Any tips for a new Swift FX user?

[MrPianoman]

I just wanted to thank all of you for awesome and important tips for when I get my Swift. Now I have a tad more to add to my arsenal of information.

[MrPianoman]

Last night I was helping my daughter study for her Physics mid-term today. Had the table covered with books, scratch paper, pencils, calculators, etc. Cat #1 decided to see what all the buzz was about, so she jumped up on the table, walked around sniffing and then lay down right where were working and looked at us through half-lidded eyes and vibrated. After the requisite petting, she became bored and jumped down. A few minutes later, her brother, all 18 lbs of him, jumped up on the table and lay down on the papers, looked at us through half lidded eyes and demonstrated his circular breathing purring technique.

Get used to it. Anything new will attract the attention of a cat.

So true Slarty (love the name, big Douglas Adams fan by chance?). My SwiftFX came today (totaly in love with the thing already) and the cats were right on my bed, checking stuff out so much I had to try and shoo them away to get anything done. Of course, the shooing didn't do much but initiate play time with the lil furballs.

And 18 lbs, that's a lot of cat. My wife's a dog groomer and she just had a 35 pound kitty in the other day. Looked like an ottoman with legs.

[lazer]

My cat clawed and/or bit my cpap hose and ruined it. Just a word of caution with cats around your cpap equip.

[MrPianoman]

My cat clawed and/or bit my cpap hose and ruined it. Just a word of caution with cats around your cpap equip.

Yes, very much so, I lost a chinstrap to the tiny tigers and now keep my stuff in the 'pap machine's travel bag or covered up somehow.

[Plubbo]

Main suggestion.....don't get things too tight. That is the most common mistake people make with the nasal pillow masks.
If you look in the mirror and you look like you have "piggy nose"..straps are too tight.
If you have any discomfort more than very mild tenderness at the nostril area...straps are too tight.
You already know about the Lansinoh ointment..it does help.

Rookie with Swift FX as first and only mask. I adjusted to your recommendations. MUCH More comfortable! Also my AHI went down to 1.93 after adjusting per SleepyHead!

Very Happy Camper! Thanks!

[marielynne]

Hi, i am also going to try the swift pillows this weekend for the first time. this is also my very first forum participation! i want to follow ur post so i can maybe get some good advice. is that ok?

[MrPianoman]

Hi, i am also going to try the swift pillows this weekend for the first time. this is also my very first forum participation! i want to follow ur post so i can maybe get some good advice. is that ok?

Fine by me!!! I'm glad others are getting something out of my original post. The advice about the loose straps is dead on. I think I had a bit of a piggy nose (something I was warned about) action going on last night, but spent some more time today getting the straps looser than they were and still getting a good seal.

I'd love to hear your experiences with the Swifty too! It was amazing how much difference it made though. I could actually scratch my nose if I needed to, and not having all that extra plastic on my face was amazing.

One thing I noticed right away was that I needed to run my humidification a tad higher as the nose pillows kinda dried out my nose at first, kinda uncomfortable. I couldn't breathe with my nasal mask at 3 and ran at 2 on my machine, but with the nasal pillows I had to crank it to 4 before my nose wasn't 'scratchy'. Just something I noticed.

Welcome to the wonderful world of posting.

[chunkyfrog]

My back strap kept sliding up, so I followed the hint to put the hook side of a bit of hook and loop on the inside back.
If, however you have a short hairstyle (or even less), a little piece of no-skid shelf liner will work without scratching.

[codinqueen]

The plastic strap that goes over top of head should be quite a bit looser than the velcro-end straps, I have found. I can put 2-3 fingers under it. The looser, the more comfortable.