Mirage Activa help....

brondeau · Post by **brondeau** » Fri Jul 22, 2005 10:53 am

Hi Guys and Gals!

I have a few questions and wonder if any of you can help me out. I have a Mirage Activa Nasal mask. I have been waking up with sticky gluey eyes. The mask is apparently leaking on both sides of the bridge of my nose. Anyone else with this mask have this problem? Anyone know what I can do to fix it? I only have a pressure of 8, so that shouldn't be too much of a problem. Will this make my therapy not work? I have a very tiny nose and they gave me a "large" sized mask. Do you think I would be better off with smaller one?

I have been dog tired during these first 9 days of treatment. I hope the problem is paying off the sleep debt, but fear it also might have to do with the leaks.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!!

-B

WillSucceed · Post by **WillSucceed** » Fri Jul 22, 2005 11:39 am

Leaking is not good; go back to the place that you got the mask and have them re-fit you.

If they do not have a bed/bench for you to lie on, take a big towel with you AND your pillow. Lay down and have them fit the mask while you are fully supine. They should have a CPAP attached at your pressure. Roll around alot and make sure that you are getting a good seal.

If you have a fairly flat nose bridge, (many people of Asian and African origin) you may do better with a 'shallow' Activa.

Before you go in to the supplier, try having the staps lose, rather than tight; this seems to work with Activa. Try releasing the straps some AND, while the CPAP machine is blowing, undo the lower clips, pull the mask away from your face so that it breaks contact all the way around your nose, then gently "land" the Activa back on your face and reattach the strap clips.

Good luck!

lindas88 · Post by **lindas88** » Fri Jul 22, 2005 12:35 pm

brondeau...I use a Mirage Nasal Mask. I use the standard size and have pretty good luck with it. I also have a small nose and tried the shallow one but found that it was to wide for my nose sand leaked way too much...so went back to the standard. I find that if I have it to far up on my face it does leak over my eyes so I have to pull it down so the bottom sits almost on my top lip. I would like to be able to have one that is shorter and that would fit me better but have learned to deal with this one. And make sure you wear the bottom strap really loose. The only one that has to be secure is the top strap. I had to go over twice and get the company to help me adjust it right. They told me to look in the mirror and see how it is fitting. It is a great mask once you get used to it. If you have a small nose then a large one is probably way to big and you should go get fitted again like WillSucceed said. Good luck...

snork1 · Post by **snork1** » Fri Jul 22, 2005 8:15 pm

air leaks into the eyes are VERY VERY bad.

Good advice in the previous posts.

The lift and reseat is something I do if I pop a seal during the night or it doesn't seal. Sometimes I just give the seal a gentle poke near the eyes if it springs a leak there, and that reseats it.

The mask should be dangely loose on your face when the pressure is off, and "inflate into place".

Make sure to wash your mask every day, especially where it seats on your face and wash your face just before going to bed.

The forehead pads barely touch my forehead (or not at all!) and really only act as "outriggers" to add stability.

When set up correctly, the Activa should suck unto your face like a lovesick octopus.

I rotate between the Swift and Activa. Both are good. Neither are perfect.

brondeau · Post by **brondeau** » Fri Jul 22, 2005 9:54 pm

Hi all, thanks for the advice.

Will, could you elaborate a bit on the reseasl process? Not sure if I understand completely.

Also, why are leaks into the eyes VERY VERY bad?

Does it screw up the therapy?

Thanks!

-B

snork1 · Post by **snork1** » Fri Jul 22, 2005 10:17 pm

leaks into the eyes are much worse than leaks elsewhere, because the air blowing into the eyes can do some pretty severe damage to the eyes, beyond "simply" drying them out. I am NOT a doctor, nor do I even play one tv, but I know I have read several very bad experiences of eye damage on the forums.

The balloon like seal on the Activa sometimes seems to collapse or get wrinkled. If you have it on loosely, as you should have, there should be enough slack to pull it away from your face a bit and then just let it settle back into place.

Play around with the angle adjustment on the forehead brace too.