Anybody have these problems with the Mirage Activa mask?

[blowfish]

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[Roger...]

Roger - my experience with the standard and large is the exact same as yours except I use the standard because the large leaks although it feels better.

I felt this way in the beginning. Back then I played with strap settings for a long time and even fired up my Nellcor-395 Oximeter to see how the leaks were affecting oxygenation. After all the playing around to suppress leaks, I found very large leaks wake me and are easily resolved by pulling the headgear back in place, but small leaks don't wake me. None of the leaks showed they had any impact on the blood oxygenation results that the Nellcor was reporting, so in the end my conclusion was to not worry about the leaks until they wake me up, and to just stay with what is most comfortable, because I can sleep through larger leaks longer when I sleep more comfortably.

I am still looking for a Full Face that will seal on me.

If this critter exists anywhere, it hasn't appeared here. My experience with full-face masks is a lot of outrageous leaks causing bad sleep. Full-face masks manufacturers don't put enough thought into understanding what it takes to make a full-face mask comfortable and adjustable to a broad range of mugs. My closest fit came from the RESMed Ultra-Mirage, but that didn't work well at all. If that mask had a larger range of adjustment in the upper swivel section, or an Activa-Like bellows cushion piece, I believe I could have made it work. A year or so ago someone mentioned I should put two cushions on the Ultra-Mirage mask to increase the cushion padding to see if it would work, but I never could figure out how that would stay together over time, so I never spent the money to find out.

At some level I've been hoping for RESMed to introduce an “Ultra-Activa-Mirage” design so we could get the performance of the Activa bellows when we need to live in a full-face climate.

[blowfish]

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[ICantGetNoSleep]

I went from the ConfortGel to the Activa as well and I get a much better seal with the latter.

Do you hang your hose from the headboard? I dont have a headboard and I find that the hose tugs on the mask.

[blowfish]

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[Roger...]

Thanks Roger - My face is shaped very similar to yours. The UMFF Large - Standard was almost the mask if I could stay on my back and not move all night it may have worked. I tried it awake and in the end it would always fart out.... We need to stay in touch because the same maks work for us.

The Quattro sounds like it is what you described you thought would work. Have you heard of it yet?

Hello Mike,
I only learned about the Quattro from your comment above. I looked at the CPAP.COM web site, but they don't show any real images yet. In looking through a quick search on the Quattro, I saw one comment, but I'll wait until I hear it is in use for a few months before deciding to toss that much cash at it.

In reading what CPAP.COM indicates, it does sound like they've formalized the double cushion use of the Ultra Mirage some DMEs were promoting to make that mask less leak prone. This can only be good as some of the worse leaks I've ever recorded were with the Ultra Mirage.

[gasp]

But with the ComfortGel I could sleep in middle of pillow.

I picked the ComfortGel from 6 other masks available to me during my titration (none of them the hybrid) and found it impossible to sleep on my side (my favorite position). Perhaps it was the multitude of wires or the super soft pillows they use at the sleep center.

I own a Tempu-pedic pillow http://www.healthyback.com/products/tem ... r-pedic/99
that I am able to mold any way I want. When I turn from side to side, all I have to do is push on the pillow where I want more space (such as for nose, mouth, etc) and it stays there. I'm hoping it will accommodate the ComfortGel mask reducing the possibility of leakage.