fix the Dreamwear

[Catnapper]

So I have this new Dreamwear mask and it seems both good and bad. I like the nose cushion, a nice change after many years of nasal pillows. I do not like the strap in the back of the head. That seems to have the wrong angle for me. It slides right off the top of my head. I pulled my hair over the strap but that only works so far. Because the mask still slides up, it breaks the seal and leaks start. I have to spend the night adjusting the mask to get it to seal, and then hold it in place. Needless to say, this interrupts my sleep. I have very silky hair so even barrettes and hair ties fall off in just a few minutes.

I did get the short more flexible tube, hoping that would help. It still slides off pretty fast.

I hope that someone has found a way to stabilize the mask that would help me. A former forum member named rested gal used to give lab rat awards to people who found fixes in cases like this. She loved it when someone would tell about some clever way they found to make things work better.

Catnapper - Joanie

[Janknitz]

I have the same problem.

It's not a perfect fix, but try sewing some Velcro hook tape (the scratchy side) into the back of the connector strap, facing your hair. Sounds like it would be uncomfortable and pull your hair but it does not. It does help reduce the sliding. My hair is too short to pull it over the strap, so I still get some sliding, but not as bad. When I turn over in bed I gently push on the piece under my nose so it doesn't shift, and most of the time I have to pull the strap down in back, too. Fortunately, I don't turn much in bed.

[chunkyfrog]

I have considered squeezing little raised dots of silicone glue on the inside back.
I would need to allow time for drying; but it should grip like the band on thigh high hosiery.

[Franniep51]

I have the same problem. I did get a smaller mask yesterday. I found pulling my hair up into a pony tail just under the hose connection but over the head strap helped some. The ponytail keeps the mask in place. It is not a cute sight!
Just last night I used the smaller mask for the first time without a ponytail. It seems to have worked, so far. I’ve only been on CPAP for 3 weeks. Still tired during the day, but MyAir gives me scores of 95 and up.

[Catnapper]

Well, thanks for the ideas. I will give them a try.

Catnapper - Joanie

[Stom]

I've been using the original nasal cushion Dreamwear with the Full Face Dreamwear headgear to get more stability. So far so good. Not perfect. but it keeps the headgear from riding up. You could ad your own straps to the regular head gear to get a similar effect, or find a full face headgear on-line.

[Sluggish]

I really wanted to make this mask work but eventually gave up. I tried all the sizes of both the headgear and cushions and pillows.
I found it just wouldn't work for me being mainly a side sleeper and also I tend to move around a lot. It was hard to tell exactly what was going on in the middle of the night but the sleep report always showed large leaks. Many times it would wake me up blowing air on my face or up into my eye. Also I was not fond of the vent on the front. The only time I could make it work was when I would tape the mask to my face in 4 places so that it would not move around on my head/face. Eventually I moved on to the P10 which performs much better for me but has a rather weak elastic headband that is non-adjustable. I will be sending that mask back soon and trying the Opus which is basically a very similar mask to the P10 but with better headgear.

[Catnapper]

Stom, I like the looks of the headgear you pictured.
When I looked at cpap.com for the headgear, it said it will only fit the full face mask. So I looked at the full face mask to see the difference. Your picture shows it on the nasal cushion. How did you make that work?
I would like to try that headgear if I could do that too. I see it costs about $37 plus shipping. If it works, it would be worth it to me. I hope you see this and answer.

Catnapper- Joanie

[Stom]

Stom, I like the looks of the headgear you pictured.
When I looked at cpap.com for the headgear, it said it will only fit the full face mask. So I looked at the full face mask to see the difference. Your picture shows it on the nasal cushion. How did you make that work?
I would like to try that headgear if I could do that too. I see it costs about $37 plus shipping. If it works, it would be worth it to me. I hope you see this and answer.

Catnapper- Joanie

I used the full face headgear on my regular dreamwear because I had it lying around after trying the full face mask Dreamwear and not getting to work for me - I bought it for a good price, but no mask return insurance.

The full face headgear has four straps instead of two. When used with the full face mask the top straps attach to the lugs on the frame. The bottom two normally attach to magnetic clips that go to the face mask portion. I just took off the clips and wrapped the bottom straps around the frame instead. They have velcro for adjusting the length. So it isn't a use envisioned by the maker, and the lower straps can slip around a bit because they don't have a lug to attach to, but there may be a way to keep them from sliding up or down - I haven't tried to make anything for that yet.

[Catnapper]

Thanks, Stom. Great answer. Now I understand, and I bet it will work for me, too.

Catnapper - Joanie

[Okie bipap]

Check eBay for a new head gear. It will be cheaper than what you pay at the DME.