Collapsing nasal pillows...

[poirot]

I'm a brand new (one week!) CPAP user with the ResMed AirFit P10 (for Her). The nasal pillows are super comfortable and seal really well, but by the time I wake up the section holding the pillows has sunk down, collapsing the pillows in on themselves, so I'm not getting enough air. Has anyone experienced this or have any suggestions? I'm desperate for some sleep!

[aytikvjo]

Are they still sealing throughout the entire night?

Medicare specifies replacement rates for nasal pillows at 2 per month. Private insurance companies typically have a similar policy.

From what I understand, when the pillows start collapsing like this or start leaking abnormally it is time to replace them.

It's unfortunate, but they have a very finite lifetime. Some people get months out of them, some people only get weeks.

What are you using to clean them? Is the headgear too tight?

[Pugsy]

Try going up a size in the nasal pillow for the P10. I had something similar happen with the XSmall (which I normally can use in all the other nasal pillow masks just fine). I discovered that with a big inhale sometimes the pillow sort of got sucked into the nostril too good..creates a vacuum like effect and the walls collapse inside the nostril just a bit. Easy to remedy by just pulling the pillow out away from the nose briefly so the pillow can re-inflate but highly annoying to have to do it multiple times a night. I don't know if this is what is happening to you but worth a try going up a size if you can.
I don't know this is what is happening in your situation but maybe it is. Going to the small size fixed it totally for me.

I was waking often with that suffocation feeling and thinking "what the heck is going on" and then one time I was able to reproduce the collapse with the force of my own inhale...so definitely I knew what caused it in my situation. Almost like the pillows sealed too good. and a vacuum inside the nasal pillow was produced causing the collapse.
This was when I was first using this mask back in Jan of this year. Changed to the Small size and I don't remember having one episode since then. Still using the same Small nasal pillow that I changed to back in Jan so 5 months now.