except for the velcro which pulls my hair when taking it off in the morning, has anyone made other suggestions? I don't remember seeing them. I find this strange since after a month the Airfit is still kind of tight. Still the best mask yet tho.

I still get an occasional ride up of that back strap on the AirFit but not enough to do anything about. It never rides up enough to let the nasal pillows slide out of my nose. Even with the Swift FX...the back strap issue for me wasn't that big of a deal.
So I haven't really tried anything to deter the slide up because for the most part it happens so rarely that it hasn't been a big issue. I do wear the back strap low on the back of my head though...it starts out fairly low as pretty close to (or on) the occipital protuberance and has a long way to travel to get up high enough to dislodge the nasal pillows.

I never tried the Velcro thing myself. Wake ups from back strap sliding up too far were/are extremely rare for me. Sometimes I wake up in the AM and that strap is almost up to the top of my head but the nasal pillows are in place and I woke up for other reasons and not mask reasons...so I just haven't had any need to fix that minor and rare issue.
I understand that others aren't so lucky though and the issue isn't rare and it isn't minor.

I loop a leg of the infamous Rested Gal pantyhose tights through the blue elastic strap and tie it under my chin using a Rested Gal flat knot. Not only does that keep the strap from slipping off, but it keeps the pillows snug against my nose, reducing leaks.

Robespierre wrote:I loop a leg of the infamous Rested Gal pantyhose tights through the blue elastic strap and tie it under my chin using a Rested Gal flat knot. Not only does that keep the strap from slipping off, but it keeps the pillows snug against my nose, reducing leaks.

Thanks for the suggestion but I know that wouldn't work for me. Tying Rested Gal's pantyhose under my chin... forgit about it.

I think I'll try pulling it down close to the bottom of my neck, as Pugsy suggested.

ems wrote:

Robespierre wrote:I loop a leg of the infamous Rested Gal pantyhose tights through the blue elastic strap and tie it under my chin using a Rested Gal flat knot. Not only does that keep the strap from slipping off, but it keeps the pillows snug against my nose, reducing leaks.

Thanks for the suggestion but I know that wouldn't work for me. Tying Rested Gal's pantyhose under my chin... forgit about it.

I think I'll try pulling it down close to the bottom of my neck, as Pugsy suggested.

I also use Pugsy's suggestion and it works great! Can't keep that other one from sliding and loosening up, though....Swift FX, I mean. For me it's the top strap (silicone one) that slides and comes loose.....eventually waking me up!

If the top (silicone) strap is too tight, it will allow the nasal pillows to slide around or fall out. Leave a gap of about two fingerbreadths between your head and the silicone strap. Don't make the fabric strap too tight either, you should not feel like piggy-nose. Lansinoh helps to keep the nasal cushion in place since it is tacky- use only a teeny bit in each nostril= I use a q=tip for each nostril. Sort of like glue for me to keep the nasal pillows in place. Hope it works for you. Buy Lansinoh (sp??) over the counter at the baby store, grocery or pharmacy where nursing mother products are sold. Costs about $8 a tube that lasts a very long time. I am still on my first tube over 3 yrs later, and I use it most nights when using the Swift FX.

For the year I used my Swift FX nasal pillows I had problems with the bottom strap sliding up. I tried all the tips here, including the velcro idea and nothing worked. What I finally did was use some white athletic tape 1/2" wide (six inches long total) and looped one end over the bottom strap next to the adjuster buckle. I folded that end over the strap and secured it to itself, sticky side to sticky side, obviously. I then dropped the other end of the tape down to about the middle of my neck and stuck it there. That's sticky enough for one night, however the next night and the rest of the nights, you'll need to use a new piece of tape to stick the hanging strap to your neck. I just put it at 90 degrees to the hanging strap. You can leave the hanging tape strap in place until it's too grungy to tolerate. Using this method there is no way that strap will ever ride up again. To take a pill or get a drink of water I simply trained myself to slide the pillows up over my nose rather than take off my headgear.

Yeah, it's a small PITA but happily the problem went away for the year I used the Swift FXs.