Newbie needs mask help

[jenngirl]

Thank you all for being here. I've been reading for a little over a week and just joined today, so please forgive me if I mess this up. I haven't followed up with the doc to get all my info yet, but the Respiratory Therapist who brought out my CPAP said I have severe sleep apnea. I use a ResMed S8 Elite II CPAP with heated humidifier set at 15 and a Respironics full face comfort gel mask. \

I have used my machine for 9 nights now, and I am having nose bridge problems. I wear the mask so loose that the forehead strap bareley touches against my head, but I keep getting redness on the bridge of my nose that lasts most of the day. I have tried tegaderm (when I thought it might just be a reaction to the material), paper tape, moleskin, moleskin on top of paper tape so the moleskin sticky didn't irritate when I pulled it off, silicone ear plugs (OUCH! I couldn't get a thin enough layer and the bone in the bridge of my nose hurt so much I took the mask off after 5-6 hours.), and last night I tried putting the moleskin sticky side on the mask. The moleskin on top of papertape seems to be the best, but my skin is still pretty irritated. It is not cracked, dry, or bleeding. I emailed the padacheeks people to see if they think they can help, but I don't know what to do. I'm trying to make this work because I don't want to be so tired all the time, but between this, and trying to find a new sleeping position (I used to sleep on my stomach/ side, with my face pressed against the pillow) it is really frustrating.

Do I just need to suck it up? Are there other options? WIll another mask be better? I need full face because I frequently can't breathe through one or both nostrils due to allergies (although with the filter in the CPAP I seem to be waking up with less congestion than I used to).

Thanks!

[rise&shiner]

read my thread from earlier today if you haven't already, I have the same mask as you do

[jenngirl]

Thanks for the heads up! I will try it. I also found info on the respironics site that is making me want to see if lowering the forehead support will help me some.

[harry33]

you may need a bigger mask, they come in several sizes, the face should be measured
try wearing mask high up on face, tighten the straps so piece contacts forehead, experiment with adjustment of the part that controls the angle of the forehead piece

you can expect the clear plastic that holds the 2 dark ball attachment clips will break soon due to bad design, meanwhile try to avoid lots of strain on the elastic
mask shouldnt be touching nose