Feel like my mask is leaking.

Hello,

I was recently diagnosed with Sleep Apnea and now have a CPAP machine to accompany me to sleep each night. I'm very excited at the prospect of a good night's rest. I'm one week into the treatment, and have hit a slight hurdle. I'm using ResMed's Swift FX nasal pillow mask. I am frequently waking up because of air loudly leaking from between the mask and my nostril. I just don't think I'm getting it sealed right. I'll groggily mess with the mask a bit, get it sealed again and all is quiet and the air is flowing. Then an hour or so later, I'm back to whistling again. I'm more concerned with the disturbance to my spouse, but I'm also concerned that if air is leaking, my Apnea may not be getting the proper treatment. I started out on the Medium mask. The technician told me the smaller the mask the better. I had difficulty keeping the medium mask on, so I switched to the Small and for the first couple nights, it worked fantastic. Now it is a struggle. Ever since this became an issue, I've also noticed the nostril that is the one where the leak appears to be is very sore and tender.

Any recommendations?

Hi BKCK,

It would help if we knew which S9 machine you have. It could be an Excape, Elite, Autoset etc. I don't know much about your mask. I can tell you that if your leak rate is less than 24 liters/minute you are getting your therapy. IIRC, Resmed says you get your therapy upto 24 mpl though I am throwing that number out from memory. You might be surprised how much leakage you have to have to get 24 liters per minute. Check your AHIs in the morning and if you are less than 5 you are doing good.

Go back to the Medium. See how it does. Smaller is no better than larger in terms of therapy.

Add a bit of Lansinoh ointment to the nostrils during the day as well as night.

Carefully review mask fit. Sometimes tighter is counter productive.
Have you read Janknitz blog on how to fit the Swift FX?
http://maskarrayed.wordpress.com/swift- ... ing-guide/

Consider this little comfort item.
http://www.padacheek.com/PACSwiftII_Barrel_cozy.html

If your machine is full data machine there is software to see for sure how bad the leak might really be.
http://montfordhouse.com/cpap/resscan_tutorial/

Pugsy wrote:If your machine is full data machine there is software to see for sure how bad the leak might really be.
http://montfordhouse.com/cpap/resscan_tutorial/

Actually, I know that on my S9 Autoset, you don't need the software to get the leak rate. You just have to get into the clinician menu. I don't have a SD card available right now as my dme is using the wireless modem to download my information to my doctor. They are keeping it on for 90 days. I have another 56 days to wait. (Not that I am counting the days though.) I can't wait until I get my SD card to use though. I can check my AHI avearge, pressure average, lead rate and hours of usuage each day, week, month or three months right now. It might even go longer, I just haven't had the need.

tbone421998 wrote:Actually, I know that on my S9 Autoset, you don't need the software to get the leak rate. You just have to get into the clinician menu. I don't have a SD card available right now as my dme is using the wireless modem to download my information to my doctor. They are keeping it on for 90 days. I have another 56 days to wait. (Not that I am counting the days though.) I can't wait until I get my SD card to use though. I can check my AHI avearge, pressure average, lead rate and hours of usuage each day, week, month or three months right now. It might even go longer, I just haven't had the need.

OP may not have the modem so software use would be a good option to see exactly what is going on with leak.

The leak number shown on the LED screen is a 95% number which simply means that for 95% of the time the leak was AT OR BELOW that number and for 5 % of the time it was above that number. I am typing with one hand so won't go into long explanation how this 95% number can possibly mislead a person but with the software the entire leak line can be viewed to see if there are any times where the leak is enough to impact therapy (above 24 L/min). Obviously a zero or near zero 95% number means at least minimal leak for the majority of the night but when that 95% number starts climbing into the teens and more then it is possible that some larger leaks have occurred also that could impact therapy.
For this reason I prefer to see the leak line graph instead of a percentile number or even an overall average.

Thanks so much for the info. I'll check the model of my machine when I get home from work and update with that info at that time.

My machine has an SD card, but I was afraid to remove it (I'm in the beginning of my observation stage).

Thanks again so much!

BKCK2k3 wrote: My machine has an SD card, but I was afraid to remove it (I'm in the beginning of my observation stage).

Removing the SD card to review data does not do anything with the data on the card. DME cannot tell if you have done this unless you make a change or accidentally format the SD card.

Pugsy,

Thanks for the information, I hadn't thought about the leak rate that way.

Hello,
I am new too and could not get the nasal pillows to work just be careful I broke all the membranes in my nose and had to see the doctor my eyes were swollen shut and he said to not use it ever.. Just be careful and some people use it with lots of sucess...

atypically you have a 30 day trial period to try out a mask. The Swift FX may not be the mask for you. It is prescribed because it is one of the lightest masks out there. A nasal pillow mask may not work for you. Have you looked at the new styles for a over the nose nasal mask? Respironics is a company that makes 2 different masks that may be worth looking at as well. The Comfort Lite and OptiLife. due to features and options in pillows, small nasal cushions and with the Comfort Lite, a Dream seal cushion. That looks like a nasal pillow, but doesn't enter the nares as far.

So my machine is the ResMed S9 AutoSet.

I appreciate the cautions about Nasal Pillows. I'm pretty sure they'll be perfect for me if I can just get the leaks sorted out. During the sleep study, they used the nasal pillow mask on me, and it worked perfectly, it was literally the best night's sleep I'd had in years. So I know this is going to work if I can just get it all adjusted.

I'll check the data on the card and see what my leak levels are doing.