nasal pillows - pros and cons?

[okitoki]

Which part of Aust are you located at?

I have been through a few pillows and have 2 favorites at the moment...

- Resmed Swift LT
- F&P Pilairo

I find the Swift to be comfortable and easy to get used to.... my early mistake was trying to get it too tight and ended up with sore painful nostrils. light fitting over the nose was sufficient to get it to it fit nicely with no leak... Using a hose management stand reduce he risk of leakage tossing around the pillow.... using the hose clip over my forehead is good position with the hose stand.... i did have issues with strap marks on my face, but having the strap covers made it more comfortable.

The Pilairo has to be the most comfortable nasal pillow I am using so far... I have used it for 1 year... only downside I had was the one size fit all strap ended up strentching and cant be reused... just placed an order for the new Q with extra straps and pillow so can rotate with my old one... truly can't feel like you are using a hose.

Only downside I have with using a nasal pillow in general is when you have flu or blocked nose... so I do have a full mask for those days...
having a humidifier really help with preventing or unblocking your nose though....

[linmac]

I'm in Melbourne. I'm trying a Philips mask at the moment. Keen to try resmed but the clinic I'm dealing with doesn't seem to have resmed in stock by default. They're getting a resmed machine for me for next week, but I didn't think to ask for a resmed mask. I'm fairly happy with the Philips mask I have, although it takes some getting used to. I used some pawpaw ointment (the non-petroleum version) the first night and didn't get sore nostrils, but I did wake up from the strangeness of it. Not much leaking though.

The nasal pillows seem to pump out a lot more air than the nasal mask did - there's a constant flow of air through the little diffuser at the base of the connection to the house, pumping air out into the room, not just into my nose. I didn't notice that nearly so much with the nasal mask. Is that normal?

I do need a better chinstrap. The one I have feels like my head is encased in plaster. I'm going to try making my own elastic one. Wish me luck!

[lindalrc]

For me the key issue was nosebleeds. I tried the nasal pillows briefly during my sleep study and they irritated me terribly. I probably did not give them a fair chance but I really do not like things touching my nose. However, use of a nasal mask with proper humidification has cured 60 years of nosebleed problems. I did shift from a standard mask to a ResMed Activa LT to the gel cushion Activa LT. Am a restless sleeper and the Activas tolerate more movement. Been using CPAP for 8 years now. Can't sleep without it.

[RobertS975]

After trying nasal masks of several brands for my first month or two, I settled quickly on the ResMed P10 once they came out sometime in the Spring of 2014. For the past 440 nights or so, I have used them exclusively save for one night I thought I was too stuffy.

They are like wearing nothing at all. In fact, there is so little "tactile" feedback or noise, that I often pull the pillows away from my nose just to hear the reassuring airflow that lets me know everything is working OK. But the point is that you don't know you even have it on! Haven't had an AHI over 0.7 or so since starting with the P10s. I did get a small crusty sore on one nostril and used that Laniloh product for a few days... it disappeared.

The P10 is the first CPAP delivery system that did not make me feel that I had an alien life form plastered to my face.

[linmac]

I've just swapped the Phillips for a resmed, and resmed pillows too, and it's a WHOLE different experience. I'm hoping I'm going to start waking up feeling like I've slept, any day now!

Meanwhile the resmed gives me a lot of numbers, and I'm not entirely sure what they all should be. For example, the leak is 1L/min. Is that high? Low? Average? The machine thinks there's a good mask fit (and I can't feel or hear any leakage from around the pillows), but does it mean I'm probably doing a lot of mouth breathing? Or is it low enough that I shouldn't worry?

[RogerSC]

I've just swapped the Phillips for a resmed, and resmed pillows too, and it's a WHOLE different experience. I'm hoping I'm going to start waking up feeling like I've slept, any day now!

Meanwhile the resmed gives me a lot of numbers, and I'm not entirely sure what they all should be. For example, the leak is 1L/min. Is that high? Low? Average? The machine thinks there's a good mask fit (and I can't feel or hear any leakage from around the pillows), but does it mean I'm probably doing a lot of mouth breathing? Or is it low enough that I shouldn't worry?

1L/min. leak on a ResMed cpap is just fine. In fact, it is lower than you need to have to get good therapy, so that's fine. No, you're not doing a lot of mouth breathing for that leak number.

However, the best way to find out how you're really doing is to look at graphs of your nightly leak data (and other sleep data like pressure, events, flow limitations, etc.). You can do that using the Sleepyhead software on your computer, and then import your data from the memory card in the back of your cpap into Sleepyhead. Once you've imported your sleep data, you can look at the detailed nightly graphs and see how things are going.

For me, I look at the cpap machine sleep report every morning, and look at my data using Sleepyhead about once a week. The daily reports are really pretty useful, but nothing replaces looking at the nightly graphs on your computer.

[SewTired]

Keep in mind even among nasal pillows masks there are variables. Some masks the pillows are in a fixed position. If your nares don't match that position the mask will leak. For instance I have slotted nares. I do better with masks where the pillows are adjustable..

Can you give so some examples of pillows masks that are adjustable? I've only used fixed position ones such as the wisp and airlift.

[yaconsult]

Keep in mind even among nasal pillows masks there are variables. Some masks the pillows are in a fixed position. If your nares don't match that position the mask will leak. For instance I have slotted nares. I do better with masks where the pillows are adjustable..

Can you give so some examples of pillows masks that are adjustable? I've only used fixed position ones such as the wisp and airlift.

I use the Breeze nasal pillows and it has a number of adjustments available. Here's what it looks like in use. If you google for breeze-cpap-mask-manual.pdf you can download the manual which illustrates all of the adjustment points.

[Sticky Fingers]

I know some people swear by that mask, but it has always looked horrible to me.

[ALF]

I really like the ResMed Airfit P10, particularly the mesh that diffuses the exhausted air to the point that it is barely audible. I also really like the simple headgear that splits to adjust to different size heads. My bottom pressure is 12cm, and the nasal pillows work just fine for me, even when the pressure kicks up as high as 14cm. As others have noted, the key is to not adjust the mask too tight, then the pillows are not jammed into your nostrils (and you won't get strap marks in the morning either).

[linmac]

I've just swapped the Phillips for a resmed, and resmed pillows too, and it's a WHOLE different experience. I'm hoping I'm going to start waking up feeling like I've slept, any day now!

Meanwhile the resmed gives me a lot of numbers, and I'm not entirely sure what they all should be. For example, the leak is 1L/min. Is that high? Low? Average? The machine thinks there's a good mask fit (and I can't feel or hear any leakage from around the pillows), but does it mean I'm probably doing a lot of mouth breathing? Or is it low enough that I shouldn't worry?

1L/min. leak on a ResMed cpap is just fine. In fact, it is lower than you need to have to get good therapy, so that's fine. No, you're not doing a lot of mouth breathing for that leak number.

However, the best way to find out how you're really doing is to look at graphs of your nightly leak data (and other sleep data like pressure, events, flow limitations, etc.). You can do that using the Sleepyhead software on your computer, and then import your data from the memory card in the back of your cpap into Sleepyhead. Once you've imported your sleep data, you can look at the detailed nightly graphs and see how things are going.

For me, I look at the cpap machine sleep report every morning, and look at my data using Sleepyhead about once a week. The daily reports are really pretty useful, but nothing replaces looking at the nightly graphs on your computer.

Thanks for the tip, I am enjoying playing with sleepyhead very much. I have a trial machine and can't persuade it to ignore the previous data on the card that's not mine, even though I told it only to import from the relevant date. I've tried purging those days but they keep coming back. If anyone has clues on that I'd be glad to hear them, otherwise when I get my own machine I'll just start a new profile from scratch.

I have to say I am loving the resmed pillows and machine. So much more comfortable and SO much quieter. The pillows stay in place even if the mask straps slip off, until I roll over and need to fix the straps. Last night I actually slept (according to my vivofit - actual flat bits in my actigraphy!), in between getting up to my 8 year old who has a cough, poor chicky. Starting to feel like there's light at the end of the tunnel, although my sleep debt must be pretty huge, so it'll be a long haul before I make it out into the sunlight, I think!

Thanks for all the help, people, it's so great to be able to find out all the ins and outs here!

[palerider]

I have a trial machine and can't persuade it to ignore the previous data on the card that's not mine, even though I told it only to import from the relevant date. I've tried purging those days but they keep coming back. If anyone has clues on that I'd be glad to hear them, otherwise when I get my own machine I'll just start a new profile from scratch.

you'd have to delete the data from the machine, then delete individual days data from sleepyhead.

if you don't delete it from the machine (and card) SH will just reimport it.

[postitnote]

I love the P10 nasal pillows. Pro for me is waking up without red marks and lines on my face. It's also so lightweight and comfy.