Nasal Pillows at higher pressures?

[tooly125]

I've spoken with sales reps from PB, Respironics, and Resmed. They all say that nasal pillows shouldn't be used at high pressures. It's like pushing water through a small hose vs a normal size hose. I don't have any personal experience with this but that's what I've been told.

Would that apply to the hybrid as well?

I have used the hybrid at a pressure of 19 CM H2O with no problems.
I think the Hybrid is different than masks with just pillows because you have the chamber around your mouth for the air to defuse in before it goes up your nose.
I only had the opportunity to try a nasal mask once( I think it was the swift)
and it was very uncomfortable with all that air blowing up my nose!

[dreese9317]

I use a Tranquility bi-level (6 yrs old) set at 17/12 and separate humidifier. Never could get used to original gel mask, quit therapy after 4 months.
After deciding to get back into therapy and researching on the net, I purchased an OptiLife mask from cpap.com 2 weeks ago. After a couple of nights of headgear tweaking, I am now sleeping thru the night (5-6 hours for me) with no snoring and no leaks.
I am a side sleeper and personally haven't had to use the "optional" restraints as developed by the very helpful people on this site - the mask as it came out of the bag has worked for me.
I especially like the fact that it came with different size nasal pillows, as I also paid for this mask out of pocket.

[JimW]

Whether you're using nasal pillows or a nasal mask, the air's still got to go up your nose - and the pillows are only more narrow than your nostrils for a very short distance. As long as they maintain a seal, it doesn't seem to me that the pillows should restrict airflow appreciably more than a nasal mask.

[BrianD]

I really like the weight and feel of the CL2, but my pressure floats between 14 to 16. When I inhale with the CL2. I hear the M-Series APAP pick up speed and feel it in the air flow. When I wear the Activa mask I don't feel or hear this behavior although the Activa sounds generally louder to me. The strange thing is, this behavior was less of a problem with the a straight CPAP machine. I wore the CL2 for quite sometime - months on straight CPAP, but just can stand the feeling of the up and down pressure changes I get with the M-series with the nasal pillows. I have the Aura also, although I haven't even tried it with the M-series, since from an air flow perspective I didn't like the way it felt even with my former straight CPAP machine. I like the feeling of less weight and generally less material on my face that nasal pillow system provides, but I don't like the abrupt pressure change from inhale to exhale. It actually affects my ability to fall and remain sleeping. Does anybody have any thoughts on this ?

[Linda3032]

Are you using Cflex?

There is a great discustion regarding cflex right now. Some feel better with it off, some don't.

You might experiment with the cflex settings. Up, down, or off.

[BrianD]

Thanks Linda, But Cflex was even more annoying for me. I disabled it the first night I had my APAP. It might be that after doing CPAP for a couple of years I really notice the exhale vs inhale pressure transition. In addition, I find myself waiting for the transition which makes it more difficult to fall asleep.

[blarg]

I've spoken with sales reps from PB, Respironics, and Resmed. They all say that nasal pillows shouldn't be used at high pressures. It's like pushing water through a small hose vs a normal size hose. I don't have any personal experience with this but that's what I've been told.

Even 20 cmh2o isn't THAT much pressure and the size of the tube won't change much in this particular instance.