Selecting an Alternate Mask...

[Diesel]

I am new to the board but have been on CPAP for about 1 year. I normally use ResMed Mirage Activa™ LT Nasal mask because I sleep really well with it... I just have a sore under my nose and leak air out of my mouth when I am congested.... I have tried the following FFM mask with NO success... Always have air leakage unless I clamp so down so hard it hurts my face... I have a Moustache, and a Goatee, which probably doesn’t help.

Over the last few weeks I have tried the following and cannot get a good seal...
1.) ResMed Ultra Mirage™ FFM
2.) ResMed Quattro™ FX FFM
3.) ResMed Quattro™ FFM
4.) Fisher & Paykel Forma™ FFM
5.) I am currently trying the Respironics Comfort Gel FFM... I get a seal at first, but when the pressure is max (15), if the seal gets moved I lose it and cant get it to reseal...

I can’t seem to find a FFM to fit me... I don’t think I am going to mess with the Respironics Comfort Gel anymore either, I lost most of the night fidgeting with it, then finally went back to the Activa Lt Nasal.

The people where I get my mask are starting to know me on a first name basis...and they are very helpfull....

Any advice on what FFM to try next? I almost ready to give up and just have the Activa and no alternate...and live with the sore under my nose... HELP!!!

[Bobby269]

Have you tried using this . http://www.padacheek.com/PAC_Maskliners.html .This works great for me with the quatro fx full face mask.
Hope that this will help for you.

[nanwilson]

Have you thought about trying the Respcare/Innomed Hybrid? It comes with 3 sizes of pillows and mouth cushions, so will fit most anyone. Take a look on cpap.com at the description and watch the video. I've been using mine since January and have recently gotten another one as a spare. I do second the motion on the padacheek liners, they fix alot of leak problems a nd soreness on the face.

[Diesel]

Have you tried using this . http://www.padacheek.com/PAC_Maskliners.html .This works great for me with the quatro fx full face mask.
Hope that this will help for you.

No I have not tried and liners. Not sure I would get any relief from these. I can't find a mask that fits close enough to try anything on.
I checked out the web site and will definitely keep this in mind if i get one that feels close...

As for the quattro fx full face mask, main issue with this was riding up my face during the night and losing the seal.. Straps felt too close to my eyes...

Thanks

[archangle]

I presume you know that sometimes looser is better.

I wonder if there isn't some way to tie another strap to go under your chin and keep the mask from riding up.

[napstress]

So sorry to hear of your mask-wrangling. Even though you don't have a Mirage Quattro, you might find this post by Janknitz about fitting the mask helpful: http://maskarrayed.wordpress.com/taming ... e-quattro/ I went from leaks one night to never leaking again with my Quattro FX after reading and following these directions.

Then the Pad-A-Cheek mask liner made it possible for me to wear the mask without leaks and comfortably. I can't recommend it highly enough. But since you are a furry person, maybe you'd do better with something that only goes on the non-furry parts of your face. I have no idea what it's like to have facial hair. I'm guessing that the mustache & beard might elevate the mask so the gaps (and therefore leaks) would be near your eyes. Maybe you could do a Search about mask-fitting with mustaches and beards.

As for the quattro fx full face mask, main issue with this was riding up my face during the night and losing the seal.. Straps felt too close to my eyes...

It sounds like the size might be too small for you. Can you go a size larger? I say this b/c my Quattro FX ffm is too small and now that I'm sleeping longer hours with the mask on, I've been waking up with the bottom of it in my mouth (along with a mouthful of liner). Also, you might need a different sized headgear from your mask. It took me a bit to discover that I need a size medium mask but size small headgear.

As you are trying on masks during your waking hours, you might want to replicate exactly how it is that you actually sleep. For example, if you spend most of the night on your back, try the masks on while on your back. The flesh falls away from your face when you lie down—in different ways, depending on what position you're in. If you sleep with your mouth open, open your mouth when trying on the mask. If you tend to moosh your face into the pillow, moosh your face into the pillow with the mask on. All this at your maximum air pressure. The mask is most likely to "dance" at the highest pressure. If you think you might get a mask liner for the mask that comes closest to fitting, then put some kind of imitation padding (about the thickness of a T-shirt) around the mask as you experiment. The extra padding will make the mask smaller. My dr had me sitting up in a chair with the air pressure somewhere in the middle of my titration. But I, like most people, sleep lying down. My dr measured the distance between the bridge of my nose and the bottom of my bottom lip with a little measuring device, but my mouth was closed and I sleep slack-jawed all night long. I wish she had had the sense to have me replicate exactly how I sleep and fitted my mask to that scenario.

I hope you can find a mask that fits you, or that you can rig up something that will make an almost-fitting mask work for you.

[BigNortherner]

Diesel:

First I’ll recommend getting rid of facial hair. I don’t see how any mask can seal that.
With a full-face mask, to help prevent riding up make sure the lower straps are below the ears.
Also use a hose hanger to reduce risk of body pulling on hose thus mask if you roll over while sleeping.

Most headgear is poorly designed – does not keep interface in position you put it in if there is any pressure from pillow etc. I suggest a cap style, such as the Respironics mesh cap. (If your hair is bulky you’ll need a bigger size, the XL is too big for my large head and short hair. It is a four-point headgear.) For three-point nose masks Tiar/SleepNet may sell lesser caps. (PAPCap seems more of a chin strap stabilizer.) PAPcap is another one, which includes a chin strap. And there’s the KAP from Sleep Medicine Solutions, a football helmet concept to shield your mask from external forces.
Respironics has also been producing headgear with a halo-shape on the back of the head, and various straps forward, I have not tested it.

The Forma is reported to be a very good mask, as such go, but with the earlier version 431 I had to use a Respironics mesh cap headgear and kludge a thicker forehead pad (as Fisher & Paykel refuse to include adjustment – the Forma has double width of pads for better lateral stability).

Here and there people are custom-fitting masks, which is usually costly. Hans Rudolph have a service in Europe, at least for nose mask. The Acurest custom-molded interface out of AU and now TX won’t help you as it is a nostril interface, its essence is using your nose to keep the interface in position.

[BigNortherner]

More to Diesel:

Otherwise it sounds like you are rotating through standard masks with their original headgear – there are alternatives.

One option is a full-head mask, which seals around the periphery of your face. Look for the Respironics FitLife Total, which includes headgear that looks like it will work well. Claimed to accommodate facial hair, but I doubt that is possible with anything like a beard.

Yet another is mouth-only designs like F&P’s Oracle and perhaps something from Hans Rudolph.

You might try to deal with the congestion, so you can use a nose mask or a nose-end mask (if the sore is in your nostril). A whole nuther assortment of inadequate designs awaits you.
For me the Respironics cradle used in their ComfortCurve (and optional configuration of OptiLife) is excellent IF I can keep it in place, but CC headgear is troubled, I had to kludge it.
I found the ResMed Vista nose-end interface unsatisfactory. I have not tried the nose-end MiniMe from CareFusion/SleepNet/Tiara/ViaSys (whichever brand they are this year). (CPAPMan sold an alternate headgear for the MiniMe.) The Alizes from Hans Rudolph may be similar to the MiniMe.

And there are contoured pillows like PAPillow to reduce side pressure when sleeping on your side. (With the PAPillow, buy extra pillowcases, plus pillow filling material to bulk it up when it gets thin, and needle plus thread to sew it up again.)

[chunkyfrog]

Diesel: are you still around?
How is it going?
We hate to think a new hoser gave up because of mask fit issues.