I'm getting the hang of this!!

[rubymom]

So I'm now two months post-sleep study. I guess it's been six weeks since I've been on a machine. The CPAP machine didn't work out well (pressure is 20 ) so I switched to a bi-pap about a month ago. From what the machine tells me, the highest pressure I've been at is 15.

The first mask (covering my nose and mouth) didn't work out so I switched to a Liberty mask with the nose pillows. That worked pretty good. It was a big improvement over the first one because I liked not having the big plastic mask over my nose. I found I could get a great seal and fall asleep, but then in the middle of the night I'd be woken up by leaks and then spent alot of time fiddling with the mask and not sleeping.

The other day after reading many of the posts here, I decided to try changing the size of my nose pillows. I had been using Mediums. I thought I should switch to large (I'm a large woman and it seemed to make sense to me) but in trying it out I immediately knew that wouldn't work for me. So I tried the smalls.

And voila! I've now had three full nights in a row where I wasn't playing and tinkering and fuming and ripping off the mask in frustration. Three good nights!!

I do remember a little bit of tinkering. And I still feel like I'm waking up and tossing and turning more than I'd expect though I'm not sure why. I'm saving up to buy the software so I can get a sense of what's going on and whether the therapy is effective or possibly I'm waking up because of apneas. But the frequent bathroom trips have also been reduced (and last night I made none). And while yesterday and the day before I was feeling pretty tired still, today I'm feeling really good.

I just wanted to post to encourage others who are struggling as I have been to hang in there, don't hesitate to try new ideas, and things will fall into place!

[klockemy]

Congratulations on your success!

I have a Liberty too....when it fits right, it's the best mask in the world, but when it doesn't, it tends to fly really well to the opposite side of the room. I had the same problem as you with the nasal pillow size. The mediums were leaking everytime I would move my head, so I went up to the large. Best decision I have made. One thing I noticed with the Liberty that you could check is for nasal rainout or congestion. I have noticed, when I have the humidifier turned up too high or if it's raining outside and I don't turn it down, I get rainout in my nose. That little bit of moisture breaks the seal and I can't get it back unless I get up and clean/dry the nasal pillows. Is that a possibility?

Congrats again and enjoy the sleep!

[Pneumonym]

My own experience, after a whole two weeks of experimentation ( ), is that the optimum nose cushion size does not seem to correlate with schnaz size. Noone would ever accuse me of having a petite proboscis, and I started with a medium per the DME. It was not so bad but hurting me a bit so I went with the small, which quickly proved to be a great improvement in terms of comfort. I have a bit of a "war wound" that was getting irritated and this might have been a factor but certainly not the whole story. Of course you have to carefully readjust the straps when you change size (which I didn't do the first night on the small so it leaked a bit, silly me).

So I'm with you on this but it's an N of 2. At any rate I think you want as "tight" a fit on the proboscis as is consistent with not leaking unduly. My leak rate is now essentially at intentional, after I got a cool new chin strap that my wife says makes me look like a wrestler. (but it isn't exactly so because the ears are not covered of course).

Well done with optimizing things as you have done. Persistence and attention to detail really pays off in this game. I'm hoping my doc will be proud of my efforts when I see him on Monday - either that or he won't speak to me because I've been messing with the min pressure while he was on vacation ......

p.s. definitely do get the software. I just loaded it up last night and viewed my data for the first time. Very very interesting, and it's helping to prep me for my visit with the sleep doc. Nice to know that my apneas are very low, it's mostly hypopneas that remain. I can see the beneficial effect of raising the min pressure after a few days at 4; 7 is much nearer the optimal but there's more work to be done I'm sure. Time to involve the sleep doc so that he doesn't feel left out ....

[Muse-Inc]

...optimum nose cushion size does not seem to correlate with schnaz size...

I concur! Started with large pillows in my narrow nose, stayed like that until I started losing weight and went to medium pillows.

Ruby, great news! I'm glad you posted it...there's therapy and then there's effective therapy

[rubymom]

Yikes! I just realized my sleep study was THREE months ago. I've been doing this for about 10 weeks, not 6. My how time flies when you're having fun!