Trouble with leaks with full face mask when sleeping on side

[Daghis]

After trying the nasal mask for a couple of nights, I've got a call into my DME to see about trying a nasal pillow. I find that the edge of the silicone is rubbing against the bottom of my nose, irritating it. I did try some Lansinoh, but it didn't provide much relief.

I'd be happier with the nasal mask if it weren't for the top straps basically pulling the mask upward so that the bottom part of the mask sits on and rubs against the columella (the skin between the nostrils — I learned a new word today! ).

I'm thinking that a nasal pillow would have the flat part of the cushion resting against my nostrils instead of the edge, and that may be more comfortable. It's worth a try anyway, especially while I'm in my 30-day trial period.

[englandsf]

Try the P10 if you can and nasal rinses. PM me for my routine developed over 2yrs. I thought I was a mouth breather too and I have a partially deviated septum but I've cracked the nose code now and it's so much better.

[Daghis]

One positive I've discovered from the past few nights with the N10 mask is that I'm not apparently the mouth breather I thought I was. I've only noticed my mouth opening a couple times while having the nasal mask on; for the majority of the nights, the nasal mask has worked just fine without even needing the chinstrap.

[RogerSC]

One positive I've discovered from the past few nights with the N10 mask is that I'm not apparently the mouth breather I thought I was. I've only noticed my mouth opening a couple times while having the nasal mask on; for the majority of the nights, the nasal mask has worked just fine without even needing the chinstrap.

Don't know if you're already doing this, but if you want to see all your leaks, the Sleepyhead software used with the data on the memory card in your cpap is really useful. It gives you a graphof your leak amount all night. The main reason that I'm suggesting this is that you may have leaks that you don't know about. The only way you'd know if your mask was leaking was if it woke you up each time it happened. That doesn't happen for me, leaks do sometimes wake me up, but not always. The graphs can be interesting and surprising. The other graphs, like events, pressure, flow limitation and so on can be very useful in optimizing your cpap therapy, also.

[Daghis]

Thank you for suggesting SleepyHead. I do have it installed, but I haven't looked at my data lately. I'll have to bring down my memory card and check it out.