Pillows and leaks

[wordgirl57]

I've been using my CPAP for a little over three months. Although my AHI has moved around a bit (first few weeks ranged between 0 and 3, and the last few weeks it’s been racking up a lot of 4- and 5-pluses, which will be another post down the line ), I haven’t had a single leak till last night, when I posted a minor leak of 1.2L.

I have no problems with my mouth opening at night, so I'm sure the leak is related to the fact that two nights ago I changed from the firm Tempur-pedic style foam pillow I've been using to a cushier stuffed pillow. The new pillow is so much more comfortable, but I sink into it farther and try to sleep on my stomach (my pre-CPAP preferred position), which must have knocked my mask aside. I don’t love the foam pillow because it’s too firm and high for my neck to be completely comfortable, but it helps in that it at least forces me to sleep on my side, and evidently keeps the mask stable.

I'm going to switch back to the foam pillow tonight, but I was just curious: what pillow material do most of you use? Whatever you use, do you find that, even if it’s less comfortable, you continue to use it because it works better for keeping your mask in place? One little leak isn't enough to send me out pillow hunting (although more leaks down the line might), but I just wondered if other people find that they have to sacrifice a bit of comfort to keep their masks from leaking.

[usmccop]

I have the same prob with the Temperpedic pillow. I switched to a cheap pillow.

[ugogirl]

I bought the PAPillow which is shaped so that the mask won't sink into the pillow. It's soft and comfortable. I was experiencing a lot of small leaks, very annoying, with my regular pillow. Hope this helps.

Maddie

[BleepingBeauty]

I've been using my CPAP for a little over three months. Although my AHI has moved around a bit (first few weeks ranged between 0 and 3, and the last few weeks it’s been racking up a lot of 4- and 5-pluses, which will be another post down the line ), I haven’t had a single leak till last night, when I posted a minor leak of 1.2L.

Hi, wordgirl.

I don't know if the new ResMed machines report leak differently than the older models do. AFAIK, ResMed machines report leak in liters per second, not liters per minute, and any leak reported is over and above what it should be for your mask at your pressure setting(s), provided the mask info is entered correctly into the machine's menu. If that reported leak of 1.2L is per second, then the leak is 72LPM (1.2 * 60 seconds) and is *not* minor.

The AHI data is *not* reliable if you're experiencing high leak rates.

I have no problems with my mouth opening at night, so I'm sure the leak is related to the fact that two nights ago I changed from the firm Tempur-pedic style foam pillow I've been using to a cushier stuffed pillow. The new pillow is so much more comfortable, but I sink into it farther and try to sleep on my stomach (my pre-CPAP preferred position), which must have knocked my mask aside. I don’t love the foam pillow because it’s too firm and high for my neck to be completely comfortable, but it helps in that it at least forces me to sleep on my side, and evidently keeps the mask stable.

I'm going to switch back to the foam pillow tonight, but I was just curious: what pillow material do most of you use? Whatever you use, do you find that, even if it’s less comfortable, you continue to use it because it works better for keeping your mask in place? One little leak isn't enough to send me out pillow hunting (although more leaks down the line might), but I just wondered if other people find that they have to sacrifice a bit of comfort to keep their masks from leaking.

There are many pillows made specifically for xPAP users. https://www.cpap.com/cpap-comfort-clean ... #/0:::::20:

Whichever pillow you opt to use, you do NOT want your mask to be buried in it, as the vents on the mask need to be free to dispel exhaled CO2 so you don't re-breathe it.

FWIW, I use a TempurPedic pillow (which works just fine for me), but I don't sleep on my stomach.

Hope that helps.

[ozij]

How the ResMed's repot leaks -- per minute or per second -- is defined in their setup.

O,

[DreamOn]

I don't know if the new ResMed machines report leak differently than the older models do. AFAIK, ResMed machines report leak in liters per second, not liters per minute, and any leak reported is over and above what it should be for your mask at your pressure setting(s), provided the mask info is entered correctly into the machine's menu. If that reported leak of 1.2L is per second, then the leak is 72LPM (1.2 * 60 seconds) and is *not* minor.

If the leak rate is being read on the S9's LCD screen, it's reported there in liters per minute (unlike the S8 machines, which are in liters per second). With the ResMed machines, a leak rate under 24 L/min (0.4 L/sec) is acceptable, although the closer to zero the better. If wordgirl's 1.2L leak rate was obtained from the LCD screen (L/min), then it's fine. The way leak rate is reported in ResScan can be set either way, but as I recall, the default there is L/min.

Wordgirl, do double-check whether your leak rate is in L/min or L/sec. If your 1.2 leak rate is L/sec, it's a big problem and would definitely affect the accuracy of your other results numbers (such as AHI), as BleepingBeauty pointed out.

How the ResMed's repot leaks -- per minute or per second -- is defined in their setup.

As far as I know, there is no way to change the measurement used to report the leak rate on the S9 machine itself -- only in ResScan. I've looked, because I prefer reporting as L/sec myself, but didn't see any menu option to change it on the machine. If anyone knows differently, please let me know.

I've been using my CPAP for a little over three months. Although my AHI has moved around a bit (first few weeks ranged between 0 and 3, and the last few weeks it’s been racking up a lot of 4- and 5-pluses, which will be another post down the line ), I haven’t had a single leak till last night, when I posted a minor leak of 1.2L.

I have no problems with my mouth opening at night, so I'm sure the leak is related to the fact that two nights ago I changed from the firm Tempur-pedic style foam pillow I've been using to a cushier stuffed pillow. The new pillow is so much more comfortable, but I sink into it farther and try to sleep on my stomach (my pre-CPAP preferred position), which must have knocked my mask aside. I don’t love the foam pillow because it’s too firm and high for my neck to be completely comfortable, but it helps in that it at least forces me to sleep on my side, and evidently keeps the mask stable.

I'm going to switch back to the foam pillow tonight, but I was just curious: what pillow material do most of you use? Whatever you use, do you find that, even if it’s less comfortable, you continue to use it because it works better for keeping your mask in place? One little leak isn't enough to send me out pillow hunting (although more leaks down the line might), but I just wondered if other people find that they have to sacrifice a bit of comfort to keep their masks from leaking.

I see that you're using the Swift FX nasal pillows mask. If you haven't changed your nasal pillows lately, you may want to do that, as they don't last all that long.

As for the bed pillow, I'm using a $10 down alternative (fiberfill) pillow that I bought at Wal-Mart. It's Canopy brand and is soft and shapable. I usually wear nasal pillow masks and sleep near the edge of the pillow, scrunching the pillow up where I want it. My leak rate is consistently zero (flat line). I do wear a PAPCap chin strap too, as I did start minor mouth-leaking when deep asleep several weeks after starting therapy. I was usually sleeping right through the mouth leaks, but dry mouth was the first clue that it had become a problem.

[brazospearl]

wordgirl, I like my buckwheat hull pillow. There are several good brands out there. I had to take out about a third of the hulls to get it to the right squishyness level, but it's really working well for me. I like that it an be put into any shape and it stays that way.

[wordgirl57]

Thanks for all the information, everyone. I really appreciate it. I just checked my readout, and it's liters per minute, not per second. And I ended up ordering new nasal pillows, DreamOn. Thanks for the heads-up. My nasal pillows are getting soft and mushy, so it certainly can't hurt. As I said, I'm thinking the leak is an anomaly because of the pillow change because it's just too coincidental that I would pull zero leaks for 90 straight days, then I switch my bed pillow, and boom! my first leak. It's interesting getting everyone's POV and the info about the way the machine works--I learn so much from you guys!